Women’s Interpros: Leinster and Munster start campaign with comfortable wins

Leinster 38 Connacht 10

Two-time Six Nations winner Jenny Murphy grabbed a brace of tries at Energia Park on Saturday afternoon as Leinster defeated Connacht in the first round of the Women’s Interprovincial Championship.

Despite struggling to break down their diligent opponents for large stretches, Leinster opened the scoring in the 33rd-minute when outstanding build-up play by international star Dannah O’Brien paved the way for fullback Ella Roberts to touch down in clinical fashion.

O’Brien added the bonuses on top of this five-pointer and did likewise in the wake of a superb solo finish from Anna Doyle with three minutes of the first half remaining. A penalty from former Ireland outhalf Nicole Fowley reduced Connacht’s deficit to 11 points (14-3) in time for the interval, only for Leinster to reinforce their authority on the resumption with a try from replacement Elise O’Byrne-Whyte.

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Leinster were starting to play with supreme confidence and a typically ruthless finish from Murphy towards the end of the third-quarter created further daylight between the teams.

Their defence was eventually breached in the 68th-minute as Orla Dixon dotted down off Fowley’s crossfield kick, but the hosts had the final say with late tries from debutant Katie Whelan and Murphy.

LEINSTER: E Roberts; C Gorman, A Dalton, J Murphy, A Doyle; D O’Brien, A Hughes; N O’Dowd, J Keating, C Haney (co-capt); A McDermott, E Corri; A Coleman, M Boyne, H O’Connor (co-capt).

Replacements: A Moore for Coleman (15 mins), E O’Byrne-Whyte for Gorman, M Scuffil-McCabe for Hughes (both 47 mins), E Anthony for Corri, L Mullen for O’Brien (both 61 mins), M Collis for Keating, L Callan for Haney (both 68 mins), K Whelan for Roberts (75 mins).

CONNACHT: M Coyne; A Ryder, O Dixon, S Touhey, L McGonagle; N Fowley, M Healy; G O’Loughlin, E McNicholas, L Feely; F Scally, E McCormack; G Browne Moran, E Fabby, LM Murphy.

Replacements: L Brady for McNicholas, N O’Grady for O’Loughlin (both 49 mins), C Barrett for McGonagle, S McDermott for McCormack (both 55 mins), E Nic Dhonnacha for Coyne, O Fenton for Murphy, H Coen for Feely (all 61 mins), O Haverty for Healy (64 mins).

Referee: K Davison (IRFU).

Munster 34 Ulster 0

Deirbhile Nic a Bháird delivered a stellar player-of-the-match performance as Munster kicked off their Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship title defence with a 34-0 bonus point win over Ulster.

The Ballincollig native excelled for Old Belvedere during the Energia All-Ireland League, and her all-action display here at Musgrave Park saw her pick up two tries, make a series of rampaging runs, and also switch from number 8 to hooker for the second half.

The driving wind and rain made conditions especially difficult, but it took Munster just 31 minutes to register their bonus point thanks to tries from Nic a Bháird, Stephanie Nunan, Aoife Doyle and Claire Bennett.

With 22 points the difference at half-time, Ulster had it all to do and they did take some positives from the game with Ella Durkan playing well at outhalf and their scrum recovering from a shaky start. Despite losing captain Nicole Cronin to injury and the visitors improving in the second half, Munster’s all-international back row of Nic a Bháird, Dorothy Wall and Maeve Óg O’Leary were too much for the visitors to handle.

Lock Bennett, who plunged over from a lineout maul, and Nic a Bháird completed their braces to close out a productive first competitive outing for Munster under new head coach Niamh Briggs.

Munster: Aoife Corey; Aoife Doyle, Stephanie Nunan, Enya Breen, Laura Sheehan; Nicole Cronin (capt), Muirne Wall; Róisín Ormond, Kate Sheehan, Fiona Reidy; Clodagh O’Halloran, Claire Bennett; Dorothy Wall, Maeve Óg O’Leary, Deirbhile Nic a Bháird.

Replacements: Chloe Pearse for Nic a Bhaird (half-time), Kate Flannery for Cronin (43 mins), Nic a Bhaird for Sheehan, Eilís Cahill for Reidy (both 52 mins), Heather Kennedy for Sheehan, Ciara Farrell for O’Halloran (both 60 mins), Geena Behan for Ormond, Gillian Coombes for Bennett, Alana McInerney for Breen (all 71 mins).

Ulster: Maeve Liston; Fern Wilson, Kelly McCormill, Mya Alcorn, Niamh Marley; Ella Durkan, Rachael McIlroy; Sadhbh McGrath, Beth Cregan (capt), Ilse van Staden; Keelin Brady, Helen McGhee; Brenda Barr, Fiona Tuite, Stacey Sloan.

Replacements: Sophie Barrett for Sloan (half-time), Ava Fannis for van Staden, Megan Simpson for Tuite, Lucy Thompson for McCormill (all 57 mins), Gemma McCamley for McGrath, Amber Redmond for McIlroy (both 63 mins), Nicole Watterson for McGhee, Amanda Morton for Alcorn (both 69 mins), Alcorn for Durkan (74 mins).

Referee: Sam Holt (IRFU)