Oct 12,2024
Ireland 26-14 USA
Ireland capped off a season to remember with a final quarter comeback, scoring two tries late tries to seal a bonus-point 26-14 win against the USA.
The result puts Scott Bemand's side up to second place in the WXV’s top tier, but they have to wait to discover their final standing, with two more games to come overnight.
For so long at BC Place in Vancouver it looked as if Ireland would be made to pay for some wasted chances in the opening half, as two Hope Rogers tries gave the USA a 14-7 lead, with player of the match Erin King briefly drawing Ireland level.
Patience and discipline was key. Ireland dominated the breakdown which contributed to a 19-7 penalty count in their favour, while the Americans lost all control of their discipline in the final quarter, giving up three yellow cards.
The first of those yellows, for flanker Tahlia Brody, resulted in Ireland drawing level at 14-14 when a penalty try was awarded, and from there Ireland never looked back.
With the USA reduced to 13 players on 72 minutes, Ireland turned down a simple shot at goal which would have given them a three-point lead, but after a brave choice to kick to the corner, they made it count as Cliodhna Moloney touched down at the back of a maul.
How appropriate it was that Moloney would score the late try to seal this win, after the hooker’s high-profile recall to the Irish setup this year, two-and-a-half years on from Slurrygate.
Even with seven minutes to hold onto the win, it never looked like the USA had a comeback in them, and when Ireland had one late chance to guarantee the win and a precious bonus-point, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe sealed the deal, as Bemand’s side turned a very good year into a great one.
Ireland dominated the first ten minutes, with Nicole Fowley’s strong kicking game, and American indiscipline, giving them multiple opportunities in the 22, but they couldn’t pull the trigger to score.
The best of those chances came on six minutes when another penalty against the USA put Ireland within striking distance of the line. After moving the ball through the hands, Ireland worked a two-on-one situation with Stacey Flood and Murphy Crowe. Flood would have put her Sevens teammate in for an easy try with a pass to the wing, but after backing herself to score, the full-back found herself held up over the line by a covering USA defence.
The chances kept coming, with a steady scrum and powerful carries from Enya Breen and Brittany Hogan bringing them close to the line, but after Breen got the ball for a second time in the move, her unsympathetic pass to Flood was spilled.
The USA barely touched the ball in the opening 15 minutes, but looked dangerous when they found their Olympic Sevens winger Cheta Emba in space.
A turnover and break down the left wing from flanker Brody finally saw them launch their opening attack on 17 minutes, only for a brilliant covering tackle from King stopping a certain try.
With territory now established, the Americans soon got into their phases, and after they finally got momentum in the 22, loosehead Rogers muscled her way over the line on her 50th cap, as McKenzie Hawkins converted to make it 7-0 after a quarter of an hour.
Ireland were living dangerously, but their ability to win penalties was keeping them alive, as Eimear Considine came up with a decisive jackal in her own 22, before a powerful scrum put Ireland back on the attack.
It was only a matter of time before the penalty count would hurt the USA, and when they gave up their seventh of the game on 29 minutes for an offside off a kick, their players were far too slow to react and some smart thinking from King saw the flanker take a quick penalty, scampering over the line for Ireland’s first try, which Fowley converted to make it 7-7.
Just as it looked like Ireland would get into the half time break with a chance to rest, they were back under their own posts. Centre Alev Kelter sliced through the Irish defence before connecting with captain Kate Zachary, and while Ireland stopped them short of the line, Rogers again squeezed over from close range, as they moved 14-7 ahead.
The USA looked in control in the third quarter, but this time it was their turn to spurn chances. Emba latched onto a crossfield kick from Hawkins before being taken down by Murphy Crowe, and while although Ireland gave up a penalty, a dominant tackle by Breen forced a knock-on in the Irish 22.
It was a moment that seemed to galvanise Ireland, and the USA frustration was evident a few minutes later when Mae Sagapolu hit Aoife Wafer off the ball, and was lucky to avoid a yellow card.
On 63 minutes Ireland finally made a chance stick. Replacement scrum-half Molly Scuffil-McCabe's quick-thinking led to a break down the blindside off the back of a scrum, and although Considine was stopped just short of the line, her scrum-half followed up with a quick delivery which was intercepted by Brody for an offside position. Penalty try. Yellow card.
Five frantic minutes followed as Ireland sensed what had been a resolute American defence starting to creak, and when full-back Bulou Mataitoga spilled a routine pass in her own 22, that was the opening Ireland needed.
Another yellow card followed for the USA, this time a deliberate knock-on from Rachel Ehrecke, and from that penalty Ireland mauled their way over, with Moloney getting the decisive touch.
Dannah O’Brien’s conversion pushed the lead out to seven points, and when another simple knock-on in the USA backfield offered up a late attacking scrum, Ireland moved from one touchline to the other, with Murphy Crowe’s try making sure of the win.
Ireland scorers
Tries: Erin King, Penalty try, Cliodhna Moloney, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe
Cons: Nicole Fowley (1), Dannah O’Brien (1)
USA scorers
Tries: Hope Rogers (2)
Cons: McKenzie Hawkins (2)
Ireland: Stacey Flood; Eimear Considine, Enya Breen (capt), Aoife Dalton, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe; Nicole Fowley, Emily Lane; Niamh O'Dowd, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Erin King, Aoife Wafer, Brittany Hogan.
Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney (for Jones, 60), Siobhán McCarthy (for O’Dowd, 64), Andrea Stock (for Djougang, 75), Ruth Campbell (for Tuite, 75), Deirbhile Nic a Bháird (for King, 77), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (for Lane, 60), Dannah O'Brien (for Fowley, 40), Eve Higgins (for Flood, 64).
USA: Bulou Mataitoga; Cheta Emba, Alev Kelter, Gabby Cantorna, Lotte Shrp; McKenzie Hawkins, Cass Bargell; Hope Rogers, Kathryn Treder, Charli Jacoby; Erica Jarrell, Hallie Taufoou; Tahlia Brody, Kate Zackary (capt), Rachel Johnson.
Replacements: Paige Stathopolous, Maya Learned, Mae Sagapolu, Rachel Ehrecke, Tessa Hann, Taina Tukuafu, Emily Henrich, Tess Feury
Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr (NZR)
