Ireland Women’s Winning Start Ended By Five-Try England

Reigning champions England ran in five unanswered tries to triumph 27-0 in Doncaster and end Ireland’s winning start to the 2020 Women’s Six Nations.

With their power-packed scrum and maul proving hugely influential, Simon Middleton’s well-drilled side took a 22-0 interval lead with Abby Dow, Jess Breach and Vicky Fleetwood all crossing to add to captain Sarah Hunter’s opening third-minute try.

Ireland were held scoreless from over 60% first half possession, some hesitancy in attack and lineout errors letting them down. It was a much-improved defensive showing after the break – especially when you consider Adam Griggs’ charges lost 51-7 to England last season – and they restricted the English to a Sarah McKenna score on the hour mark.

Griggs’ counterpart Middleton had called for an explosive start from the Red Roses and they duly responded. Their forwards quickly got over the gain-line, winger Breach was tackled short near the left corner before a surging five-metre scrum gave number 8 Hunter a simple finish from the base.

After Emily Scarratt’s conversion, Ireland had good territory on the back of Claire Keohane’s clever kick to pin the hosts back. They solidified their scrum and got decent possession in their hands before a heavy tackle forced loosehead Lindsay Peat off.

However, England marched forward menacingly from a 13th-minute maul, Scarratt then coming in on an angle to beat the first tackle. From only their second visit to the Irish 22, they worked a two-on-one out wide where full-back McKenna put Dow over to make it 12-0.

Ireland’s progress was thwarted by a lineout steal in the swirling cross-field wind, while England were succeeding in making a mess of the breakdown. Their set piece dominance led to another unconverted try, 27 minutes in, as they worked the ball wide for Breach to get over past Lauren Delany’s tackle.

Ireland hooker Cliodhna Moloney stood out for her industry, particularly in defence, but she suffered another lineout loss as the ball went off captain Ciara Griffin’s fingertips. Eimear Considine let a kick slip through her grasp and needed Delany to rescue the situation from a Dow hack-through.

Kathryn Dane, who was under near-constant pressure at the base of rucks, and Keohane could not make much distance with clearance kicks, and England built for a strong finish to the half. A quick tap got them into scoring range – Griffin and replacement Laura Feely held them up – before that dominant maul drove Fleetwood over for the bonus point try.

A costly turnover ruined Ireland’s encouraging start to the second period which included a scrum penalty. England continued to win the collisions, with player-of-the-match Zoe Aldcroft to the fore, but just when they were building momentum for another potential score, Keohane denied them with a vital interception.

A forward pass from Scarratt prevented Dow from doubling her tally, but the title holders did end a scrappy third quarter with try number five. After pressurising Ireland at scrum time, Dow’s quickly-taken lineout saw them punch some holes in the defence before Katy Daley-Mclean’s pass put McKenna stepping in past Moloney’s tired tackle.

After the wind swerved Scarratt’s conversion attempt wide of the posts, lively replacement Natasha Hunt swiftly got England back on the attack with a quick tap and weaving run. Ireland were caught too lateral when they had ball in hand, their lack of a line-break their most frustrating statistic of the day.

Sene Naoupu finally charged into some space following an Edel McMahon turnover, but England mastered the breakdown again and then it took some tidy work by Considine to deny Dow on a kick chase. The remainder of the game was error-strewn and vice-captain Naoupu’s departure for a head/neck knock added to Ireland’s injury concerns.

Giving her reaction afterwards, Ireland skipper Griffin said: “It was a tough shift, a massively physical game out there. England played some good rugby. It’s not the result that we wanted, but I must say it’s a big jump from last year for us as a group.

“We’re looking to build up in our processes, build up in our ‘D’, and you could see that today although they got the points. It’s a much better performance than last year for us.

“We’ve two more games coming up (against Italy and France), and that’s a good build-up for those next two games as well. We’re going to be hungry, we’ve things to work on, things to fix, but a lot of positives to pull from it. Well done to England, they deserved the win today.”

TIME LINE: 3 minutes – England try: Sarah Hunter – 5-0; conversion: Emily Scarratt – 7-0; 14 mins – England try: Abby Dow – 12-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 12-0; 27 mins – England try: Jess Breach – 17-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 17-0; 40 mins – England try: Vicky Fleetwood – 22-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 22-0; Half-time – England 22 Ireland 0; 59 mins – England try: Sarah McKenna – 27-0; conversion: missed by Emily Scarratt – 27-0; Full-time – England 27 Ireland 0

ENGLAND WOMEN: Sarah McKenna (Saracens); Abby Dow (Wasps), Emily Scarratt (Loughborough Lightning), Amber Reed (Bristol Bears), Jess Breach (Harlequins); Katy Daley-Mclean (Loughborough Lightning), Leanne Riley (Harlequins); Vickii Cornborough (Harlequins), Lark Davies (Loughborough Lightning), Sarah Bern (Bristol Bears), Poppy Cleall (Saracens), Zoe Aldcroft (Gloucester-Hartpury), Sarah Beckett (Harlequins), Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens), Sarah Hunter (Loughborough Lightning) (capt).

Replacements used: Amy Cokayne (Harlequins/RAF) for Davies, Shaunagh Brown (Harlequins) for Bern, Natasha Hunt (Gloucester-Hartpury) for Riley (all 55 mins), Harriet Millar-Mills (Wasps) for Beckett (63), Zoe Harrison (Saracens) for Daley-Mclean, Amelia Harper (Loughborough Lightning) for Fleetwood, Emily Scott (Harlequins) for McKenna, Detysha Harper (Loughborough Lightning) for Cornborough (all 65).

IRELAND WOMEN: Eimear Considine (UL Bohemians/Munster); Lauren Delany (Firwood Waterloo Ladies/IQ Rugby), Sene Naoupu (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster), Aoife Doyle (Railway Union/Munster); Claire Keohane (Railway Union/Munster), Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere/Ulster); Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/Leinster), Cliodhna Moloney (Wasps/IQ Rugby), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Aoife McDermott (Railway Union/Leinster), Judy Bobbett (Blackrock/Leinster), Ciara Griffin (UL Bohemians/Munster) (capt), Edel McMahon (Wasps/Connacht/IQ Rugby), Anna Caplice (Harlequins/IQ Rugby) (13).

Replacements used: Laura Feely (Galwegians/Connacht) for Peat (13 mins), Ciara Cooney (Railway Union/Leinster) for McDermott (48), Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union/Leinster) for Keohane, Leah Lyons (Harlequins/IQ Rugby) for Djougang (both 61), Nicole Cronin (UL Bohemians/Munster) for Dane, Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster) for Doyle (both 63), Victoria Dabanovich-O’Mahony (Old Belvedere/Leinster) for Moloney, Dorothy Wall (Railway Union/Munster) for Caplice (both 66), Doyle for Naoupu (75).

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)