Final flourish not enough with World Cup on horizon

New Zealand 38 Ireland 8

At least it ended with a fantastic Irish try. Sene Naoupu, excellent and resilient in equal measure against her fellow countrywomen, arrowed into the Black Ferns defence. Leah Lyons powered over the gainline. Larissa Muldoon, saw the space and shovelled ball wide to where Naoupu combined with the agile Claire McLoughlin before sending Niamh Kavanagh over near the right corner flag.

It’s a lifeline worth clinging to.

It’s now nine months until the World Cup on home soil. It’s now 27 months since Ireland beat New Zealand 17-14 at the last World Cup (again, hell hath no fury like a Kiwi scorned). One Six Nations title gathered when nobody expected in 2015 and 19 new caps in the meantime.

Seven tries here. Three for the stunningly gifted Black Ferns centre Portia Woodman. One for Ireland. Plenty of sloppy handling errors. Plenty of fixable problems.

Six survivors from the Marcoussis World Cup when Ireland out-foxed this opposition before losing the semi-final to eventual champions England. Three matches played in November. Just 25 points gathered, 98 conceded. Three defeats.

“We were under no illusion how good Canada (48-7) were going to be and New Zealand,” said coach Tom Tierney. “That’s the level we’ve got to get to. We’ve got nine months to do that.

“It’s brilliant to have this heads up now as opposed to feeling sorry for ourselves when it is all over.”

Eight matches played in 2016 with only two victories, over Italy and Scotland. So many crossing over to the Sevens code. Too many or not enough, remains hard to know? Tierney will have full access come the Six Nations as he endeavours to build a squad that can find a route out of a World Cup pool containing France and Australia.

For better or worse, a World Cup on home soil is coming. On the same Belfield turf New Zealand just grew accustomed to. The opening 40 minutes, when Ireland only trailed 5-3, was the best showing since the 13-9 defeat at Twickenham.

“We are completely amateur,” said captain Niamh Briggs. “But we have more camps now than we have ever had. We have been crying out for November internationals for years, we’ve had one last year and three this year. In fairness to the IRFU the game is growing all the time and they are supporting us in it. We can have no complaints.

“Look, I know the English have gone professional and there is a professional air about it but we still have to get our foundations and grassroots rights before we get to there, we are a little bit off that yet.”

A glittering array of Irish rugby intellect shared the row of seats in front of UCD’s press box. David Nucifora, Joe Schmidt, Alain Rolland and more.

Old Belvedere centre Jenny Murphy was also in the crowd. She’s back playing club rugby. Ali Miller and others are away in Dubai with the Sevens. Sophie Spence is 10 weeks into return to play protocols arising from concussion.

Key figures all, their return would bring the Marcoussis returnees up to nine. Add Naoupu’s calming presence at inside centre and Tierney has a decent core to build a team around.

“It’s critical that we do,” Tierney answered to a question about the need to find a settled starting XV.

There were sparks of improvement here but they fizzled out well short of the try line. Until the end.

Plenty of work is being done on skills development as the 15s squad dovetails with the Sevens. Unfortunately, none of that was evident here. Whenever Ireland did enter the New Zealand 22 inaccurate ball handling coughed up possession.

Ailis Egan showed well, as ever, and Briggs impressed in patches on return from a hamstring injury; she fended off Woodman and a neat offload sent Nicole Fowley sprinting away. That move ended in error, as did so many after, until the injury time flourish that Kavanagh finished.

Nine months to go.

Ireland: Niamh Briggs (captain); Claire McLaughlin, Nicole Fowley (Niamh Kavanagh '66), Sene Naoupu, Mairead Coyne; Nora Stapleton (Jackie Shiels '72), Larissa Muldoon (Mary Healy '52); Lindsay Peat (Fiona Hayes '63), Cliodhna Moloney (yellow card '35) (Leah Lyons '63), Ailis Egan (Fiona Reidy '72); Maire-Louise Reilly, Orla Fitzsimons (Nichola Fryday '57); Ciara Griffin (Leah Lyons '39 to '46) (Ciara Cooney '57), Claire Molloy, Paula Fitzpatrick.

New Zealand: Selica Winata; Honey Hireme, Portia Woodman, Chelsea Alley (Hazel Tubic '53), Renee Wickliffe (Janna Vaughan '66); Kelly Brazier, Kendra Cocksedge (Kristina Sue '74); Toka Natua (Aldora Itunu '61), Fiao'o Faamausili, Aleisha Nelson (Aotearoa Mata'u '53); Eloise Blackwell (Jackie Fereti '61 - yellow card '79), Charlene Gubb; Charmaine Smith, Angie Sisifa (Sharnita Woodman '72), Charmaine McMenamin.

Referee: Sarah Cox (England).