Linda Djougang and Ulsterwoman Neve Jones celebrate Ireland’s fifth try by Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird
IRELAND 27 SCOTLAND 21
RICHARD BULLICK AT VIRGIN MEDIA PARK
AN initially rusty Ireland had to fight from 14-0 down as Scott Bemand’s side outscored Scotland by five tries to three in winning their first World Cup warm-up match to the delight of an appreciative Cork crowd on Saturday.
Skipper Sam Monaghan, fellow lock Eimear Corri and star winger Beibhinn Parsons made welcome comebacks from long-term injury, recent convert Nancy McGillivray got a try and teenager Ailish Quinn came on for fellow debutant Ivana Kiripati as the day’s third new cap.
Scotland benefited from already having a match under their belt, albeit losing 34-29 to Italy in a high-scoring game, and were closer to full-strength than hosts Ireland, who had made no fewer than 11 changes to the starting team from their last outing.
That was the ill-fated fixture in Edinburgh at the end of April, when Dorothy Wall ruptured her achilles late in the opening quarter, three Irish players needed concussion checks in the first half – two were failed – and a try with the clock in the red snatched the win for Scotland.
So although this match constituted important preparation for this month’s World Cup, securing a revenge victory over familiar foes means Ireland will head to Belfast for their send-off fixture against Canada this Saturday at Ravenhill (12noon, BBC2) in good spirits.
Bemand is likely to field a very different line-up, including the return of several frontliners who weren’t involved against Scotland in Ireland Player of the Year Aoife Dalton, Monaghan’s co-captain Edel McMahon and first-choice full back Stacey Flood.
The Scottish clash was more about testing depth and giving some more peripheral figures the opportunity to put their hand up for squad selection along with getting big guns Monaghan and Parsons back on the field.
It was always the plan to limit Monaghan to little more than half an hour on her return and she was duly replaced by Fiona Tuite in the engineroom just after the latter’s Ulster team-mate Sadhbh McGrath had bagged Ireland’s first try of the afternoon.
Wearing the green No 3 jersey for the first time and making only the second start of her international career following a difficult debut as an 18-year-old loosehead in the 2023 Six Nations, McGrath relished her outing at Virgin Media Park.
With three defenders trying to hold her up, the young Donegal prop did very well to get the ball grounded, displaying impressive power and determination but also pleasing presence of mind as she claimed an important try for her team.
Dannah O’Brien struck the near post with her conversion attempt but added the extras from the right touchline three minutes later after fullback Meabh Deely crossed in the corner on her first Ireland appearance since the final fixture of the 2024 Six Nations against Scotland.
So Ireland trailed by just two points at the interval and went in front for the first time six minutes after the resumption when a flat pass from O’Brien put McGillivray over for a debut try, though the outhalf frustratingly pushed her conversion attempt past the far post.
O’Brien’s last quarter replacement Enya Breen failed narrowly with both conversion attempts, her first fading just under the bar following Niamh O’Dowd’s touchdown which put Ireland back ahead after Scotland had reclaimed the lead with a great try by Emma Orr.
Breen’s next effort came back off the near upright after fellow Corkonian Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird had bagged Ireland’s fifth try of the day, and that kept the Scots within a score of their hosts in the 78th minute.
The silver lining was that Ireland had to deal with a more acute challenge in seeing the game out than if they had gone eight clear and they duly did so without undue fuss, leaving boss Bemand reasonably content with what his side had delivered overall.
The Ireland head coach had been frustrated that the Italian referee hadn’t gone to the TMO to check for obstruction by Scotland in the lead-up to their second try early in the second quarter, thought the hosts did respond strongly before half-time.
Both Irish scores came after a lengthy stoppage while long-serving Scottish hooker Lana Skeldon received attention before being taken off on the medical cart after sustaining a serious leg injury which will rule her out of the forthcoming World Cup.
Bemand sent on both of his established first choice props with half an hour remaining before releasing the local cavalry in the shape of Breen, Nic a Bhaird and Emily Lane for the final quarter.
It was fitting that Nic a Bhaird should score Ireland’s last try and Breen boot the ball out to trigger the final whistle because Cork has become a real spiritual home for the girls in green who are always well supported on their visits south.
Nic a Bhaird came on at No 8 for Ulster’s Brittany Hogan, who had delivered a typical powerhouse performance and taken responsibility for liaising with the referee after Monaghan went off given that acting captain Amee-Leigh Costigan is out on the wing.
Hogan’s fellow Ulsterwoman Neve Jones had filled a similar role when needed in this spring’s Six Nations, but the Ballymena native wasn’t starting here for just the second time in 30 matches with experienced campaigner Cliodhna Moloney wearing the No 2 jersey.
As Moloney left the field for Jones with 11 minutes remaining, Quinn was going the other way to replace Kiripati, but the pair’s paths had first crossed eight years ago when the 11-year-old from Ballina had got a photo with one of her heroes at the 2017 World Cup.
There was another snap taken after Friday’s captain’s run of Moloney and Quinn now as Ireland team-mates, the former being the only player in the present squad heading to a second World Cup and the latter, who just turned 19 in May, a possible bolter.
Nancy McGillivray is congratulated by Ulster’s Fiona Tuite after marking her Ireland debut with a try
Even with two back five forwards, Dorothy Wall and Erin King, ruled out of the World Cup and another, Aoife Wafer, in a race to be fit for the tournament, there is still fierce competition for squad spots but Quinn undoubtedly looks like one for the future.
With those household names missing, it was great to see big Grace Moore producing a Player of the Match performance at blindside flanker despite having to leave the field temporarily early on and she could well start the World Cup in the No 6 jersey.
Shannon Ikahihifo and Jane Clohessy will hope for game-time against Canada, but a back row of Moore, McMahon and Hogan with the dynamic Nic a Bhaird on the bench could be Ireland’s strongest configuration for the beginning of the tournament.
Considering this was her first game of rugby since rupturing her achilles in the interpro final last August, Corri had to dig deep to get through her first full 80 minutes for Ireland but this was a welcome chance to put her hand up ahead of World Cup squad selection.
With Monaghan back, Tuite having established herself at international level and Ruth Campbell’s breakthrough this past season, hospital doctor Corri would have known she needed a strong game to help persuade Bemand to take four specialist locks to England.
The newly-married Corri-Fallon certainly didn’t do her prospects any harm with an industrious display, showing glimpses of her great athletic ability, and especially with Wall out injured, it is great to have the 27-year-old back in the mix.
This match ended a run of 30 consecutive starts for Djougang but it is important for back-up props Siobhan McCarthy and McGrath to get good game-time in these warm-up matches, especially with the experienced Christy Haney carrying an injury at present.
Following on from McGillivray switching her allegiance to Ireland at the start of last month, it looks like Ireland’s stable of props may be bolstered from the outside with the addition of ex-England prop Ellena Perry, who was with the squad in Cork on Saturday.
McGillivary was on an RFU contract as part of the extended England squad until the end of June but now seems set to make Ireland’s World Cup panel albeit Bemand already has three exceptional centres in Dalton, Breen and the excellent Eve Higgins.
Higgins must surely have been a strong Player of the Match contender on Saturday for her accomplished all-round display, while it seems increasingly likely that Breen will cover outhalf within Ireland’s matchday squad to the exclusion of specialist No 10 Nicole Fowley.
It remains to be seen whether Fowley features against Canada, when her Connacht halfback partner Aoibheann Reilly should surely get some game-time, while Dalton – who played every minute of this year’s Six Nations – and Flood are set to slot back into the team.
With the apparent early axing of Aoife Corey, who wore the No 15 jersey against Scotland in the final fixture of the Six Nations, Deely seemed nailed on as the second specialist fullback by default before taking the field in Cork.
Uncertain early on, Deely did improve as the match progressed and took her try well wide on the right, though it was another somewhat mixed display which will put little pressure on incumbent Flood or offset surprise at the advance culling of Corey.
If McGillivray goes to the World Cup, it will likely be at the expense of a winger, which spells bad news for Vicky Elmes-Kinlan as the Paris Olympian is behind Costigan, Parsons and Parma hat-trick hero Anna McGann in the pecking order out wide.
Left wing Costigan, the halfbacks and Hogan were the only four survivors on Saturday from Ireland’s starting line-up in Edinburgh at the end of April, though five more of that team – Breen, Tuite and the entire front row – were on the bench here.
With an unfamiliar line-up and less match sharpness than the Scots, it was perhaps unsurprising that Ireland lacked accuracy in the first quarter, coughing up possession at times and falling foul of a referee who will also be in charge of their World Cup opener.
Scotland took the lead on 16 minutes, Lisa Thompson’s momentum taking her through McGillivray’s tackle for a try which she converted herself, and the centre again added the extras when winger Lucia Scott cut through to score, albeit Ireland alleged illegality.
But Ireland had the bit between their teeth before the prolonged Skeldon stoppage and duly capitalised thereafter through those two tries in quick succession – by McGrath after Monaghan got close, and then Deely, who ran hard off a nice pass from Higgins.
McGillivray had a straightforward finish after Ireland had hammered away through the forwards, that unconverted try putting the hosts in front, but the Scots avoided any scoreboard damage while Scott was in the sinbin for a deliberate knock-on.
Not long after being restored to a full complement, the team in navy went back in front thanks to a try from Orr, who carved through a big gap in midfield for fellow centre Thompson to complete her hat-trick of conversions, but their lead lasted just four minutes.
After sustained pressure by Ireland in the opposition 22, Moore did well to pop a pass back to Lane and, although the sub scrumhalf’s snipe ended just short, replacement prop O’Dowd picked up and dived over to the crowd’s relief.
Breen’s strike from out wide didn’t quite have the legs and, although Nic a Bhaird burst through to touch down following a well-worked lineout, her Clovers captain’s conversion attempt came back off the woodwork to hand the Scots a late lifeline.
IRELAND: Meabh Deely; Beibhinn Parsons, Nancy McGillivray, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O’Brien (Enya Breen, 60), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Emily Lane, 60); Siobhan McCarthy (Niamh O’Dowd, 49), Cliodhna Moloney-McDonald (Neve Jones, 69), Sadhbh McGrath (Linda Djougang, 49), Eimear Corri-Fallon, Sam Monaghan (capt; Fiona Tuite, 35), Grace Moore, Ivana Kiripati (Ailish Quinn, 69), Brittany Hogan (Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird, 60).
SCOTLAND: Chloe Rollie; Coreen Grant, Emma Orr, Lisa Thompson, Lucia Scott; Hannah Ramsay (Beth Blacklock, 57), Caity Mattinson (Leia Brebner-Holden, 52; Evie Willis, 71); Anne Young (Leah Bartlett, HT), Lana Skeldon (Elis Martin, 32), Elliann Clarke (Molly Poolman, 55), Emma Wassell (Adele Ferrie, 65) Rachel Malcolm (Eva Donaldson, 65), Rachel McLachlan, Alex Stewart, Evie Gallagher.
Referee: Clara Munarini (Italy).
Eimear Corri (right) receives a hug from Ulster’s Sadhbh McGrath after her Ireland comeback
Ireland’s matchday squad against Scotland pictured the day before the World Cup warm-up game
Uncapped Connacht back rows Ivana Kiripati (left) and Ailish Quinn on arrival at Virgin Media Park
