A DOMINANT ENGLAND display was expected and the number one ranked side in the world delivered on the prediction with a forceful display in Musgrave Park.
A difficult few weeks for Ireland — both on and off the pitch — was punctuated by another display with some encouraging elements, but, moreover, another heavy defeat. Today, it was an eight-try beating at the hands of the number one ranked side in women’s rugby. England also gobbled up the bonus point in the first half.
England have captured six of the last seven Women’s Six Nations titles, and they remain on course to add another crown to their tally.
The game was preceded by a slight disruption in the crowd. Ahead of kick-off, a woman was seen handing out flyers bearing the words ‘I Give A Fuck’ to some of the supporters gathered in the stadium. She was pursued by security who stopped her from distributing any more of the material, and was flanked by stewards in her seat.
It took the reigning champions less than two minutes to get on the scoreboard as lock Sarah Beckett leaped over at the corner for their opening try. England demonstrated their ferocious power to force their way through the Irish lines, carrying the ball cleanly to clear the path for Beckett to finish the move.
England came thundering forward again but Ireland showed fight to stall them and force a turnover when they were awarded a scrum and then a penalty which prompted a mighty roar from the Irish supporters. However, the ball was back in English hands again moments later when the referee ruled that an Ireland lineout wasn’t straight.
England score the first try of their TikTok Women's Six Nations clash against Ireland inside two minutes via Sarah Beckett.
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Dorothy Wall was certainly a major loss to the Irish pack but Ireland measured up to England’s strength in those early stages.
And then they made some vital ground. It started with a burst of impressive footwork from back-rower Deirbhile Nic a Bháird. She stole some important yards before she was halted but it was still encouraging to see Ireland keep their opponents back from the danger zone.
England broke that promising period with their second try on 15 minutes. Another belt of good offloads was completed by Holly Aitchison putting Tatyana Heard through to score in roughly the same position as their first try.
That left Ireland trailing by 10 points as centre Lagi Tuima missed both conversions. The full-back Ellie Kildunne added their third six minutes later. That honour almost fell to Tatyana Heard who was sent sprinting through after receiving the ball from Beckett. Christy Haney did brilliantly to haul her down but England simply recycled the ball and spread the play out wide to allow the full-back make a dart over the tryline. Tuima missed out on the extras from the conversion kick.
Ireland were giving their maximum to hold back the tide, with hooker Neve Jones racking up a big tackle count, while Grace Moore and Linda Djougang caused as much disruption as they could.
Marlie Packer delivered their fourth try shortly before the half-hour mark. And although she touched down under the posts, Tuima kicked her fourth conversion wide as she failed to get a solid connection on the strike.
Tatyana Heard makes it Ireland 0-10 England.
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Another spirited Ireland move arrived from the kick-off as Aoife Doyle went charging into the trenches and emerged with a penalty which finally brought Ireland down into England’s 22. The home support tried with full voice to help the resultant lineout maul make some inroads, but England’s defence refused to cough up an inch of space.
Moore produced another heroic defensive effort to force a penalty for Ireland inches in front of the tryline, but the England attacks continued to roll. Morwenna Talling, who had just come on for the injured flanker Marlie Packer, grabbed Ireland’s fifth try. Tuima successfully scored the conversion to push England into a 27-0 advantage with half-time looming.
And that was how it finished at the break.
Ireland looked sprightly just after the restart. They put Holly Aitchison under pressure with some tricky kicks into the ’22 while winger Natasja Behan made a fine interception to stop a dangerous England attack. She quickly launched a counter-attack, but again, Ireland’s lineout issues tripped them up as England reclaimed possession from the throw.
Ireland spent quality time in England’s half of the pitch which was a major positive in the face of a big deficit.
Ireland were holding England scoreless in the second half but the Six Nations holders rattled out three more tries before the end. The full-back Kildunne thought she had penetrated for her second try of the day but the score was ruled due to a forward pass in the build-up.
However, substitute Amber Reed barreled over moments later before fellow substitute Helena Rowland added the conversion. Abby Dow grabbed try number seven for England to round off an emphatic win. The number eight Alex Matthews added the eighth on the whistle.
Ireland’s tanks were emptied today with a display that was loaded with spirit. The goal now is to finish their tournament on a high with a win against Scotland.
Ireland scorers -
Tries:
Conversions:
Penalties:
England scorers -
Tries: Sarah Beckett [1], Tatyana Heard [1], Ellie Kildunne [1], Marlie Packer [1], Morwenna Talling [1], Amber Reed [1], Abby Dow [1], Alex Matthews [1]
Conversions: Lagi Tuima [1/5], Helan Rowland [3/3]
Penalties:
Ireland: Lauren Delany; Aoife Doyle, Aoife Dalton [Anna McGann], Vicky Irwin [Anna McGann HIA '34. Irwin returned in second half], Natasja Behan; Dannah O’Brien, Molly Suffil-McCabe; Linda Djougang [Kathryn Buggy HIA, '28], Neve Jones, Christy Haney [Sadhbh McGrath '78]; Nichola Fryday, Sam Monaghan; Brittany Hogan, Grace Moore [Jo Brown '56], Deirbhile Nic a Bháird.
England Ellie Kildunne; Abby Dow, Lagi Tuima [Helena Rowland '53], Tatyana Heard [Amber Reed '53], Claudia MacDonald; Holly Aitchison, Natasha Hunt; Hannah Botterman [Mackenzie Carson '28], Connie Powell, Maud Muir; Zoe Aldcroft [Delaney Burns '53], Sarah Beckett; Sadia Kabeya, Marlie Packer [Morwenna Talling '35], Alex Matthews
Referee: Lauren Jenner [FIR]
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Written by Sinead Farrell and posted on the42.ie
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