Ireland 5 England 49
“Nothing Is Impossible” reads the motto plastered on one side of Munster’s Musgrave Park. Yet the probability of Ireland beating England’s rampant Red Roses seemed wholly impossible given their Six Nations dominance.
So it proved under milky Irish clouds, even if the scoreline was not an apt reflection of the hosts’ defensive doggedness. Ireland’s improvement on the women’s Test scene has been vast, but this was still an eye-watering reminder of how England remain streets – motorways even – ahead.
The hosts pushed the Grand Slam champions to a deeply uncomfortable place in an absorbing contest that exposed England’s vulnerabilities in a way that few teams do, particularly in the opening 40 minutes. This was the game the Women’s Six Nations needed, not just for the neutral viewer, but England and their aura of invincibility remains firmly intact.
“We really enjoyed that test,” said Lou Meadows, England’s attack coach. “It’s something we need and it’s great for the game as well to have first halves like that. It’s a physical battle and about winning collisions, and ultimately we didn’t do that in the first half – we didn’t fire a final shot.”
After a shaky start, the Red Roses, like they so often do, found their groove. They kept turning the screw in a rampant second half, scoring six unanswered tries, which included a Sarah Bern double. That will silence the TikTok critics.
Before the inevitable try-fest, Ireland, buoyed by the intimacy of a raucous Cork crowd, chopped, hustled and blasted their way through white shirts in a high-octane first half. Defending as if their lives depended on it, they delivered a display built on physical doggedness and the daring boot of Dannah O’Brien. Ireland’s effervescent fly-half is growing year upon year and for large periods she outshone her English counterpart, Zoe Harrison.
When the peerless Abby Dow, on the occasion of her 50th Test cap, was beaten in a footrace with Amee-Leigh Costigan, who blitzed through to ground O’Brien’s kick to deafening cheers, it was confirmation of Ireland’s improvement. This was the first try they had scored against England in six, long years. Musgrave Park dared to dream.
The concern was writ large on captain Zoe Aldcroft’s face when she gathered a few of members of the Red Roses leadership team around her as the two sides headed down the tunnel at the break with the visitors holding a slender 7-5 lead after they mustered a response through Morwenna Talling. For comparison, in this fixture last year, England had a 38-3 half-time advantage.
It was, however, only a matter of time before normality was restored. England added increased clarity to their attack after the break, overwhelming Ireland in a ruthless second half.
Harrison wriggled over the whitewash after selling Ireland’s wilting defence ...
