WOMEN'S INTERNATIONAL: Ireland 13 England 29: IRELAND WERE were beaten for the first time in their Six Nations campaign in this hard-fought encounter at Templeville Road.
After the home side made a bright start, the English soon took command with their dominance such that Ireland failed to score in the second half.
Nonetheless this was a superb performance from the Irish women and their spirits will be high as they face their final games, against Scotland and Wales.
From the off the English offered up a fierce resistance to the spirited Irish offensive, but Irish nerves were settled after six minutes thanks to the boot of Niamh Briggs with her third penalty of this campaign.
This stung England into action and they opened up with a series of beautifully swift and concise passing plays. Chief among the threat were Katy McLean and Kimberley Oliver, who combined on 14 minutes with a scoring opportunity looking likely only for Francesca Matthews to drop the ball at the vital moment.
Ireland fought back and got the first try of the night on 21 minutes when Blackrock’s Amy Davis crossed the line, with Briggs adding the extras.
England struck back on 25 minutes when Emily Scarratt touched down.
With England’s Amy Garnett in the sinbin, Briggs kicked a penalty on half-time to leave Ireland leading 13-5 at the break.
Blackrock’s Orla Brennan then went to the sinbin two minutes into the second half and England were in control after that. On 47 minutes Matthews touched down with McLean converting.
Matthews went over again on 58 minutes under the posts but McLean somehow contrived to miss the conversion.
On 68 minutes captain, Catherine Spencer crossed the line with a fine individual try.
England kept up the intense pressure and Richmond’s Fiona Pocock scored the final try of the night in the corner on 70 minutes.
IRELAND:N Briggs; G Davitt, L Cantwell, H Brosnan, A Davis; J O'Sullivan, T Rosser; F Coghlan, Y Nolan, G Bourke, C Mahon, O Brennan, L Austin, S Ryan, J Neville (capt). Replacements: S Houston for Davis (61 mins), J Feighery for Brosnan (61 mins), D Clarke for Austin (65 mins), J Limbert for Bourke, E McManamly for Mahon, K O'Loughlin for Brennan (all 75 mins). Scorers: Davis (try), Briggs (2 pens, 1 con).
ENGLAND:R Clark; A Garnett, S Hemming, R Essex, J McGilchrist; K Jones, G Sharples; C Spencer (capt), G Rozario, K McLean, F Pocock, K Oliver, E Scarratt, F Matthews, V Massarella. Replacements: L Moulding for Clark, C Purdy for Hemming, V Jackson for Massarella (all 65 mins), N Binstead for Essex, A Turner for Garnett (both 75 mins). Scorers: Matthews (2 tries), Scarratt (try), McLean (2 cons), Spencer (try), Pocock (try).
Referee: W Davis (Wal).
