Oct 13,2024
There were roughly seven minutes left on the clock when Ireland won a penalty just to the right of the posts in their final WXV game against the USA on Friday night.
At the time, the sides were locked at 14-14, with Ireland having come from behind twice to get back on level terms.
Dannah O'Brien could have tapped the ball over the posts with her eyes closed and given Ireland a three-point lead to work with down the stretch, but with their opposition reduced to 13 players after a pair of yellow cards, the Ireland out-half turned and kicked to the corner. They were going for the jugular.
It was a gutsy call for a side who had failed to take multiple chances in the USA 22 earlier in the game, but when their need to execute was at its greatest, they delivered, as a dominant maul rolled towards the line, before Clíodhna Moloney touched down for the go-ahead score.
From there, they never looked back, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe adding the final flourish three minutes from time to secure a 26-14 bonus-point win, their second from three games in WXV1, and giving them a realistic shot at finishing second in the table overall, an unthinkable position for this side to be in just a few months ago.
"If you spend time on someone's line and have them under pressure, then you back yourself to score," head coach Scott Bemand (above) said as he reflected on the biggest call of the game.
"Secondly, you're in the right area of the pitch and continue to hurt them. Even if you don't make the lineout they still have to get out of pressure.
"The girls obviously felt where the pressure and momentum was on the pitch so made the decision and executed it."
Enya Breen was captain on the pitch in the decisive moment, and the Munster centre says the only decision in their minds was whether they wanted to scrum or maul.
"Just like Scott said, we knew we had them under pressure, we were building time in their 22, building time in the right areas of the park," she said.
"I think they were two players down at that point as well, so we knew it was going to be a set-piece.
"We just had a quick chat about whether we wanted a scrum or a lineout. The forwards wanted to maul it, so we just fully backed it."
The Ireland captain (above) spoke impressively in the build-up to the game about how they were making the rest of the women’s game stand up and take notice of Ireland, this time for all the right reasons.
From being a Six Nations wooden spoon side in 2023, Ireland will finish this calendar year having beaten Australia, world champions New Zealand and the USA in their last four games, while there will still be an element of frustration that they didn’t make it a clean sweep against world number two Canada.
From the modest expectations of a top-half finish in this year’s Six Nations, Bemand now has the foundations in place, and an age profile in his squad to make Ireland a force in women’s rugby again, and the head coach says they have no intention of sitting back and being content with what they have done this season.
"A year ago we looked at where we wanted to be. There’s a big bit in getting people to believe and understand what was possible. What we’re starting to do now is build an evidence-base that says we can do it.
"Enya just said we don’t want to just survive against these teams, we want to thrive.
"France turning up, first game of the Six Nations now, we should be able to look at ourselves and say 'right, that’s a game that we can get after’.
"We’ve got games that we performed reasonably well in the last Six Nations but those games were at home, we’ve now got to do that on the road.
"The competition doesn’t sit still; things keep getting harder and harder. But we’re starting to now understand and can actually evidence that we can come through hard games, games where we’re out in front, ball-in-hand games, games where we got to show a bit of tenacity.
"There’s a real hunger in the playing group to elevate from where we are now.
"So that’s what we’re going to go after. We’re going to keep taking people with us. We want people talking about Ireland rugby and becoming, over time, a World Cup contender. So hopefully we can keep that trajectory going," Bemand added.
Having started the year ranked tenth in the world, Ireland have climbed up to sixth place, which gives them a second seed and the potential for a kinder pool stage draw for next year’s World Cup, with that draw taking place next Thursday.
And the captain, Breen, says this WXV campaign means they will fear nobody when they regather for the Six Nations next year.
"We spoke six weeks ago as a group when we first came together about being respected at the end of this campaign and putting our name back among the top table, and we've taken massive steps toward that, and have earned the right to be here and mix it with the top teams.
"Three wins from four is absolutely massive and we’re not going to understate that. They weren’t easy wins either, we had to dig deep in two of them.
"We’re making massive steps forward as a team and we’re hoping to keep that going for the next 12 months and beyond.
"We don’t want to just be competing against these teams anymore. We want to be able to have a crack off them. I think if we keep going on the same trajectory, keep building our confidence, keep building that momentum then, yeah, we’re looking forward to welcoming France to our shores next March," she added.
