Ireland Women enjoyed a winning end to the Atlanta stage of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, picking up some silverware with victory in the Bowl Final.
Having finished Day 1 without a win Ireland went forward into the Bowl semi final in Day 2 where they faced, old foes, Spain, one of their main challengers for Olympic Sevens qualification.
Ireland went down to an early score by Bueso Gonez but with their passes finally sticking and, more importantly, with much improved competition at the breakdown, the Irish team hit back with tries from Murphy Crowe and Mulhall to take a 10 – 5 lead into the break.
Ireland’s upward trajectory continued in the second half with Murphy Crowe crossing for her second, converted by Mulhall, and Ireland closed the game out for a 17 – 5 win and progression to the final against Japan.
The Irish girls were again slow out of the blocks conceding an early try to Yamanaka but they hit back through Naoupu, converted by Mulhall, to take a 7 – 5 lead. It looked as though their challenge might fall apart as Japan crossed for their second through Kuwai with Kim Flood yellow carded for a high tackle. However, despite being a player down, Ireland hit back with try from Murphy Crowe to take a 12 – 10 lead into the break.
A quick burst of tries from O’Flynn and Mulhall, both converted by Mulhall made the game safe for Ireland before Mitsugi crossed at the end for a consolation score for the Japanese, giving a final score of Ireland 26 Japan 15.
Ireland Women’s Sevens Squad (Atlanta): Ashleigh Baxter, Katie Fitzhenry, Kim Flood, Stacey Flood, Claire Keohane, Alison Miller, Lucy Mulhall, Amee Leigh Crowe, Sene Naoupu, Audrey O’Flynn, Hannah Tyrrell, Megan Williams.
Olympic Consequences
As I’d said in my preview Ireland need to gauge their performance against their main competitors for Olympic Qualification, namely Spain and Russia, and despite a dismal Day 1 I’d say they are fairly satisfied with progress.
They produced their best performance of Day 1 in a 7 – 10 loss to Russia and finally got the Spanish hoodoo of their back with a convincing 17 – 5 win on Day 2 to record a 9th place finish, their best in the World Series this season.
So about one and a half boxes ticked on their pre-competition wish list and, in Day 2 at least, it was achieved by Ireland being much more physical at the break down. However, Russia went on to record a 6th place finish and Ireland will have to ramp it up to the next level if they are to continue their progress at Langford, Canada, this coming weekend.
