Four New Caps Show Promise As Ireland Women End Hamburg Sevens In Eighth

Ava Ryder, Emma Tilly and Amy Larn, who unfortunately ended the weekend with her left arm in a sling, also won their first senior Sevens caps for Ireland at the final leg of the Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series.

Eve Higgins, one of only three players aged over 23 in Ireland’s travelling party, took on the captaincy role in the absence of most of her fellow World Series regulars. She impressed in attack with seven tries.

However, results proved hard to come by and having been knocked out of the Cup competition by Belgium, Allan Temple-Jones’ side finished eighth after losing to both Czechia (29-12) and hosts Germany (15-5).

Still, it was an important learning experience for the new players and those whose game-time has been limited this season, including scrum half Aoibheann Reilly who returned from a long-term knee injury.

Picking up six points in the 30-degree German heat, the Ireland Women finished sixth overall in the Rugby Europe Championship standings. France, who fielded one of their strongest squads, won the Hamburg and European titles after beating Spain 26-7.

Facing Czechia first up in the 5-8th place play-offs, Ireland fell behind after just two minutes. Kate Farrell McCabe‘s pass was intercepted by Kristyna Riegertova who darted downfield, evading the chasing Lucinda Kinghan and offloading for Petra Vackova to score.

Anezka-Marta Sladkova chased down a kick, forcing Ireland to concede a close-in scrum, and the same player then took advantage of a slip by Clare Gorman as she sidestepped through to make it 10-0.

Ireland made sure they opened their account before half-time, with Gorman’s pace taking them up past halfway. Reilly’s key offload, and a looping run from Kinghan, released Erin King to score from 40 metres out.

Farrell McCabe nailed the conversion to reduce the arrears to three points, but Czechia opened the second half’s scoring when the pacy Sladkova got away from Reilly for her second try, converted this time by skipper Julie Dolezilova.

Higgins led by example with a smartly-taken five-pointer, cutting inside a defender and racing over to the left of the posts. Her conversion went narrowly wide but Ireland were back within striking distance at 17-12 down.

Nonetheless, Czechia were rewarded for some textbook support play when Sladkova completed her hat-trick. Despite Tilly making a good initial tackle, Vera Gartnerova supplied a return pass for Sladkova to sprint clear.

An Irish knock-on from the restart allowed Czechia to close out the game with a fifth try. They continued to get their hands free in tackles, and Gartnerova used a wraparound move to give her team a 17-point winning margin.

Ireland invited some early pressure on themselves in their final outing of the weekend against Germany. Farrell McCabe’s kick-off failed to make ten metres and Higgins also knocked on a few phases later.

Vicky Elmes Kinlan and Gorman had done well in one-on-one tackles, with the former also snapping up turnover ball, but a fired-up Germany came again. They worked some numbers on the right for Mette Zimmat to cross the whitewash.

Ireland lost their discipline at the breakdown, with a series of penalties leading to Elmes Kinlan being sin-binned. Germany took the penalty quickly and Steffi Gruber crashed over from a few metres out.

Despite some improved play, the girls in green leaked a third unconverted try just 20 seconds into the second period. Germany retained possession and it was too easy for Sophie Hacker to score from outside the Irish 22, with some nice footwork and a good turn of pace.

Tilly had a strong charge up the right wing, and while Ireland’s progress was halted by some frustrating penalties, Portarlington starlet Fitzpatrick provided some urgency off the bench and surged over from a ruck for a late consolation score.

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (Rugby Europe Sevens Championship Series – Leg 2, Hamburg Sevens, Germany, Friday, July 7-Sunday, July 9, 2023):

Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC)
Alanna Fitzpatrick (Portarlington RFC/Blackrock College RFC) *
Clare Gorman (Old Belvedere RFC)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC) (capt)
Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)
Lucinda Kinghan (Railway Union RFC)
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)
Amy Larn (Athy RFC) *
Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC)
Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC)
Ava Ryder (Railway Union RFC) *
Emma Tilly (MU Barnhall RFC/Old Belvedere RFC) *

* Denotes uncapped player

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Schedule – Hamburg Sevens:

Friday, July 7 –

POOL C:

IRELAND 32 PORTUGAL 5, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Eve Higgins 3, Katie Heffernan, Kate Farrell McCabe, Clare Gorman; Con: Kate Farrell McCabe
Portugal: Try: Mariana Santos
HT: Ireland 22 Portugal 0

Watch Match Video

Team: Claire Boles, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Eve Higgins (capt), Alanna Fitzpatrick, Clare Gorman.

Subs used: Lucinda Kinghan, Aoibheann Reilly, Ava Ryder, Emma Tilly. Not used: Amy Larn.

IRELAND 19 ITALY 24, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Eve Higgins 2, Claire Boles; Cons: Kate Farrell McCabe 2
Italy: Tries: Aura Muzzo 2, Beatrice Capomaggi, Laura Paganini; Cons: Laura Paganini, Gaia Buso
HT: Ireland 12 Italy 12

Watch Match Video

Team: Claire Boles, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Eve Higgins (capt), Alanna Fitzpatrick, Clare Gorman.

Subs used: Aoibheann Reilly, Lucinda Kinghan. Not used: Ava Ryder, Emma Tilly, Amy Larn.

Day 1 Round-Up: Ireland Sevens Youngsters Given Valuable Game-Time In Hamburg Heat

Saturday, July 8 –

POOL C:

IRELAND 17 POLAND 12, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Clare Gorman, Eve Higgins, Lucinda Kinghan; Con: Kate Farrell McCabe
Poland: Tries: Ilona Zaisliuc, Julia Druzgala; Con: Natalia Pamieta
HT: Ireland 7 Poland 7

Watch Match Video

Team: Claire Boles, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Eve Higgins (capt), Alanna Fitzpatrick, Clare Gorman.

Subs used: Emma Tilly, Lucinda Kinghan, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Amy Larn. Not used: Ava Ryder.

CUP QUARTER-FINAL:

IRELAND 19 BELGIUM 22, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Kate Farrell McCabe, Aoibheann Reilly, Lucinda Kinghan; Cons: Kate Farrell McCabe 2
Belgium: Tries: Cecile Blondiau 3, Emilie Musch; Cons: Ella Amory
HT: Ireland 7 Belgium 17

Watch Match Video

Team: Claire Boles, Katie Heffernan, Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Eve Higgins (capt), Alanna Fitzpatrick, Clare Gorman.

Subs used: Aoibheann Reilly, Lucinda Kinghan, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Amy Larn. Not used: Ava Ryder.

Day 2 Round-Up: Young Ireland Squad Take Lessons From Hamburg Quarter-Final Defeat

Sunday, July 9 –

5TH-8TH PLACE SEMI-FINAL:

CZECHIA 29 IRELAND 12, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Czechia: Tries: Petra Vackova, Anezka-Marta Sladkova 3, Vera Gartnerova; Cons: Julie Dolezilova 2
Ireland: Tries: Erin King, Eve Higgins; Con: Kate Farrell McCabe
HT: Czechia 10 Ireland 7

Watch Match Video

Team: Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Lucinda Kinghan, Erin King, Aoibheann Reilly, Kate Farrell McCabe, Eve Higgins (capt), Clare Gorman.

Subs used: Alanna Fitzpatrick, Emma Tilly, Ava Ryder, Katie Heffernan. Not used: Claire Boles.

7TH-8TH PLACE PLAY-OFF:

GERMANY 15 IRELAND 5, Sportpark Steinwiesenweg, Hamburg
Scorers: Germany: Tries: Mette Zimmat, Steffi Gruber, Sophie Hacker
Ireland: Try: Alanna Fitzpatrick
HT: Germany 10 Ireland 0

Watch Match Video

Team: Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Lucinda Kinghan, Erin King, Aoibheann Reilly, Kate Farrell McCabe, Eve Higgins (capt), Clare Gorman.

Subs used: Claire Boles, Katie Heffernan, Alanna Fitzpatrick, Emma Tilly, Ava Ryder.