Captain Rock Injured During Ireland Women’s LA 7s Opener

The Ireland Women’s Sevens team (sponsored by TritonLake) were well beaten by HSBC SVNS Series leaders Australia in their opening game of the Los Angeles Sevens tournament.

In what was the teams’ first meeting since Ireland’s historic Cup final win in Perth, Australia exacted some revenge by dishing out a 31-0 defeat to Allan Temple-Jones’ side.

The heavy loss was compounded by captain Lucy Rock’s worrying injury which was caused by a double cleanout. The Ireland Women are already without record try scorer Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, who is unfortunately injured for their LA debut.

The result leaves the ninth place finishers in Vancouver with ground to make up in Pool B. Katie Heffernan and Series newcomer Alana Fitzpatrick have come into the squad this week, replacing Murphy Crowe, who has her right hand in a cast, and Vikki Wall.

The girls in green are back in action on Saturday against France at Dignity Health Sports Park at 8.04pm Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV), before closing out the pool stages against Japan at 12.18am Irish time.

The Women’s Series has returned to the USA for the first time since Glendale in 2020. Ireland fell behind to a second-minute try from Maddison Levi, who was invited inside off the left wing by Faith Nathan’s neat switch.

A costly penalty at the breakdown robbed Ireland of momentum, having reached the opposition 22 through Vicky Elmes Kinlan before Rock (nee Mulhall) set up Megan Burns to make ground off a scrum.

Levi broke free to double Australia’s lead to 14 points, and past the half-time hooter, they pushed further clear. An Irish attack broke down, allowing Isabella Nasser to sidestep through and hold off Béibhinn Parsons’ last-ditch tackle to score.

With Ireland trailing 19-0 at the break, replacement Erin King swept up a loose Australian pass to exert some early pressure. Eve Higgins brought the attack to within eight metres of the opposition try-line before Rock unfortunately knocked on.

Australia coughed up turnover ball themselves, allowing Elmes Kinlan to bring play up to five metres away. While protecting the ball, Rock was hit hard by Tia Hinds and Sariah Paki’s cleanout attempts, causing the Ireland skipper to almost do the splits as the weight came down on her.

She had to be helped off and, in her absence, Dominique du Toit created an opening for Nathan to go over out wide. Lily Dick’s rip in a tackle on Aoibheann Reilly led to Levi completing her hat-trick late on, with Hinds adding her third successful conversion.

You can watch all of the HSBC SVNS Series matches for free on RugbyPass TV, while there will be coverage of Ireland’s progress in California across the new @Ireland7s social media channels, and in our Ireland Sevens hub: irishrugby.ie/ireland7s.

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (HSBC SVNS Series – Los Angeles 7s, Dignity Health Sports Park, Los Angeles, Friday, March 1-Sunday, March 3, 2024):

Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)
Alanna Fitzpatrick (Portarlington RFC/Blackrock College RFC)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC)
Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)
Lucinda Kinghan (Railway Union RFC)
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)
Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)
Kate Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC)
Lucy Rock (Wicklow RFC) (capt)
Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC)
Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC)

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Schedule – HSBC SVNS Series – Los Angeles:

Friday, March 1 –

POOL B:

AUSTRALIA 31 IRELAND 0, Dignity Health Sports Park
Scorers: Australia: Tries: Maddison Levi 3, Isabella Nasser, Faith Nathan; Cons: Tia Hinds 3
Ireland: –
HT: Australia 19 Ireland 0

Team: Béibhinn Parsons, Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Emily Lane, Lucy Rock (capt), Megan Burns, Vicky Elmes Kinlan.

Replacements used: Erin King, Kate Farrell McCabe, Aoibheann Reilly. Not used: Katie Heffernan, Lucinda Kinghan.

Saturday, March 2 –

POOL B:

FRANCE v IRELAND, Dignity Health Sports Park, 12.04pm local time/8.04pm Irish time

IRELAND v JAPAN, Dignity Health Sports Park, 4.18pm local time/12.18am Irish time

PLAY-OFFS

Sunday, March 3 –

PLAY-OFFS & RANKING MATCHES