Women’s Six Nations, Round One: England 33 Ireland 12
Last year, Ireland lost to England in Cork by 44 points. This time around, in front of a tournament record crowd that was in party mode at Twickenham, Scott Bemand’s side finished within 21 points of the world champions.
Progress? Perhaps. An improved second half showing, Ireland crossing twice through Anna McGann and Erin King, followed a lacklustre, error-ridden first as the visitors belatedly shook off enough rust to leave some confidence ahead of next week’s tie with Italy.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ireland looked nowhere near as sharp as their Red Rose foes. As much as it was the maul that set up their three first-half scores, England’s speed is what looked to be the biggest threat.
Playing from deep whenever the opportunity presented itself, the hosts were close to their skilful best. Quality catchpass sent the ball towards a dangerous backthree trio at every available opportunity. Ellie Kildunne lived up to her billing, her speed of foot combined with an offloading ability that saw England eat up ground at will.
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For all that threat, it was the set-piece that struck the final blows. Seven minutes in, hooker Amy Cokayne got on the end of a maul rumbling over the line. Just over 10 minutes later, Sarah Bern profited from close range after another drive sucked in the defence. On the half-hour mark, wing Claudia Moloney-MacDonald offloaded to hand Bern a second after, you guessed it, another maul.
Ireland had few answers. They displayed an inability to slow up England’s ball on the floor. After the first maul rumbled over, the forward pack started committing numbers to slow down the following drives. That left the line understaffed. In attack, Ireland did actually manage a few dominant carries when keeping things tight, Aoife Wafer and Dorothy Wall showing off their power in contact.
Errors, while entirely predictable given the long gap between international matches and lack of top end domestic rugby for most of this Irish group, killed their limited attacking opportunities. Eve Higgins spilled when caught in two minds between carrying and passing. Emily Lane knocked on when digging for the ball beneath a raft of stray boots. Three first-half lineouts went astray.
The one saving grace was England’s fourth sprint over the line was chalked off. Kildunne clearly dropped it after the Irish midfield defence malfunctioned on first phase, leaving an inviting gap. Still, the try was given, only for the TMO to correctly intervene right on the stroke of half-time.
It was a half of curious officiating. Irish loosehead Ellena Perry was deemed to be losing her scrum battle with Bern despite the English tighthead consistently setting up with feet too far behind her. In the build-up to England’s second try, scrumhalf Lucy Parker dropped a quickly-tapped penalty when tripping up over Kildunne. For some reason, referee Clara Munarini allowed England to go again and kick to the corner, instead of calling a knock-on.
Straw clutching at its best. Moments that would save Ireland from heavy defeat these were not.
There were improvements after half-time, albeit in defence rather than attack. Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald came up with a breakdown poach metres from her own line. Replacement lock Ruth Campbell, in her first involvement after coming on with half-an-hour to go, was foremost among a swathe of green jerseys executing a choke tackle to end another English 22 entry.
The rearguard couldn’t last forever. Stacey Flood tried to kick ahead as Ireland put together a group of phases that didn’t make much ground. White jerseys were in the way. Racing to a loose ball, this English backthree was always going to have too much pace. Jess Breach dotted down to secure the bonus point.
Ireland did at least break their duck. A slow-moving maul inched towards the line after Erin King won the breakdown penalty that allowed Dannah O’Brien to kick to the corner. After the drive opened up a sliver of space down the blindside, the ball made its way to replacement wing Anna McGann. She had work to do with Claudia Moloney-MacDonald in her way but a strong finish ensured Ireland avoided the ignominy of being nilled. A second was added when King dove over a ruck to mark the occasion of her first game as captain with a score.
In between those scores, Kildunne rounded Flood on the counter – a touch too easily – to make up somewhat for her previous error. With 10 minutes to go, Ireland brought on Eilís Cahill and Katie Whelan for their international debuts.
Avoiding a defeat that shipped 40+ points will build confidence. As will an improved second half display, Ireland making some ground with their forwards close to the ruck.
Clearly, they are not yet ready to compete at the top end of this competition. Italy next week, coming off a hammering of their own at the hands of France, should be a different matter.
In the day’s other opening round fixtures, France took a 40-7 victory over Italy and Scotland got a 24-19 win away against Wales.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 7 MINS: Cokayne try, Rowland con 7-0; 18: Bern try, Rowland con 14-0; 30: Bern try, Rowland con 21-0; Half-time: 21-0; 55: Breach try, Rowland con 28-0; 65: McGann try 28-7; 67: Kildunne try 33-5; 74: King try, O’Brien con 33-12.
ENGLAND: Ellie Kildunne; Jess Breach, Megan Jones (capt), Helena Rowland, Claudia Moloney-MacDonald; Holly Aitchison, Lucy Parker; Kelsey Clifford, Amy Cokayne, Sarah Bern; Morwenna Talling, Lilli Ives Campion; Maddie Feaunati, Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews (capt). Replacements: Abi Burton for Feaunati (8-21 mins, HIA), Haineala Lutui for Talling (44), Maud Muir for Bern, Natasha Hunt for Parker, Zoe Harrison for Aitchison, Mackenzie Carson for Clifford (all 51), Emma Sing for Hunt (64), Burton for Feaunati, Powell for Cokayne (both 68).
IRELAND: Stacey Flood; Béibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Vicky Elmes Kinan; Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane; Ellena Perry, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Brittany Hogan, Erin King (capt), Aoife Wafer. Replacements: Niamh O’Dowd for Perry, Ruth Campbell for Wall, Nancy McGillivray for Higgins (all 50 mins), Neve Jones for Moloney-MacDonald, Anna McGann for Parsons (both 60), Grace Moore for Wafer (62), Eilís Cahill for Djougang, Katie Whelan for Lane (both 69).
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