RUGBY
Men finish on a high but Irish women’s team miss out
By Daire Walsh
IAIN Henderson and Jonathan Sexton played key roles for Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening, when Joe Schmidt’s side denied the English a triple Grand Slam in Dublin on St Patrick’s weekend.
The England U20s and women’s outfits had already claimed full Six Nations honours at Donnybrook on Friday night, but even though Eddie Jones’ senior squad secured their second consecutive Championship the following day, a first-half try from Henderson was crucial in depriving them both the Triple Crown and a Grand Slam.
Naas’ Jamie Heaslip was selected to play in the back-row, but after he picked up an injury in the warm-up, Peter O’Mahony indirectly took his place in a re-shuffled pack.
After their Championship aspirations came to an end with their defeat last Friday week to Wales, Ireland were seeking a positive end to the tournament in the Ballsbridge venue.
Sexton opened the scoring with an early penalty, and although this effort was cancelled out by Owen Farrell (whose father Andy was in the opposite corner as Ireland defence coach), a 23rd-minute converted try by Ulster’s Henderson helped the hosts to establish a 10-3 interval cushion.
It was going to take a huge effort to tame their arch-rivals after the restart, and England reduced their deficit with another Farrell three-pointer on 50 minutes. However, Sexton was on target from another place-kick just past the hour, and despite conceding a third penalty to Farrell, Ireland eventually emerged with a 13-9 triumph.
As a result, Ireland achieved a second place finish in the table, a feat that was matched by Tom Tierney’s charges in the Women’s Six Nations the night before. Kilcullen’s Jenny Murphy lined out in the centre for the Ireland in the Grand Slam decider at Donnybrook on St Patrick’s Day, and although an Amy Wilson Hardy try gave their English counterparts a 5-0 advantage at the midway point, they were still firmly in the reckoning.
Yet, after influential flanker Claire Molloy departed the scenes through injury, Laura Keates and Amy Cokayne five-pointers for the visitors opened up a sizeable gap. Hooker Leah Lyons finally opened the Irish account in the final-quarter, but in spite of their best endeavours, they couldn’t halt England’s Grand Slam march in a 34-7 victory.
It was also a disappointing evening for Nigel Carolan’s U20s, who suffered a second consecutive defeat at the hands of England in the curtain-raiser at Donnybrook.
Jack Nay and Henry Walker helped England towards a commanding half-time cushion, and even though Ireland responded through Gavin Coombes in the second-half, they ultimately came off second best in a 10-14 reversal to end the tournament in fourth position.
Meanwhile, Naas star Fionn Carr was on the scoresheet at the RDS on the same day, as the Ireland Legends recorded a 34-24 success against the England Legends in the Stuart Mangan Memorial Cup – which was also played in honour of late Irish and Munster stalwart Anthony Foley.