Murphy Crowe Double Does The Damage For Ireland Women Against England
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe’s second half brace, adding to an early Ashleigh Baxter score, set Ireland up for a superb 19-14 Rugby World Cup Sevens victory over old rivals England in San Francisco.
WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP SEVENS – ROUND OF 16: Friday, July 20
ENGLAND 14 IRELAND 19, AT& T Park, San Francisco
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Ashleigh Baxter, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe 2; Cons: Lucy Mulhall 2
The battle between the tournament’s eighth and ninth seeds was arguably the best contest in the round of 16 and went right down to the wire, with Anthony Eddy’s charges prevailing to set up a mouth-watering Cup quarter-final against defending champions New Zealand (kick-off 5.30pm local time/1.30am Irish time) (live on eir Sport 1/live streaming via www.rwcsevens.com (in certain countries)/highlights on ITV 4).
The Irish voices in the crowd at AT&T Park made their presence felt, matching the efforts of captain Lucy Mulhall and her team-mates on the pitch as they claimed the English scalp. They turned them over in Marcoussis last month, and even though they were at full strength on this occasion, England were outplayed and outfought by the girls in green.
Given the high stakes of the World Cup’s new knock-out format, nerves were evident early on in the round-of-16 tie. Ireland were caught offside from Mulhall’s kick-off and England knocked on following a promising run by Heather Fisher. Stacey Flood did well to secure possession from a messy scrum, getting her side on the front foot.
Flood was central to Ireland’s opening try in the third minute, her half-break through the middle initially sucking in defenders. She then popped up near the left touchline, cleverly attacking the blindside of a ruck before popping the ball back inside for Ashleigh Baxter to take advantage of a sleepy defence and run in unopposed from the edge of the 22.
After Mulhall’s missed conversion, there were a couple of quick-fire turnovers in the English 22 and Emily Scarratt’s attempted offload almost led to Aoife Doyle breaking through for an intercept try. Scarratt redeemed herself with a big clear-out which led to a turnover penalty, and she duly crossed the whitewash from England’s second attack past halfway, cutting in from the right after Fisher had tidied up and straightened a midfield attack.
Holly Aitchison’s conversion split the teams (7-5) at the end of a high quality and fiercely-competitive first half, but Ireland were quickly back on the attack, setting out their stall in the second period with some neat handling and direct running. Murphy Crowe was pulled back for a forward pass but England were left reeling by her brace of tries after nine and 11 minutes.
England captain Abbie Brown was pinged for not releasing after being tackled near her own 22-metre line, and quick passes from Katie Fitzhenry and Mulhall released Murphy Crowe to score from close range, to the right of the posts. Mulhall converted and also added the extras to Murphy Crowe’s second effort, the result of a well-worked move off a lineout and Mulhall’s ability to draw in a couple of defenders and provide a perfectly-timed scoring pass.
Twelve points was the margin with less than three minutes remaining, and the industrious Louise Galvin was foiled by a knock-on from the restart as she attempted to add to Ireland’s tally. Despite the swarming Irish tackling, Brown managed to break free from deep and set up a second long-range try for England, finished off by Alex Matthews.
Ireland were left holding onto a five-point lead after Aitchison’s successful conversion and they did just that in a frantic finish, England pressing off a late scrum but replacement Audrey O’Flynn’s impact at a ruck was enough to force a knock-on and seal her side’s passage through to the last-eight of the tournament.
Giving her reaction afterwards, victorious captain Mulhall said: “It’s a different format, so you just focus on that one game. Having it first up and it a knockout means you just have to get up out of bed and you have to be ready to go, be really intense, and we’re just really happy to get away with a win against really good opposition.
“There’s something about Ireland and Irish people, wherever you go you kinda feel at home, and that’s definitely what the fans brought here for us – a bit of a home advantage. You could hear everyone calling, even people’s families. You could here people’s dads shouting and cheering in the stands so it was really cool.
“(Against New Zealand) we’re going to go out with the same focus, the same intensity and we’re going to really try to put it up to them.”
TIME LINE: 3 minutes – Ireland try: Ashleigh Baxter – 0-5; conversion: missed by Lucy Mulhall – 0-5; 6 mins – England try: Emily Scarratt – 5-5; conversion: Holly Aitchison – 7-5; Half-time – England 7 Ireland 5; 9 mins – Ireland try: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe – 7-10; conversion: Lucy Mulhall – 7-12; 11 mins – Ireland try: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe – 7-17; conversion: Lucy Mulhall – 7-19; 14 mins – England try: Alex Matthews – 12-19; conversion: Holly Aitchison – 14-19; Full-time – England 14 Ireland 19
Team: Louise Galvin, Ashleigh Baxter, Katie Fitzhenry, Stacey Flood, Lucy Mulhall (capt), Aoife Doyle, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.
Sub used: Audrey O’Flynn. Not used: Hannah Tyrrell, Kathy Baker, Eve Higgins, Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird.
The Ireland Sevens jerseys are available to buy online here from Elverys Intersport, official sports retailer of the IRFU.
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, AT&T Park, San Francisco, USA, Friday, July 20-Saturday, July 21):
Kathy Baker (Blackrock/Leinster)
Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Claire Boles (Railway Union/Ulster)
Aoife Doyle (Shannon/Railway Union/Munster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemian/Munster)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum) (capt)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Audrey O’Flynn (Ireland Women’s Sevens Programme)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
IRELAND WOMEN’S RWC SEVENS Results/Fixtures –
Friday, July 20:
Round of 16: England 14 Ireland 19, AT&T Park, San Francisco
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Ashleigh Baxter, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe 2; Cons: Lucy Mulhall 2
Team: Louise Galvin, Ashleigh Baxter, Katie Fitzhenry, Stacey Flood, Lucy Mulhall (capt), Aoife Doyle, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.
Sub used: Audrey O’Flynn. Not used: Hannah Tyrrell, Kathy Baker, Eve Higgins, Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird.
Cup Quarter-Final: Ireland v New Zealand, AT&T Park, San Francisco, 5.30pm local time/1.30am Irish time
Saturday, July 21:
Finals
More details on the Rugby World Cup Sevens are available here. Tickets are available to purchase here via the tournament website. There are single-day tickets in all seating categories and three-day tickets.