First Half Display Offers Ireland Encouragement Despite Big Defeat

Ireland leaked five tries while down to 14 players as England ruthlessly ran out 69-0 winners of today’s TikTok Women’s Six Nations encounter in Leicester.

Match Photo Gallery: England Women 69 Ireland Women 0

The visitors’ defence was immense during the first half, keeping the reigning champions to 10 points with captain Nichola Fryday, Neve Jones and Edel McMahon putting in huge shifts.

However, an already-depleted Ireland side lost Nicole Cronin and Eimear Considine to injury, while high tackles from Dorothy Wall and Sene Naoupu resulted in yellow and red cards respectively.

Adding to earlier scores from Lark Davies and Sarah Bern, England racked up a big score with Marlie Packer, Davies, Lydia Thompson (2) and replacements Poppy Cleall (2), Hannah Botterman and Ellie Kildunne (2) all touching down during a one-sided second period.

Greg McWilliams’ charges will regroup for their final round showdown with Scotland at Kingspan Stadium next Saturday (kick-off 8pm). Ireland currently sit fourth in the table, a point ahead of Italy and three ahead of the Scots.

England ominously hit the front inside two minutes, Parker, the player-of-the-match, winning a penalty at the breakdown before hooker Davies piled over in the right corner from a well-driven maul.

Abbie Ward had a try ruled out for a prior forward pass, with England seizing upon an overthrown Irish lineout, but the girls in green relieved pressure with a scrum penalty against Vickii Cornborough.

England’s scrum soon began to fire, though, with two big shoves resulting in penalties in Irish territory. The hosts’ handling let them down and Naoupu, McMahon and Dane managed to hold up Bern over the try-line.

Out-half Cronin was first to an overthrown English lineout, but England were territorially dominant and a well-executed 16th-minute drive saw tighthead Bern cross in the right corner to make it 10-0.

Jones, a real energiser for her team, was quickly in at the breakdown to win a penalty in response, bringing Ireland into the hosts’ 22 for the first time. Fryday won the lineout and popped up as a regular carrier during a promising attacking spell.

Leanne Infante was guilty of hands in the ruck, but Cronin pulled the penalty wide of the posts from inside the 22. Jones then made an important tackle on Emily Scarratt, with Enya Breen following up to win a turnover penalty.

Jones did likewise to brilliantly thwart a dangerous counter-attacking run from Helena Rowland, and just when England were on course for another maul try, Aoife McDermott got under the ball to prevent Bern from scoring.

Openside McMahon came to Ireland’s rescue, winning another breakdown decision to spoil a Zoe Aldcroft break, but the injured Cronin had to make way with Blackrock College captain Michelle Claffey coming on. Breen switched to out-half.

Ireland’s determined defence continued to hold firm, an Infante push on Claffey seeing a penalty reversed in the visitors’ favour. Bern went off her feet after Zoe Harrison had threatened, and Molly Scuffil-McCabe, on her debut, chopped down Thompson in a terrific try-saving tackle.

Nonetheless, Packer gave England the ideal start to the second period, shrugging off Scuffil-McCabe and Aoife Doyle to crash over in the left corner. Scarratt also nailed the conversion for a 17-0 lead.

Wall was caught upright in making a 43rd-minute tackle, a clash of heads with the advancing Jess Breach seeing her sin-binned. England swiftly took advantage, Davies barging over with Scarratt converting.

Ireland replied with some sharp play out wide, Considine and Doyle both making metres with the latter benefiting from Breen’s partially blocked kick. Breen and Naoupu ran hard to take them back into the English 22 before Parker got the decision at the breakdown.

England pressed for a fifth try, a slick move off a lineout spreading play out to the right where Rowland’s pass released winger Thompson for the corner, leaving Ireland 29 points behind.

The England forwards, beefed up by the bench, were ramping up the power. After Considine’s error in kicking out on the full, they earned a penalty advantage from a maul before Cleall muscled her way over for Scarratt to convert.

Jones and Hannah O’Connor upped the physicality again with two huge tackles on Rowland and Holly Aitchison respectively, yet England had complete set-piece dominance now and a scrum penalty was followed by Botterman’s score off a maul.

Grace Moore’s rip in the tackle prevented Botterman from completing her brace, yet Ireland suffered a further blow when Considine was stretchered off and Cleall crossing from a heavyweight scrum. Scarratt’s kick racked up the half century.

Railway Union skipper Niamh Byrne came on to win her first cap, but despite good scrambling from Ireland, Kildunne’s impressive pace and footwork took her clear for try number nine, converted by out-half Harrison.

Worse followed for Ireland as Naoupu was dismissed for making contact with Scarratt’s head in a tackle. Kildunne doubled her tally, scoring despite a tackle close to the line from Byrne.

Harrison added a fine conversion to Thompson’s 76th-minute effort, setting England up nicely for their Grand Slam decider away to France.

For Ireland, after giving their all in front of an England home Six Nations record crowd of 15,836, they move to Belfast and a chance to finish the campaign with a second win on home soil.

TIME LINE: 1 minute – England try: Lark Davies – 5-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 5-0; 16 mins – England try: Sarah Bern – 10-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 10-0; 22 mins – Ireland penalty: missed by Nicole Cronin – 10-0; Half-time – England 10 Ireland 0; 41 mins – England try: Marlie Packer – 15-0; conversion: Emily Scarratt – 17-0; 43 mins – Ireland yellow card: Dorothy Wall; 44 mins – England try: Lark Davies – 22-0; conversion: Emily Scarratt – 24-0; 50 mins – England try: Lydia Thompson – 29-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 29-0; 54 mins – England try: Poppy Cleall – 34-0; conversion: Emily Scarratt – 36-0; 60 mins – England try: Hannah Botterman – 41-0; conversion: Emily Scarratt – 43-0; 63 mins – England try: Poppy Cleall – 48-0; conversion: Emily Scarratt – 50-0; 66 mins – England try: Ellie Kildunne – 55-0; conversion: Zoe Harrison – 57-0; 66 mins – Ireland red card: Sene Naoupu; 72 mins – England try: Ellie Kildunne – 62-0; conversion: missed by Zoe Harrison – 62-0; 76 mins – England try: Lydia Thompson – 67-0; conversion: Zoe Harrison – 69-0; Full-time – England 69 Ireland 0

ENGLAND WOMEN: Helena Rowland (Loughborough Lightning); Lydia Thompson (Worcester Warriors), Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning), Holly Aitchison (Saracens), Jess Breach (Harlequins); Zoe Harrison (Saracens), Leanne Infante (Bristol Bears); Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins), Lark Davies (Loughborough Lightning), Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears), Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury), Abbie Ward (Bristol Bears), Alex Matthews (Worcester Warriors), Marlie Packer (Saracens), Sarah Hunter (Loughborough Lightning) (capt).

Replacements used: Ellie Kildunne (Harlequins) for Breach (44 mins), Amy Cokayne (Harlequins) for Davies, Hannah Botterman (Saracens) for Cornborough, Maud Muir (Wasps) for Bern (all 46), Poppy Cleall (Saracens) for Hunter (47), Rosie Galligan (Harlequins) for Ward (56), Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury) for Infante, Amber Reed (Bristol Bears) for Aitchison (both 59), Aitchison for Scarratt (67-79).

IRELAND WOMEN: Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Railway Union RFC/Leinster); Aoife Doyle (Railway Union RFC/Munster), Sene Naoupu (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Enya Breen (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster); Nicole Cronin (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster); Linda Djougang (ASM Romagnat Rugby/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury/Ulster), Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Nichola Fryday (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht) (capt), Aoife McDermott (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College RFC/Munster), Edel McMahon (Wasps/IQ Rugby), Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster).

Replacements used: Michelle Claffey (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) for Cronin (29 mins), Katie O’Dwyer (Railway Union RFC/Leinster) for Haney (42), Grace Moore (Railway Union RFC/IQ Rugby) for McDermott (50), Niamh Byrne (Railway Union RFC/Leinster) for Considine (63), Maeve Óg O’Leary (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) for Wall (65), Emma Hooban (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) for Jones, Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) for Djougang, Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) for Dane (all 73).

Referee: Amber McLachlan (Australia)