England 27 Ireland 0:IRELAND COACH Philip Doyle was keen to take the positives out of last night's Pool B opener despite defeat to a physically stronger England side at the Surrey Sports Park.
Ireland were 12-0 down at half-time after playing into a strong wind, but they were unable to take advantage in the second period as England crossed for two more tries to claim the bonus point.
“It’s very disappointing, I thought we deserved a little bit more out of that game,” admitted Doyle. “I thought we matched England at the breakdown at times. We certainly created chances but we weren’t able to capitalise.
“In the first half we were very happy with our defence and keeping the scoreline down. The fitness started to slip a bit in the second half, we started to leave too many gaps and, with the pace England have, it’s hard to close those gaps. But there’s a lot of positives to take out of it despite the scoreline being against us.”
It was all England in the opening stages, but the Ireland defence was physical and committed. Numbers eventually told in the ninth minute, however, as Ireland ran out of tacklers in defence and Fiona Pocock scored in the left corner, with Katy McLean landing the conversion.
England, winners of the last five Women’s Six Nations titles, enjoyed a superiority up front in these early stages and the Ireland set piece suffered some uncomfortable moments.
England were undone by conceding far too many penalties as they failed to build on their opening score.
Outstanding England openside flanker Maggie Alphonsi duly provided a spark as she powered through a gap in midfield and was only hauled down a metre short of the line. Quick ball followed and Katherine Merchant scored in the corner. The conversion drifted wide but England breathed just a little easier with a 12-0 lead at the break.
Ireland emerged after the break firing on all cylinders, sensing the possibility of a first ever win over England.
With England pinned back, Ireland’s confidence grew but an off target drop goal from fullback Niamh Briggs was their best effort before a powerful break from Heather Fisher relieved the pressure on the hosts.
England made the most of their first foray into the Irish 22 as they remained patient near the line before Amy Turner took a quick tap penalty and muscled her way over from close range to open up a 17-0 lead.
McLean added a second penalty as Ireland’s challenge faded away and Alphonsi’s try clinched the bonus point just minutes from time. Ireland will have a chance to claim their first win of the tournament when they take on the USA at the same venue next Tuesday afternoon (4.30).
ENGLAND: D Waterman; K Merchant, E Scarratt, R Burford, F Pocock; K McLean, A Turner;R Clark, A Garnett, S Hemming, B Essex, J McGilchrist, H Fisher, M Alphonsi, C Spencer. Replacements: C Purdy for Clark, E Layland for Garnett, S Hunter for Fisher, C Barras for Merchant, T Taylor for Essex, A Richardson for Burford (all 62 mins), L Mason for Turner (72 mins).
IRELAND: N Briggs; A Davis, J OSullivan, L Cantwell, N Stapleton; H Brosnan, T Rosser; F Coghlan (capt), G Bourke, L Austin, K OLoughlin, M L Reilly, O Brennan, C Molloy, J Neville. Replacements: S Houston for Cantwell, Y Nolan for Austin (62 mins), S Ryan for Neville (75 mins), L Guest for Coghlan (80).
Referee: S Corrigan (Aus).
