England Women continued their fine start to the new season with a gritty 10-12 win over Ireland at University College Dublin on Sunday.
The Red Roses took the lead through the record-breaking Rochelle Clark after an opening 20 minutes where possession was shared between the two sides across the centre of the field.
Clark made history by becoming England’s most-capped player earning her 115th international cap for the game, overtaking Jason Leonard.
She marked the occasion with a well-taken try six minutes before the break, after Vicky Fleetwood broke from the back of a maul but was hauled down five metres short of the line.
The Worcester Valkyries prop then collected the ball and dragged herself over the line.
England were pegged back by a Nora Stapleton penalty on the stroke of half-time and the home side went on to take the lead after the break through a well-taken Stapleton score. Her conversion then sailed through the uprights to give Ireland a five-point advantage.
However, the Red Roses refused to lie down and they levelled late on through an Izzy Noel-Smith try, and after Katy Mclean’s converted from out wide, they went ahead again.
Simon Middleton’s side defiantly held on for the remainder of the match, and they have now won four of their last five meetings between the two sides, moving up to number two in the world rankings in the process ahead of Canada.
England will next face New Zealand on Saturday (kick-off 12 noon) at Twickenham Stoop in the second match of the Old Mutual Wealth Series before playing Canada on 26 November at Twickenham in a rematch of the 2014 World Cup final.
Of the win, Middleton said: ““It was a very scrappy game, but we showed guts and great spirit to find a way to win again like we did against France on Wednesday night.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, but we’re at the start of the journey with this group and one thing that we really need to know about is character. We’ve found that out over the last couple of games and it’s no mean achievement to come to Ireland and beat them on their own patch.”
With the prospect of meeting the world’s number one side on Saturday, he added: “We’ll go back to England now and be on our home turf, but we have to improve our execution. We know what the Kiwis are going to bring in terms of physicality, it goes without saying you have to match that. Our execution across the park needs to be better and it will be.”
On her landmark at the venue that will host the pool games of next year’s World Cup, 35-year-old Clark said: “To be the most-capped player now is fantastic. I’ve really enjoyed the day and it must be the luck of the Irish that I managed to squeeze over the line.
“It was amazing running out on my own and hearing the cheers of the crowd before the game. I’m very proud of the girls for digging deep and getting the win.
“We want to get a few more wins on this pitch during the World Cup next year. It was a really tough game but it was great to experience this arena and we’ve set our marker here now.”
Ireland 10 – 12 England
Tries: Clark, Noel-Smith
Conversion: Mclean
England match-day 23 against Ireland
15 Danielle Waterman (Bristol, 62 caps)
14 Kay Wilson (Richmond, 38 caps)
13 Claire Allan (Saracens, 34 caps, Mclean 64)
12 Rachael Burford (Aylesford Bulls, 58 caps, Large 69)
11 Fiona Pocock (Aylesford Bulls, 31 caps)
10 Emily Scott (Saracens, 14 caps)
9 La Toya Mason (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 58 caps, Hunt 52)
1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester Valkyries, 115 caps, Cornborough, 55)
2 Vicky Fleetwood (Saracens, 53 caps)
3 Laura Keates (Worcester Valkyries, 54 caps, Lucas 55)
4 Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 96 caps)
5 Harriet Millar-Mills (Lichfield, 36 caps, Cleall 69)
6 Izzy Noel-Smith (Bristol, 22 caps)
7 Marlie Packer (Bristol, 38 caps, Cokayne, 44)
8 Sarah Hunter (Bristol, 83 caps) (c)
16 Amy Cokayne (Lichfield, 18 caps)
17 Vickii Cornborough (Aylesford Bulls, 19 caps)
18 Sarah Bern (Bristol, 3 caps)
19 Poppy Cleall (Bristol, 5 caps)
20 Justine Lucas (Lichfield, 13 caps)
21 Natasha Hunt (Lichfield, 31 caps)
22 Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks, 79 caps)
23 Ceri Large (Worcester Valkyries, 52caps)
Old Mutual Wealth Series
England 10 – 5 France
Wednesday 9 November
Twickenham Stoop
England v New Zealand, Saturday 19 November
Twickenham Stoop, KO 12pm
Tickets available here
England v Canada, Saturday 26 November
Twickenham, KO 5.05pm
FREE entry after the conclusion of the men’s game
Report courtesy of England Rugby
