Late tries from Cliodhna Moloney and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe helped Ireland to a second win of their WXV 1 campaign

Daire Walsh

WXV 1, Round Three: Ireland 26 USA 14

Thanks to three tries inside the closing 20 minutes of the contest, the Ireland women’s rugby team finished their WXV 1 campaign with a comeback victory against USA at BC Place in Vancouver.

Looking to bounce back from last Saturday’s defeat at the hands of host nation Canada, Ireland dominated possession in the opening 10 minutes and full-back Stacey Flood was held up over the try line by a committed USA defence during this period.

The Eagles eventually weathered this early storm, however, and it took a superb tackle from Erin King to prevent Lotte Sharp from making a break for the whitewash off a Tahlia Brody pass. Yet USA now had attacking momentum and loosehead prop Hope Rogers ultimately broke the deadlock with a converted try in the 18th minute.

This was a setback for Ireland, but they got themselves back on level terms through one of their best performers in this tournament. King bagged a brace of tries in their magnificent triumph against New Zealand in the opening round of WXV 1 and via a quick ‘tap and go’ on 28 minutes, she powered over the whitewash under enormous pressure from the opposition defence.

Nicole Fowley’s bonus strike in the wake of this score looked set to keep Ireland on level terms at the break, until Rogers pounced for her second try in first-half stoppage-time.

A second successful McKenzie Hawkins conversion left the Irish seven points adrift (14-7) and while Fowley did kick to good effect in open play, she had made way for Dannah O’Brien by the time the action resumed.

The Carlow native certainly made an impact upon her introduction at outhalf and Ireland remained in contention moving towards the final-quarter.

The USA were maintaining their seven-point advantage, but this all changed on 63 minutes. After Brody was adjudged to have tried to gather a pass by Molly Scuffil-McCabe towards Wafer from an offside position with the whitewash in sight, the Eagles back-row was sin-binned and Ireland were awarded a penalty try.

There was a sense that the pendulum was swinging back in Ireland’s favour at this point and they suddenly had a two-player advantage when Rachel Ehrecke was also yellow carded on 72 minutes.

Ireland immediately seized the initiative with a Cliodhna Moloney try from a lineout maul move and Tipperary woman Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe also dotted down in the 76th minute to ensure the Green Army ended WXV 1 with two wins from three games.

Scorers – Ireland: E King, C Moloney, A-L Murphy Crowe try each, Penalty try and con, N Fowley con, D O’Brien con. USA: H Rogers 2 tries, M Hawkins 2 cons.

Ireland: S Flood; E Considine, A Dalton, E Breen, A-L Murphy Crowe; N Fowley, E Lane; N O’Dowd, N Jones, L Djougang; D Wall, F Tuite; E King, A Wafer, B Hogan. Replacements: D O’Brien for Fowley, half-time; C Moloney for Jones, M Scuffil-McCabe for Lane, both 60, S McCarthy for O’Dowd, E Higgins for Flood, both 65 mins; R Campbell for Tuite, A Stock for Djougang, both 75 mins; D Nic a Bháird for King, 78 mins.

USA: B Mataitoga; C Emba, A Kelter, G Cantorna, L Sharp; M Hawkins, C Bargell; H Rogers, K Treder, C Jacoby; E Jarrell, H Taufoou; T Brody, K Zackary, R Johnson. Replacements: K Mae Sagapolu for Jacoby, half-time; P Stathopoulos for Treder, 53 mins; T Feury for Emba, 56 mins; E Henrich for Cantorna, 63 mins, R Ehrecke for Jarrell, 65 mins; T Tukuafu for Bargell, 67 mins; M Learned for Rogers, 70 mins.

Referee: M Cogger-Orr (New Zealand).