RUGBY
Murphy and Ireland’s World Cup dreams ended at the hands of France
By Daire Walsh
IT proved to be a disappointing week for Jenny Murphy and the Ireland women’s rugby team, as their World Cup dreams were ended by France at the UCD Bowl last Thursday evening.
Their meeting with Les Bleus was the final game on Day Three of the tournament, and with New Zealand and England already through to the semi-final stages, the pressure was on Ireland and France to produce a strong performance.
The bonus point that the USA gained in their 47-26 defeat to England (they claimed a fourth try in the dying moments of the contest) meant that Ireland couldn’t progress as the best runner-up from the three pools, and they therefore needed to come away with a third win in the space of eight days.
After resting a number of players (including Murphy) for their previous test against Japan just four days earlier, Ireland coach Tom Tierney opted for a more familiar starting line-up in the French game. It was always expected to be the crunch encounter of the group for Ireland, and there was a host of recognisable faces in the crowd at the Belfield venue.
Legendary Ireland and Leinster centre Brian O’Driscoll was present in his own alma mater, as was his former team-mate Sean O’Brien.
Ireland men’s supremo Joe Schmidt was also in attendance, while Minister For Sport, Shane Ross, also took up a position in the UCD stand.
Following mixed displays in their victories over Australia and Japan, a massive improvement in performance was needed by Ireland if they were to secure that place in the final-four.
However, they simply couldn’t live with the pace and power of the impressive France in the opening half, and struggled to even gain possession for large spells.
Though Murphy and skipper Claire Molloy helped to keep France at bay with some strong defensive work, Ireland were ultimately facing into a 21-0 deficit during the interval as a result of converted tries from Romane Menager and Caroline Ladagnous (two).
In truth, this left Ireland with too much of a mountain to climb, and even though Ireland dominated possession for significant chunks of the second-half, they struggled to break down a resilient French rearguard.
Murphy delivered an exceptional display once again for the Green Army, but by the time she was withdrawn in the 65th-minute, Ireland’s quest for glory had effectively been dashed.
The host nation continued to search for scores, though, and they deservedly got over on the stroke of 80 minutes through replacement hooker Cliodhna Moloney.
In the end, all of 16 points (21-5) separated the two teams, and the final scoreline was arguably a fair reflection on the way the preceding 80 minutes had unfolded. With France now joining New Zealand, England and the US in the penultimate rounds, Ireland will now have to contest two games in the fifth-eighth place ranking section – started with a rematch against Australia at 2pm in the Kingspan Stadium, Belfast this afternoon.