Wicklow native Vicky Elmes Kinlan drives forward for Ireland during the second half of their quarter-final against Australia ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
The Ireland Women’s Sevens team were overrun by Australia in tonight’s Olympic quarter-final clash, falling to a 40-7 defeat with Béibhinn Parsons forced off early in the second half through injury.
Parsons had helped Ireland to go toe-to-toe with this season’s HSBC SVNS champions in the earlier Pool B match, as the narrow 19-14 loss was enough for Allan Temple-Jones’ side to reach the last-eight of Paris 2024.
However, Australia were in dominant form under the Stade de France floodlights as a Maddison Levi hat-trick inspired a 26-0 half-time lead. They scored six tries in all, with Stacey Flood’s 12th-minute effort the only consolation for Ireland.
Captain and three-time Olympian Charlotte Caslick came in to strengthen the Australians’ starting line-up, with their squad containing six more players from Tokyo 2020, as well as another three-time Olympian in Sharni Smale.
Those greater levels of experience told on the night, and the leadership and skills of injured captain Lucy Mulhall Rock were sorely missed by Olympic newcomers Ireland, despite some tenacious play from Flood and Erin King, in particular.
With the girls in green now set to play hosts France in the 5th-8th bracket tomorrow (kick-off 2pm Irish time), Flood said: “It was not the performance we had been working towards, but credit to Australia, who showed their quality.
“We weren’t able to implement our game-plan and, unfortunately, when you give Australia that amount of possession and time on the ball, they’re going to punish you.
“We have to dust ourselves off now because there are still two games for us tomorrow, and we will want to finish as high as we can.”
Australia repeated their first-minute score from this afternoon’s game, and this time they were clinical in building scoreboard pressure. Maddison Levi won a turnover penalty and took a return pass from her sister Teagan to open the scoring.
Megan Burns provided the bright spark for the Irish attack, shrugging off Teagan Levi to burst past halfway. She popped up again to combine with Flood, and Parsons also carried well to reach the Australian 22.
Nonetheless, Ireland were stung when Caslick won a penalty at the breakdown and Teagan Levi launched a break downfield that was finished off by her sibling for a 12-0 lead, four minutes in.
It got worse for Temple-Jones’ charges when Flood knocked on in a tackle from Tia Hinds, and the Australians were simply lethal on the counter attack again. This time a switch move saw Faith Nathan release Maddison Levi to complete her hat-trick.
With Sariah Paki getting in behind Parsons, the Irish jumper, to win the restart, Nathan’s fast feet in midfield took her past Eve Higgins to run in Australia’s fourth unanswered try just before the interval.
Ireland’s rotten luck with injuries continued when Parsons, having won an early second half turnover, than fell badly on her right leg when tackled by Paki a few phases later. The crowd showed their appreciation as she hobbled off.
Paki provided the assist for Nasser to extend the lead to 33 points, and it was replacement Vicky Elmes Kinlan who lifted Ireland in response with a powerful break past halfway. Higgins took up the baton by ghosting around the outside and reaching the 22.
The ball was retained in determined fashion after King had barged up within five metres of the try-line, and Kathy Baker, another of the replacements, got the ball to Flood who handed off Dominique du Toit to score out wide on the left.
Higgins nailed the difficult conversion from 32 metres out, yet Australia took their tally to 40 points in end. They broke from deep with Terita staying clear of the newly-introduced Amy Larn to score from her own 22.
Kathy Baker (Blackrock College RFC)
Megan Burns (Blackrock College RFC)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC)
Alanna Fitzpatrick (Portarlington RFC/Blackrock College RFC)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC)
Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC)
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC)
Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC)
Ashleigh Orchard (Cooke RFC)
Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC)
Lucy Mulhall Rock (Wicklow RFC) (capt)
Travelling Reserves:
Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC)
Amy Larn (Athy RFC)
Sunday, July 28 –
POOL B:
IRELAND 12 GREAT BRITAIN 21, Stade de France
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe 2; Con: Lucy Mulhall Rock
Great Britain: Tries: Isla Norman-Bell, Jasmine Joyce, Emma Uren; Cons: Isla Norman-Bell 3
HT: Ireland 12 Great Britain 7
Time Line: 3 minutes – Ireland try: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe – 5-0; conversion: missed by Lucy Mulhall Rock – 5-0; 4 mins – Great Britain try: Isla Norman-Bell – 5-5; conversion: Isla Norman-Bell – 5-7; 7+3 mins – Ireland try: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe – 10-7; conversion: Lucy Mulhall Rock – 12-7; Half-time – Ireland 12 Great Britain 7; 8 mins – Great Britain try: Jasmine Joyce – 12-12; conversion: Isla Norman-Bell – 12-14; 10 mins – Great Britain try: Emma Uren – 12-19; conversion: Isla Norman-Bell – 12-21; Full-time – Ireland 12 Great Britain 21
Team: Béibhinn Parsons, Stacey Flood, Erin King, Emily Lane, Lucy Mulhall Rock (capt), Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.
Replacements used: Eve Higgins for King (half-time), King for Burns (13 mins). Not used: Ashleigh Orchard, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Alanna Fitzpatrick, Kathy Baker.
IRELAND 38 SOUTH AFRICA 0, Stade de France
Scorers: Ireland: Tries: Béibhinn Parsons 2, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Stacey Flood, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Eve Higgins; Cons: Lucy Mulhall Rock, Stacey Flood 3
South Africa: –
HT: Ireland 7 South Africa 0
Time Line: 6 minutes – Ireland try: Béibhinn Parsons – 5-0; conversion: Lucy Mulhall Rock – 7-0; Half-time – Ireland 7 South Africa 0; 8 mins – Ireland try: Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe – 12-0; conversion: Stacey Flood – 14-0; 10 mins – Ireland try: Stacey Flood – 19-0; conversion: Stacey Flood – 21-0; 12 mins – Ireland try: Béibhinn Parsons – 26-0; conversion: Stacey Flood – 28-0; 14 mins – Ireland try: Vicky Elmes Kinlan – 33-0; conversion: missed by Eve Higgins – 33-0; 14+1 mins – Ireland try: Eve Higgins – 38-0; conversion: missed by Eve Higgins – 38-0; Full-time – Ireland 38 South Africa 0
Team: Béibhinn Parsons, Stacey Flood, Erin King, Emily Lane, Lucy Mulhall Rock (capt), Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe.
Replacements used: Eve Higgins for Mulhall Rock (7 mins), Vicky Elmes Kinlan for Parsons, Kathy Baker for Flood (both 12), Ashleigh Orchard for King, Alanna Fitzpatrick for Murphy Crowe (both 14).
Monday, July 29 –
POOL B:
AUSTRALIA 19 IRELAND 14, Stade de France
Scorers: Australia: Tries: Faith Nathan, Teagan Levi, Maddison Levi; Cons: Teagan Levi, Tia Hinds
Ireland: Tries: Eve Higgins 2; Cons: Eve Higgins 2
HT: Australia 12 Ireland 7
Time Line: 1 minute – Australia try: Faith Nathan – 5-0; conversion: Teagan Levi – 7-0; 6 mins – Ireland try: Eve Higgins – 7-5; conversion: Eve Higgins – 7-7; 7+1 mins – Australia try: Teagan Levi – 12-7; conversion: missed by Teagan Levi; Half-time – Australia 12 Ireland 7; 9 mins – Australia try: Maddison Levi – 17-7; conversion: Tia Hinds – 19-7; 12 mins – Australia yellow card: Tia Hinds; 14 mins – Ireland try: Eve Higgins – 19-12; conversion: Eve Higgins – 19-14; Full-time – Australia 19 Ireland 14
Team: Béibhinn Parsons, Erin King, Eve Higgins, Emily Lane, Stacey Flood, Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (capt).
Replacements used: Kathy Baker for Burns (10 mins). Not used: Ashleigh Orchard, Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Alanna Fitzpatrick, Amy Larn.
QUARTER-FINAL:
AUSTRALIA 40 IRELAND 7, Stade de France
Scorers: Australia: Tries: Maddison Levi 3, Faith Nathan, Isabella Nasser, Bienne Terita; Cons: Tia Hinds 4, Dominique du Toit
Ireland: Try: Stacey Flood; Con: Eve Higgins
HT: Australia 26 Ireland 0
Time Line: 1 minute – Australia try: Maddison Levi – 5-0; conversion: missed by Tia Hinds – 5-0; 4 mins – Australia try: Maddison Levi – 10-0; conversion: Tia Hinds – 12-0; 6 mins – Australia try: Maddison Levi – 17-0; conversion: Tia Hinds – 19-0; 7 mins – Australia try: Faith Nathan – 24-0; conversion: Tia Hinds – 26-0; Half-time – Australia 26 Ireland 0; 9 mins – Australia try: Isabella Nasser – 31-0; conversion: Tia Hinds – 33-0; 12 mins – Ireland try: Stacey Flood – 33-5; conversion: Eve Higgins – 33-7; 14 mins – Australia try: Bienne Terita – 38-7; conversion: Dominique du Toit – 40-7; Full-time – Australia 40 Ireland 7
Team: Béibhinn Parsons, Erin King, Eve Higgins, Emily Lane, Stacey Flood, Megan Burns, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (capt).
Replacements used: Vicky Elmes Kinlan for Parsons (8 mins), Kathy Baker for Burns (10), Amy Larn for Murphy Crowe, Ashleigh Orchard for King (both 13). Not used: Alanna Fitzpatrick.
Tuesday, July 30 –
5TH PLACE SEMI-FINAL:
FRANCE v IRELAND, Stade de France, kick-off 3pm local time/2pm Irish time
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