In front of a Women’s Six Nations record attendance crowd of 77,120, England’s Red Roses beat Ireland 33-12 in their first match at the Allianz Stadium since winning the World Cup there last September.
However, the cost of this first-round victory was the long-term injuries inflicted upon crucial squad members. Lock Morwenna Talling was stretchered off the pitch at the start of the second half, and scrum-half Mo Hunt left the field late in the match with a significant knee injury. Both players will miss the rest of the tournament in a huge blow to the side.
“We will just adapt,” said Red Roses’ Head Coach John Mitchell after the game. “If we have to rely on back-rowers, then we will make it work.”
As well as suffering two significant injuries, England’s performance was also noticeably poorer than what we have come to expect from a team who now have 34 consecutive victories.
Errors were aplenty in TW2, from both sides. Knock-ons were answered with penalties, and kicks were charged down and out on the full. These shaped how the match played out, with Ireland conceding only 33 points compared to 88 their last time out in Twickenham.
The Red Roses’ attack sprang into action. Vice-captain Amy Cokayne dived over the line off the back of a rolling maul to score England’s first try in the 8th minute, which was converted by centre Helena Rowland, who took on the kicking duties.
A five-metre lineout allowed the English forwards to show their strength by crawling closer and closer to the line, until Sarah Bern touched it down under the posts in the 19th minute. Rowland’s successful conversion saw England’s advantage creep out to 14-0 a quarter of the way through the match.
Ireland conceded a penalty deep within their own 22, setting England’s attack up with another five-metre lineout. From this, Lucy Packer dished the ball out wide to Moloney-MacDonald, who passed an inside ball to Sarah Bern to score her second of the afternoon. Rowland added the extra points to give England a 21-point lead.
The record-breaking crowd thought their beloved Red Roses had scored just before half-time, but alas, the try was disallowed. England’s skipper Meg Jones, who had an excellent game, highlighted why she was the Player of the Match as she found a gap in the Irish defensive line and broke through. She offloaded the ball to Ellie Kildunne, who was through to score, but dropped the ball when grounding.
Ireland came out of the sheds with the bit between their teeth to start the second half, showing some flair in attack with line breaks and cross-field kicks. However, England held firm and were rewarded with a penalty to relieve the heavy pressure.
Talling’s heartbreaking injury led to 19-year-old Haineala Lutui making her Red Roses debut minutes into the second half.
England’s attack were given a taste of their own medicine with Ireland turning the ball over on their own try line as the sounds of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” rang out around the Allianz Stadium in anticipation of an English score.
The 54th minute saw Jones charge down an Irish kick on the halfway line. She regathered. She kicked. And who else but Jess Breach to chase it down to secure the Red Roses a bonus point?
Ireland’s Vicky Elmes Kinlan almost prevented the grounding of the try, but a TMO check clearly illustrated that Breach had indeed grounded the ball. Rowland’s conversion changed the score to 28-0.
Ireland had a rolling maul. They got within a metre of the English try line. Emily Lane dished the ball off to Anna McGann. McGann spun around and grounded the ball in the corner. Ireland had scored their first try of the match after 65 minutes of play. With their first points on the board, the score was then 28-5.
England responded less than two minutes later with an open attack, spreading the ball out wide for Kildunne to sprint past the remaining Irish defenders. Kildunne, who, after her first-half disallowed try, firmly touched the ball down in the corner to bring the Red Roses tally to 33.
In the 73rd minute, England held Ireland up over the line, but it was brought back after an advantage from the previous phase. Ireland sprang back into attack and scored their second try of the match through their newly appointed captain, Erin King. A successful conversion by Dannah O’Brien saw the score culminate at 33-12.
Despite a first victory of the tournament in the bag for England, there is much to be improved on.
They need to be more clinical in their finishing, with Kildunne’s mess of a grounding in the first half as a prime example. Was this arrogance, or purely a lack of concentration? Either way, it was a mistake that should not be happening at this level of rugby from one of the best full-backs in the world at the moment.
The discipline and handling errors is something that both teams need to eradicate promptly to achieve as high a position as possible in the final tournament standings.
Ireland showed considerable improvement from the first half to the second. What looked like a half-asleep, lacklustre, unmotivated side in the first half, was replaced by a side who showed grit, determination and pride in the second. This sowed the seeds for potentially some positive results later in the tournament.
One can only hope that both sides’ performances were full of nerves and rustiness after a substantial absence from playing on the international stage, and that significant improvement will be displayed as the tournament progresses.
