Monaghan native Lucinda Kinghan scored her first HSBC SVNS Series try as a 26-12 win over Japan steered the Ireland Women (sponsored by TritonLake) through to the last-eight of the LA 7s tournament.
Having lost to both Australia (31-0) and France (21-5), the pressure was on Ireland heading into their final Pool B fixture, especially with captain Lucy Rock and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe both sidelined through injury.
Japan took an early lead and fought back to level at 12 points apiece, but closing scores from Eve Higgins and replacement Aoibheann Reilly ultimately proved vital in Allan Temple-Jones' side breaking back into the top eight.
Disappointed to end up ninth in Vancouver last week, the Ireland Women did enough to squeeze through as the second best third place finishers across the three LA 7s pools.
Ireland, who gave a HSBC SVNS Series debut to Alanna Fitzpatrick against Japan, finished up with three points and a -33 scoring difference. Great Britain, who could have pipped them, lost a tight final pool game to Spain.
With two of their leaders relegated to the stands, Temple-Jones spoke about it being a 'learning curve' for his young players, and a test of squad depth.
The girls in green will return to the Dignity Health Sports Park pitch for their quarter-final against New Zealand at 10.36am local time/6.36pm Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV).
Stacey Flood captained Ireland on day two in the injury-enforced absence of Rock, and they quickly fell behind to a breakaway first-minute try from France flyer Anne-Cécile Ciofani.
Missed tackles were proving Ireland's undoing as les Bleues burst into an early 14-0 lead. Camille Grassineau sidestepped and accelerated through to score from just outside the Irish 22, with Béibhinn Parsons seeing yellow for a high tackle during the build-up.
The SVNS Series' sixth-ranked team did improve as the first half wore on, with Flood, who kicked through twice and had a foot race with Grassineau late on, and Higgins both coming to the fore. Unfortunately they had nothing to show for some late territory.
Ireland picked up the pace on the restart, forcing a trio of penalties. Flood crashed up close before the newly-introduced Reilly timed her pass well to send Higgins diving over to reduce the arrears to nine points.
Megan Burns ran strongly through the middle, and coupled with another Flood kick, Ireland made it back into the French 22. However, right on the stroke of full-time, Jade Ulutule sped clear for an excellent solo score to confirm the result.
That left Ireland needing a sizable victory over Japan, and they got off to a poor start. A crafty loop="loop" move saw Hanako Utsumi unlock the defence, and her no-look pass put Wakaba Hara haring away to score a terrific team try.
Nonetheless, Ireland were back level at seven-all by the third minute. Popping up on the edge of Ireland's 22, Parsons ghosted through a gap and darted clear to open her Los Angeles account.
Flood forced the ball free in a tackle, and also pinned Japan back with a kick for Parsons to chase. Vicky Elmes Kinlan proved tough to bring down on the right, and nice hands from Parsons and Burns teed up Kinghan to go over to the right of the posts.
Japan counter-rucked to win possession back off the restart, and when they came back to attack towards the left corner, Chiharu Nakamura did superbly well to slip down the narrow side and reach over without putting a foot in touch.
Parsons lifted Ireland by reeling in Hara with a textbook try-saving tackle and then a poach. Higgins responded to that by cleverly stepping inside two defenders and dashing downfield to put seven points between the sides.
Reilly positioned herself in the ideal place to collect the breaking ball from the restart, and she showed a clean pair of heels to her chasers. Higgins topped it off with her third successful conversion to widen the winning margin to 14 points.
You can watch all of the HSBC SVNS Series matches for free on RugbyPass TV, while there will be coverage of Ireland’s progress in California across the new @Ireland7s social media channels, and in our Ireland Sevens hub: irishrugby.ie/ireland7s.
Ireland Women Edge Out Britain For LA 7s Cup Quarter-Final Place
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3rd March 2024
