The 42

THE IRELAND WOMEN’S rugby team have stunned the reigning World Champions New Zealand in their opening game at the WXV1 tournament with a 29-27 victory.

There was nothing separating the sides at half-time, as Player of the Match Aoife Wafer grabbed two first-half tries while Neve Jones also crossed over to leave the scoreline reading 17 apiece at the break.

An Erin King try then gave Ireland the lead on 67 minutes and she added her second of the night in the dying moments before Dannah O’Brien nailed the conversion to deliver an epic victory for Ireland.

“It’s unbelievable,” Wafer said after the game.

“We wanted to give the fans at home something to cheer about and to have the group behind us like that is just incredibly special. To put out what we’ve done right now is hard to put into words.

“But I’m sure we’ll enjoy tonight and we’ll get straight back to the grind on Monday. We couldn’t have done it without 1-3 [players]. I know some of the girls didn’t get a chance to come on today but we needed every single one of them during the week because they’re the ones that tee us up.

“Our 15 goes out to the start the game and then we have our finishers coming on, and then we have everybody else that we need.

“Let’s go Ireland!”

Clutch from Dannah! 🤌#IrishRugby pic.twitter.com/2DXl8WrykS

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 30, 2024

Atlanta Lolohea gave New Zealand a blistering start with an early try which was followed by a Renee Holmes conversion, along with a subsequent penalty, before Wafer got the first of her two tries.

The Wexford flanker picked up her second try on the half-hour mark and was followed by Jones’s effort to put Ireland 17-10 in front. New Zealand winger Katelyn Vahaakolo responded with their second try which was converted to even things up at half-time.

Holmes gave New Zealand the advantage with another penalty after the resumption, while Ireland lost Niamh O’Dowd to the sin-bin.

Irish replacement King traded tries with Mererangi Paul as New Zealand held a five-point lead in the final stages. But it was Scott Bemand’s side who engineered the decisive score as King pounced again to give Ireland the perfect start to the tournament.

Ireland will face tournament hosts Canada in their next match on Saturday.

Written by Sinead Farrell and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.