Linda Djougang roars with delight during Sunday’s win which put Ireland into the last eight
BY RICHARD BULLICK
IRELAND broke their World Cup points-scoring record set against Japan seven days earlier as Scott Bemand’s much-changed side ran in seven tries to defeat Spain 43-27 in Northampton on Sunday and effectively clinch qualification for the knockout stages.
Grace Moore and Anna McGann both bagged braces while there were second touchdowns of the tournament for Amee-Leigh Costigan and Eve Higgins, with Dannah O’Brien getting her first ever try for Ireland in what was a very entertaining game.
Having landed all six conversions in the same stadium the previous Sunday, O’Brien had an off-day with her place-kicking at Franklin’s Gardens, missing four of her seven attempts at goal, two of which came back off the woodwork.
However, the young Carlow woman didn’t let that affect her all-round game and she delivered another assured display before being withdrawn on the hour to give replacement Enya Breen some game-time at outhalf.
It took New Zealand’s inevitable 62-19 victory over Japan later in the afternoon to mathematically confirm Ireland’s place in the last eight and the girls in green will now face the world champions in Brighton this Sunday to determine who tops Pool C.
After failing to qualify for the last World Cup, Ireland will be pleased to have booked their ticket to the quarter-finals with one round of group games to spare, though it was a somewhat anxious afternoon in Northampton where Spain proved no pushovers.
Currently ranked 13th in the world, eight places below Ireland, Spain got back on even terms after going 12-0 down in the first quarter, earned themselves a four-try bonus-point and had the satisfaction of crossing the whitewash for a fifth time with the clock red.
Although Ireland famously upset the Black Ferns at the WXV1 tournament in Vancouver last September, it will take an improved performance from this win against Spain if they are to have a realistic chance of repeating that result.
There may also be some concerns around the fitness of skipper Sam Monaghan who had to go off injured early in the second quarter shortly after receiving treatment following a heavy fall from a big double tackle on an afternoon when co-captain Edel McMahon was rested.
Perhaps with one eye on the forthcoming New Zealand game, Bemand had taken the reasonably bold decision to rotate his squad, making seven changes to the team which had started in the 42-14 victory over Japan.
Five of the last nine contests between these nations have been decided by a margin of three points or fewer, with one win apiece in the current decade, including a disastrous 8-7 defeat for Ireland in Parma in those ill-fated qualifiers for the last World Cup.
Ireland did win last time the teams met, but had to come from 10 points down to snatch a 15-13 victory – and with it the inaugural WXV3 title – in Dubai back in October 2023, a couple of months after Bemand came into the job.
Considering defeat would have meant Ireland needing to defeat New Zealand to avoid first phase elimination, Bemand could have opted for a more conservative selection but he had the courage to make five changes to the pack and two more behind the scrum.
Openside flanker McMahon, loosehead Niamh O’Dowd, winger Beibhinn Parsons and scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly weren’t in the matchday 23 against Spain while Ruth Campbell dropped to the bench along with Ulsterwomen Brittany Hogan and Neve Jones.
Two of those promoted, Moore and McGann, got four tries between them while there was an official Player of the Match performance from former England loosehead Ellena Perry on her first start in the green jersey.
Claire Boles from Fermanagh got her first taste of World Cup action in playing the full 80 minutes at openside flanker, Molly Scuffil-McCabe came in to start at scrumhalf while both Siobhan McCarthy and Nancy McGillivray featured off the bench.
Those promoted within the matchday squad included McGann and a quartet of forwards – namely Moloney-McDonald, Perry, Moore and lock Eimear Corri-Fallon – with Ulster’s Fiona Tuite switching from blindside flanker to partner her after Monaghan’s departure.
One of only three starting forwards left from the Japan game, Linda Djougang got to mark her 50th Ireland cap with a victory while the win was also a belated birthday celebration for her replacement, Ulster’s Sadhbh McGrath, who had turned 21 on Saturday.
Bemand was also confident enough to make five changes on the hour mark, including withdrawing defensive lynchpin Aoife Dalton and O’Brien – both of whom had played the full 80 minutes against Japan – along with replacing his entire front row.
While Ireland were making that multiple substitution, the belated awarding of a try to Japan that had been originally ruled out for a double movement narrowed the gap to 14 points but McGann’s second try, converted by Breen, provided breathing space.
In some regards it was a patchy performance from Ireland, with the frustrations including a couple of fluffed restart receipts, notably at the second half kick-off which led to the field position from which Spain scored their third try to put the match back in the melting pot.
Stacey Flood will undoubtedly be annoyed about a few fumbles but the ball was greasy due to the rain and the fullback did provide the scoring pass for two of her team’s tries though she was arguably at fault for one of the Spanish scores having gone for an intercept.
Interestingly, and perhaps reflecting how strong Spain proved, Ireland had just 46 percent possession and 44 percent territory on an afternoon when they had to make 219 tackles compared to only 151 by the opposition.
But Ireland made seven clean breaks to just two by Spain and outscored them by seven tries to five, though the eventual victory margin of 16 points could have been smaller had the underdogs not missed four out of five kicks at goal, albeit three were touchline conversions.
Although Ireland conceded 10 penalties, that was still one fewer than Spain who had, incredibly, given away just two in the entire 80 minutes of their gutsy 54-8 defeat against New Zealand last weekend.
Dominant Ireland forced a couple of scrum penalties and the lineout wobbles from mainly the second quarter of the Japanese game didn’t resurface here, with Bemand’s side winning all 12 on their own throw regardless of whether Moloney-McDonald or Jones was on darts duty.
The amount of Spanish possession meant Ireland’s forwards racked up healthy tackle counts, Paris Olympian Boles leading the way with 22, supplemented by 20 from Perry, and Corri-Fallon and Tuite’s 19 apiece.
Moloney-McDonald and Moore each weighed in with 18 while early replacement Hogan matched Djougang’s tally of 17 on a day when the Ireland players were made to work hard to secure this vital victory.
O’Brien put a perfect chip into the left corner inside the first 30 seconds after a Spanish knock-on had allowed Ireland to regain possession from their own kick-off and the favourites were in front by the seventh minute.
Costigan pounced on a tantalising kick dropped into the left corner by O’Brien, who was soon strolling over on the right for a try to which she duly added the extras to give Ireland the perfect fast start for a second Sunday running.
Ireland Player of the Year Dalton was bringing her usual mix of ferocious, uncompromising physicality, manifested in tackles, clear-outs and strong surges, and the compact centre also won a couple of breakdown penalties.
The second Irish try came late in the first quarter, Costigan being put over in the left corner by her bridesmaid Flood, but Spain hit back with a Claudio Perez try out wide on 23 minutes just before Monaghan had to be replaced by Hogan.
Five minutes later Spain were level, more pressure leading to another touchdown wide on the left, this time from Marieta Roman, with Amalia Argudo kicking a superb touchline conversion to tie up the teams at 12-12.
Rattled Ireland opted to go for goal from a penalty won by Perry on the half hour but what should have been a straightforward strike for O’Brien came back off an upright and Spain survived without concession.
After her superlative performance the week before, when she had the brilliant break for Tuite’s try and then ran the length of the field for an intercept score, Higgins this time played second fiddle to centre partner Dalton in terms of metres made and clean breaks.
But the Olympian showed her deceptive strength by crashing through two tackles to score Ireland’s third try on 34 minutes after an assortment of forwards had carried hard from a scrum five metres out, awarded when Spain had knocked on at a defensive lineout.
Prop Linda Djougang had plenty to celebrate after Ireland marked her 50th cap with a win
With Monaghan already off, it was concerning to see both Tuite and Corri-Fallon receiving treatment at the same time some 50 metres apart, but both continued, the former after getting her left leg strapped up and the latter after having a bloody nose attended to.
Ireland extended their lead before the interval, Dalton winning the penalty which allowed her team to set up in the 22 and later running a trademark decoy before McGann crossed out on the right from Flood’s over-the-top pass.
She dotted down well in from the touchline but O’Brien was well off-target with her conversion attempt and Ireland’s failure to deal with the second half kick-off eventually led to Spain’s star centre Claudia Pena scoring a try which Argudo couldn’t convert.
It felt like Ireland were making life difficult for themselves but they struck back almost immediately when Moore took a hard line from midfield off a lineout won by Tuite and smashed through for a try to her great delight.
O’Brien somehow hit the post with her relatively easy conversion attempt and a few errors undermined Ireland’s efforts before Moore scored her second try in a 10-minute purple patch, this time plunging over after pressure from a lineout on the left.
On this occasion, O’Brien’s conversion was successful but Ireland suffered a blow when Ana Peralta was belatedly awarded that try as Bemand made five substitutions at once to follow from Emily Lane replacing Scuffil-McCabe earlier in the half.
As against Japan, Clovers skipper Breen made a couple of errors, firstly failing to find touch with a penalty and later fumbling a restart, but the weekend’s birthday girl McGrath enjoyed getting stuck in after only being on for a few minutes last Sunday.
A fierce McGrath carry paved the way for a penalty in front of the posts but, rather than kick it to go three scores clear, Ireland had the ambition to go to the corner and were rewarded with a second try from McGann, which Breen converted.
Bemand made his final replacement, Campbell taking over from Tuite, but Breen knocked on at the restart and that led to Spain being camped in Ireland’s 22 for most of the final 10 minutes rather than the team in green having a shot at hitting the 50-point milestone.
Any neutrals in a crowd of 8834 would have been willing Spain to score and they actually crossed the whitewash twice, though Lea Ducher’s try was almost posthumously disallowed for an earlier knock-on before Cristina Blanco had the last word.
IRELAND: Stacey Flood; Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton (Nancy McGillivray, 60), Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O’Brien (Enya Breen, 60), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Emily Lane, 51); Ellena Perry (Siobhan McCarthy, 60), Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald (Neve Jones, 60), Linda Djougang (Sadhbh McGrath, 60); Eimear Corri-Fallon, Sam Monaghan (capt; Brittany Hogan, 24); Fiona Tuite (Ruth Campbell, 70), Claire Boles, Grace Moore.
SPAIN: Amalia Argudo (Lea Ducher, 66); Claudia Perez, Claudia Pena, Claudia Cano, Clara Piquero; Zahia Perez, Anne Fernandez de Corres (Bingbing Vergara, 70); Gemma Silva (Laura Delgado, 58), Marieta Roman (Cristina Blanco, 55), Eider Garcia (Mireia de Andres, 44); Lourdes Alameda (capt; Anna Puig, 70), Elena Martinez (Monica Castelo, 51); Lia Pineiro, Ana Peralta (Nerea Garcia, 68), Valentina Perez.
Referee: Kat Roche (USA)
Outhalf Dannah O’Brien scores her first ever try for Ireland to give them the lead on Sunday
Centre Aoife Dalton battles forward during Ireland’s Pool C clash with Spain in Northampton
Winger Anna McGann goes over for one of her two tries for Ireland at Franklin’s Gardens
