England v Ireland Under-19 World Cup, Potchefstroom It was great to have a local derby at last. There were anthems, flags, dancing spectators of all ages, but a degree of unfamiliarity. These two sides rarely meet. Grace Scrivens showed the makings of an ideal captain: she won the toss for the fourth time running. Even
Gemma Crowley, the immensely experienced Women’s XVs National Teams Programme Manager for Ireland, has resigned from the post after only six months. This is a stark indication of the difficulties to be overcome before a streamlined operation can be put in place. Crowley was previously Ireland team manager at their greatest moments, Grand Slam winners
Ecopa Stadium, Shizuoka, 20 August 2022 Result: Japan 22 ireland 57 On paper this result might look like a dead certainty, but the Irish were swept off their feet at the start, the Sakura scoring two tries inside five minutes. Edel McMahon was already off the field with a blood injury. Then Ayasa Otsuka kicked
Ireland’s squad of 29 to tour Japan next month has its surprises. Two more ex-Red Roses have switched allegiance, this time to wear the emerald shirt. They are Jo Brown of Worcester Warriors and Clara Nielson of Exeter Chiefs. The second point of interest is the return of those mysterious initials TBC (that is, club
Scotland finished another campaign winless, but how they lost to Ireland at the Kingspan they may still not comprehend. They were in the lead for most of the game, not decisively, but on a day of teeming rain that couldn’t be expected. They got on top straight away, Evie Gallagher finishing off strong drives at
Rumours are running that Irish players will be offered contracts some time in the near future. Then come the questions: How many will be offered? How many will be accepted? Part of that decision will be based on a third question: how much will the contracts be worth? If we were able to see all
There was almost too much emotion at the start of this atmospheric game in front of another record-breaking crowd. England paid the penalty for playing at 100mph when less pressure on the pedal would have led to fewer minor accidents. Leanne Infante (50 caps) had to play second fiddle as Emily Scarratt (100) was welcomed
The stew that the Irish players find themselves in is not entirely Greg McWilliams’ fault. The head coach has had to add seven players to his training squad for the fourth round tie away to England. The IRFU might have already separated off the 7s and 15s divisions, as some distinguished voices have demanded (Phillip
Greg McWilliams’ new-look side ran away from a fault-ridden Italy outfit to record their first win of the series. Italy began well enough, stringing passes together for Beatrice Rigoni to add a telling 50-22 kick. From there they won a penalty in front of the posts. Rigoni kicked the three points to give them an
France came to Toulouse, the beating heart of French rugby, to be greeted by another 5-figure crowd. Ireland had never yet beaten France away from home, and after a quarter of an hour they had enjoyed just 18% possession. As promised by the management, the French team showed seven changes from their victory over Italy.
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