Round Four, Six Nations – Ireland v England
Musgrave Park, Cork
Result: Ireland 0 England 48 Player of the Match: Sarah Beckett
That scoreline doesn’t look positive for the Irish, but, remember, some pundits were forecasting a first-ever century in a Six Nations game. The Red Roses, for all their superiority, didn’t get halfway.
The background to this game threatened to overshadow the action on the field. Managements and pundits had made comments that set tongues waggings. It was doom and gloom all over the island.
When Ali Donnelly spoke of the Ireland team as ‘engulfed.. in dread’, then the 6N board had to sit up and take notice. The trouble is, they were already well aware of the dangers, but till now haven’t been able to find an easy escape-hatch. Would this be another walk-over?
No!
At two minutes the answer looked more like Yes! Very quick handling saw Sarah Beckett (playing lock today) cross for an opening try on the left wing. The players to ship the ball on to her were the two wingers! Such is England’s versatility.
From here England’s play alternated between excellent and careless. Penalties were conceded at the scrum, ambitious passes didn’t find their target. Ireland were playing with huge heart, enough to give an enthusiastic crowd real hope. But they too suffered from inaccuracy, the line-out proving a major stumbling-block. Where was Cliodhna Moloney? No, I’ve asked that silly question before.
England were intent on spreading the ball fast and wide, helped by Holly Aitchison’s great vision. Both her passes and kicks asked serious questions of the defences. She spun a wonderful pass to Tatyana Heard who forced her way over on the far left.
Beckett made another big break and off-loaded to Heard to keep the move going. Fine handling saw Claudia Macdonald slip the ball on at the last gasp to Ellie Kildunne for another score, but Lagi Tuima hadn’t packed her kicking boots for this trip. That apart, her centre-partnership with Heard has proved one of the Red Roses’ biggest plusses.
Marlie Packer got yet another try, her sixth, fastening on to a quick serve from Mo Hunt. Both Hunt and Beckett played so well that you were left wondering once more about their lack of an invitation to a recent party.
Double injury
Amidst these positives came two big set-backs: first Hannah Botterman then the skipper both went down with injuries that looked like too big a challenge for medicos and physios to correct inside a week. Neither returned to action, so England’s famed depth of talent will be tested once more.
On the half-hour Ireland entered the opposition’s 22 for the first time. They mounted a drive, but it was held, the ball turned over and Aitchison sent it winging downfield again.
Before the break Morwenna Talling, just on as a replacement for Packer, found herself in possession of the ball as her chums drove her over the line for a bonus point. At last Tuima managed a conversion.
A striking contrast at the line-out: Connie Powell was close to faultless with the throw, Neve Jones almost the opposite. And Powell is at best third choice hooker for England.
Half-time: 0-27
This was a decisive lead but not an argument for a clear-cut win next week back at home. Indeed Ireland then kept England scoreless for a good half-hour, as they showed real spirit to prove the doomsayers wrong.
In the process the Red Roses grew more anxious: why weren’t they scoring as usual? This led to more errors, some forced, plenty unforced.
Simon Middleton shared these concerns: he sent Delaney Burns, Amber Reed and Helena Rowland on (the latter two for their first appearance this tournament).
By another stroke of irony it was that player left watching the World Cup on TV, Reed, who forced her way over for the next try – and by now she was the captain, Zoe Aldcroft having been replaced.
English errors continued; so did Irish pugnacity. Macdonald won’t be happy with her error-count. One long pass to Kildunne saw the ball sail over her head into touch. Who said: ‘Don’t worry, it’ll all be right on the night?’
The last ten minutes saw England’s basic superiority rewarded: Kildunne went over for her second, and Alex Matthews, who had a fine game as the fourth/fifth/sixth choice No 8 (?), drove over triumphantly for two late scores.
Her opposite number, Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, made another positive impression for the new-look Irish side. Molly Scuffil-McCabe looked much more decisive at 9 than last week.
There were plenty of errors from the Girls in Green, but overall the crowd must have been impressed with the whole- hearted approach on view. There is only so much you can expect from a squad so lacking in big- match experience.
One hopeful pointer for England was Rowland’s place-kicking near the end. She was spared the wide-angled conversions facing Tuima, but both her handling and kicking make such a difference to the overall picture.
This wasn’t the result England wanted or expected. The central question is whether they can rectify the faults before next week’s encounter, on which so much hangs.
Teams:
Ireland:
15. Lauren Delany, 14. Aoife Doyle, 13. Aoife Dalton, 12. Vicky Irwin, 11. Natasja Behan, 10. Dannah O’Brien, 9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe, 1. Linda Djougang, 2. Neve Jones, 3. Christy Haney, 4. Nichola Fryday (captain), 5. Sam Monaghan, 6. Brittany Hogan, 7. Grace Moore, 8. Deirbhile Nic a Bháird
Bench:
16. Clara Nielson, 17. Sadhbh McGrath, 18. Kathryn Buggy, 19. Hannah O’Connor, 20. Brittany Hogan, 21. Ailsa Hughes, 22. Anna McGann, 23. Méabh Deely
(No 21, Nicole Cronin replaced late on)
England
15. Ellie Kildunne, 14. Abby Dow, 13. Lagi Tuima, 12. Tatyana Heard, 11. Claudia MacDonald, 10. Holly Aitchison, 9. Natasha Hunt, 1. Hannah Botterman, 2. Connie Powell, 3. Maud Muir, 4. Zoe Aldcroft, 5. Sarah Beckett, 6. Sadia Kabeya, 7. Marlie Packer (captain, 8. Alex Matthews
Bench:
16. Lark Davies, 17. Mackenzie Carson, 18. Sarah Bern, 19. Delaney Burns , 20. Morwenna Talling, 21. Lucy Packer, 22. Amber Reed, 23. Helena Rowland
Officials:
Referee: Lauren Jenner (FIR)
ARs: Beatrice Benvenuti (FIR) & Maria Pacifico (FIR) TMO: Andrew McMenemy (SRU)
Table to date:
Table W L Pts
England 4 0 20
France 3 0 15
Wales 2 1 9
Scotland 1 3 5
Italy 1 3 4
Ireland 0 3 0
Afterthoughts
The last thing the Irish needed was to have the Red Roses come to town determined to play flat out. The visitors had too much at stake: a crunch in front of 50,000 spectators at HQ a week later and the added fear of losing their prized first place in world rankings.
The build-up to this game was the most depressing many of us could remember for a long time. Players had turned off their social media contacts, pundits were expecting an outsize result, one even hinting the match shouldn’t take place on safety grounds. And this in a country that sits top of the world – in the men’s game.
While anonymous broadsides on social media could be dismissed out of hand, it was harder to disregard the reactions of sponsors, their contributions are vital.
Lynne Cantwell’s calm summary of the status quo was noticeable for her use of the phrase ‘Year One’. If a national squad suffers a large number of retirements after a World Cup, or if a new coaching team moves in, then we can all understand the reasons for a restart. But not surely at this stage of the programme.
