Young forward Erin King charges into space during Ireland's final Pool B match against Australia at the Stade de France ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Eve Higgins scored in each half against Australia as the Ireland Women’s Sevens team, despite losing 19-14, advanced to the quarter-final stage of the Olympic Games for the first time ever.
As the best third-placed team across the pools, the Ireland Women will have a quarter-final rematch with Australia, the Pool B winners, in Paris tonight (kick-off 9.30pm Irish time – live on RTÉ 2/RTÉ Player/BBC iPlayer & Red Button/Eurosport via Discovery Plus).
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Ireland’s leading try scorer from day one, took over as captain following the huge blow of losing Lucy Mulhall Rock to injury. Amy Larn, one of the travelling reserves, has been brought into the squad.
Higgins replaced the Tinahely woman in the starting line-up and turned in an impressive two-try performance, drawing Allan Temple-Jones’ side level in the first half, and then crossing late on after a Tia Hinds yellow card.
Ireland also had a couple of missed opportunities with knock-ons narrowly denying both Béibhinn Parsons and Murphy Crowe, so they can take a lot from their last two games into the quarter-final clash with Australia.
Speaking in the aftermath, Higgins said: “It was a big 14 minutes from the girls, and we knew it was going to be really tough. Australia are one of the best teams in the world and we’d only beaten them once this season and once in the last seven or eight years.
“So, we knew it was going to be huge, and I think we really just wanted to build on the performance we had last night against South Africa.
“I think there’s a lot we can take out of that game to be very proud of, but there’s also a lot we can fix and we probably didn’t capitalise on a lot of chances we had in the 22.”
Faith Nathan gave Australia a flying start in this entertaining pool closer, stepping inside Megan Burns and speeding downfield for a converted try after just 23 seconds.
Nathan’s cousin, Sariah Paki, had secured possession from the kick-off, but Australia’s first restart was gobbled up by an airborne Emily Lane, who was well supported by Erin King.
Ireland had a very good spell of possession as the first half developed, with Stacey Flood showing her playmaking skills and Higgins stepping through into the Australian 22. King’s neat switch had Murphy Crowe threatening through the middle.
Bienne Terita conceded a penalty for a high tackle on Flood close to the Australian try-line. Parsons picked up from the ruck, but Terita did just enough to force a knock-on and prevent the Ballinasloe native from scoring.
Ireland’s crisp attacking was rewarded soon after, as from the scrum, Burns carried initially and then King cleverly sucked in two defenders before offloading for Higgins to crash over and add the levelling conversion.
Australia managed to retake the lead past the half-time hooter, with Maddison Levi and Terita putting them into scoring range. Levi’s younger sister, Teagan, had the pace to finish off a lung-busting set of phases, making it 12-7 at the break.
Early in the second period, Ireland showed how dangerous they can be from quick lineout ball. Burns carried well again, and Parsons did likewise, sending King charging up into the opposition 22 before the Levi sisters scrambled back to halt the attack.
Hinds went quickly from a penalty and had Maddison Levi up in support to run in a sucker-punch of a try, converted by Hinds. With five minutes left, Ireland were now 14 points in arrears.
Murphy Crowe went agonisingly close to cancelling out that score, jinking through the defence off a scrum but just knocking on in the act of scoring, with Teagan Levi getting back to tackle her.
However, a big tackle from Higgins on Teagan Levi, coupled with Flood’s follow-up at the breakdown, saw Ireland force a penalty in response. Hinds was then caught offside near the Australian whitewash for her sin-binning.
Hinds’ team-mates held out until King, who had an excellent game, carried hard inside the 22, and replacement Kathy Baker fed Higgins to step off her right and get past two defenders. She converted her try, leaving it 19-14 with time for a final restart.
Higgins did her best to make it a contestable kick, but Paki got her hands to it, and Maddison Levi, who had returned to the pitch after being replaced, booted the ball to touch to confirm a hard-fought victory for the recent HSBC SVNS champions.
The result meant Ireland missed out on a top two finish in Pool B, but with five pool points and a healthy points difference of +24, they progressed to the quarter-final stage as the seventh-ranked team. Also on five points (-19), China qualified in eighth place.
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 (1st, Pool B) v IRELAND (7th Ranked Team), Stade de France, kick-off 10.30pm local time/9.30pm Irish time
Tuesday, July 30 –
RANKING, SEMI-FINAL & MEDAL MATCHES
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