Parsons And McGann On The Mark In Defeat To Canada
The classic tale of two halves played out at Ulster’s Affidea Stadium as the Ireland Women (sponsored by Aon) produced a much-improved second-half display against the world’s number two ranked team.
Meeting for the first time since last year’s WXV1 clash which Canada won 21-8 on home soil, a strong start, and five first-half tries, paved the way for Kevin Rouet’s side to win 47-26 in Belfast.
However, just two weeks out from the Rugby World Cup, Ireland knuckled down after trailing 33-7 at half-time. They added to BÊibhinn Parsons’ 20th-minute effort with tries from Anna McGann (2), and Parsons again late on.
Replacement prop Ellena Perry also go on to make her Ireland debut, and speaking in the aftermath, co-captain Sam Monaghan said: “We know Canada are a physical team, they really brought it to us in the first half. I think our discipline let us down.
“But I’m really proud of our second-half performance. Loads to work on, we’ve had a big couple of weeks, and I’m looking forward to the next few.
“At half-time we said we just needed to front up, we needed to be more physical. We didn’t have much ball in the first half, so we needed to keep it and again just be really clean around the ruck, our discipline going forward.
“I think we really flipped that on its head in the second half, and as I said, I was really proud of the girls. They put in a serious shift. It’s been a super send-off and thanks to all the crowd here. It’s been unreal and we’re really looking forward to get going in the World Cup.”
Ireland’s Rugby World Cup squad will be announced on Monday here on IrishRugby.ie and across our social channels.