RUGBY
Winning weekend for Irish teams
By Daire Walsh
IT was a perfect weekend in Dublin for the Irish rugby teams, as all three international sides secured hard-earned victories over French opposition in their respective Six Nations Championship encounters.
Nigel Carolan’s U20s kick-started a hectic three days in the capital on Friday evening, when they took on France on the synthetic surface at Donnybrook Stadium. Opening half tries from Tadgh McElroy, Tommy O’Brien and Oisin Dowling helped the hosts to develop a 21-10 interval advantage, and even though France fought back after the restart, a brace of Bill Johnston penalties ensured that Ireland finished with five points to spare (27-22).
This result means they are currently in second place behind England in the Championship table by a margin of three points, which is an identical scenario to the men’s senior side – who enjoyed a 19-9 success at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday.
Buoyed by their emphatic triumph against Italy, Ireland were aiming to keep their winning run going against Guy Noves’ visitors. Naas’ Jamie Heaslip was once again included in the Irish back-row, but a six-point salvo by Camille Lopez gave France an early platform in the Ballsbridge venue.
Yet, Ireland eventually opened their account with a well-worked Conor Murray try, and courtesy of a subsequent conversion from the fit-again Jonathan Sexton, they brought a slender 7-6 cushion into the break.
The greasy surface was making life difficult for both sets of players, but thanks to a further nine points from the boot of Sexton (including a tremendous drop-goal), Ireland got themselves into a strong position during the second-half.
Another Lopez three-pointer got France to within losing bonus point territory, but a late place-kick by replacement Paddy Jackson left them empty-handed at the end of an energy-sapping clash.
Meanwhile, with three games played in the Women’s Six Nations, Ireland are only trailing pacesetters England on score difference. They welcomed France to Donnybrook on Sunday afternoon, ahead of a meeting between the two teams in this summer’s World Cup pool stages at nearby UCD.
The Irish backline was depleted for this game after the decision to call-up Sene Naoupu, Alison Miller and Hannah Tyrrell to the international sevens squad, but Kilcullen’s Jenny Murphy was included at outside centre alongside Ulster’s Claire McLaughlin. In a tight affair, a Nora Stapleton penalty was all that separated the teams at the midway point, before a Leah Lyons try on the resumption helped Ireland towards a 13-10 win – which keeps them in the hunt for top honours.
Leinster were also in action on Friday night, and their 54-22 away success over Newport Gwent Dragons moved them back to the summit of the Guinness PRO12 table.
Fergus McFadden of Suncroft made his long-awaited return to competitive action, while Joey Carbery and Adam Byrne joined him in an all-Kildare back-three.
Kill native James Tracy also appeared from the replacements bench, and his 62nd-minute touchdown was one of eight tries by the victorious Blues.