With Ireland's inaugural WXV Global Series campaign fast approaching, there were a number of standout performers across the last four weekends of Interprovincial action.
Chief amongst them was Munster's Beth Buttimer who topped the scoring charts with an excellent eight-try haul (six of them coming against Leinster), claimed four breakdown steals, and won two Vodafone player-of-the-match awards.
Also making key scoring contributions for the back-to-back champions were Caitríona Finn, with 29 points from the tee, and Alana McInerney who ran in five tries, including a hat-trick against Connacht.
Leinster's Robyn O'Connor matched McInerney's tally in one match alone, touching down five times away to Ulster, a game in which Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton kicked 20 points from conversions.
Back-three specialist O'Connor, an Ireland debutant during last season's Guinness Women's Six Nations, topped the Interprovincial rankings for tackle breaks (23), line breaks (9), and running metres (493.7).
Dual international Claire Boles also had an impressive Championship, captaining Ulster three times and finishing as the overall top tackler (90) and carrier (56), with almost 400 running metres clocked up.
As the improvements made by Murray Houston's side culminated in a third place finish, Ireland lock Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan sharpened up their lineout, along with landing a competition-high eight dominant tackles.
Connacht had a disappointing finals day at Dexcom Stadium, but half-backs Méabh Deely, with a total of 1445.7 kicking metres, and Aoibheann Reilly, who bagged two tries and had a competition-high seven offloads, led by example, while Faith Oviawe stole seven lineouts.
Anna McGann and Jemima Adams Verling played every minute of Connacht's four-match run, as did Boles for Ulster, and backs McInerney and Lucia Linn were ever-present too for the trophy-lifting Reds.
Beaten finalists Leinster benefitted from Ireland captain Erin King's energy around the pitch in terms of her ruck arrivals (147 between attack and defence), while Munster's Aoibhe O'Flynn and Clodagh O'Halloran lorded it in the lineout with 17 takes each.
The Opta statistics, collected across the tournament, are provided by Stats Perform.
VODAFONE WOMEN'S INTERPROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP – PLAYER RANKINGS AFTER FINALS DAY:
POINTS -
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 40
Caitríona Finn (Munster) 29
Alana McInerney (Munster) 25
Robyn O'Connor (Leinster) 25
Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton (Leinster) 20
Méabh Deely (Connacht) 16
Katie Whelan (Leinster) 15
Alisha Flynn (Munster) 10
Anna McGann (Connacht) 10
Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht) 10
Clodagh O'Halloran (Munster) 10
Dannah O'Brien (Leinster) 10
Hannah Wilson (Leinster) 10
Katie Corrigan (Munster) 10
Maebh Clenaghan (Ulster) 10
Maggie Boylan (Leinster) 10
Olivia McKinley (Ulster) 10
TRIES -
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 8
Alana McInerney (Munster) 5
Robyn O'Connor (Leinster) 5
Katie Whelan (Leinster) 3
Alisha Flynn (Munster) 2
Anna McGann (Connacht) 2
Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht) 2
Clodagh O'Halloran (Munster) 2
Hannah Wilson (Leinster) 2
Katie Corrigan (Munster) 2
Maebh Clenaghan (Ulster) 2
Maggie Boylan (Leinster) 2
Olivia McKinley (Ulster) 2
KICKING ACCURACY (Minimum of one attempt every two matches) –
Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton (Leinster) 10 made/11 attempts - 91%
Caitríona Finn (Munster) 12/16 - 75%
Méabh Deely (Connacht) 5/9 - 56%
Dannah O'Brien (Leinster) 5/10 - 50%
Enya Breen (Munster) 4/10 - 40%
Abby Moyles (Ulster) 2/6 - 33%
SUCCESSFUL TACKLES -
Claire Boles (Ulster) 90
Sarah Delaney (Leinster) 74
Moya Hill (Ulster) 70
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 60
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 56
Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan (Ulster) 55
Faith Oviawe (Connacht) 49
Rebecca Beacom (Ulster) 48
Sadhbh McGrath (Ulster) 48
Ruth Campbell (Leinster) 47
DOMINANT TACKLES -
Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan (Ulster) 8
Siobhán McCarthy (Munster) 6
Claire Boles (Ulster) 5
Moya Hill (Ulster) 5
Ruth Campbell (Leinster) 5
Sarah Delaney (Leinster) 5
Alana McInerney (Munster) 4
Caitlin Crowe (Ulster) 4
Christy Hill (Ulster) 4
Maebh Clenaghan (Ulster) 4
Sadhbh McGrath (Ulster) 4
CARRIES -
Claire Boles (Ulster) 56
Sally Kelly (Munster) 55
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 53
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 46
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 40
Grace Moore (Munster) 40
Aoife Corey (Munster) 39
Ella Burns (Connacht) 38
Erin King (Leinster) 37
Moya Hill (Ulster) 37
Sarah Delaney (Leinster) 37
RUNNING METRES -
Robyn O'Connor (Leinster) 493.7
Sally Kelly (Munster) 445.1
Claire Boles (Ulster) 393.5
Katie Corrigan (Munster) 382.3
Alana McInerney (Munster) 361
Chisom Ugwueru (Munster) 344
Aoife Corey (Munster) 327.4
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 304.4
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 293.7
Clara Barrett (Connacht) 290.6
KICKS -
Abby Moyles (Ulster) 49
Méabh Deely (Connacht) 47
Dannah O'Brien (Leinster) 30
Caitríona Finn (Munster) 24
Ella Durkan (Ulster) 18
Enya Breen (Munster) 17
Stacey Flood (Leinster) 15
Síofra Hession (Connacht) 14
Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton (Leinster) 10
Lyndsay Clarke (Connacht) 4
KICKING METRES -
Méabh Deely (Connacht) 1445.7
Abby Moyles (Ulster) 1272.2
Dannah O'Brien (Leinster) 924.1
Caitríona Finn (Munster) 704.6
Síofra Hession (Connacht) 433
Enya Breen (Munster) 421.8
Stacey Flood (Leinster) 404.7
Ellie O'Sullivan Sexton (Leinster) 342.5
Ella Durkan (Ulster) 318.8
Lyndsay Clarke (Connacht) 122.5
OFFLOADS -
Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht) 7
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 6
Sally Kelly (Munster) 6
Caitlin Crowe (Ulster) 5
Claire Boles (Ulster) 5
Anna McGann (Connacht) 4
Aoife Dalton (Leinster) 4
Erin King (Leinster) 4
Síofra Hession (Connacht) 4
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 3
Chisom Ugwueru (Munster) 3
Emma Kelly (Connacht) 3
Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan (Ulster) 3
Grace Moore (Munster) 3
Moya Hill (Ulster) 3
Sarah Delaney (Leinster) 3
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Leinster) 3
LINEBREAKS -
Robyn O'Connor (Leinster) 9
Alana McInerney (Munster) 6
Anna McGann (Connacht) 5
Katie Corrigan (Munster) 5
Chisom Ugwueru (Munster) 4
Lucia Linn (Munster) 4
Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht) 3
Aoife Corey (Munster) 3
Aoife Dalton (Leinster) 3
Caitríona Finn (Munster) 3
Clara Barrett (Connacht) 3
Emily Foley (Connacht) 3
Katie Whelan (Leinster) 3
Maggie Boylan (Leinster) 3
Sally Kelly (Munster) 3
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Leinster) 3
TACKLE BREAKS -
Robyn O'Connor (Leinster) 23
Chisom Ugwueru (Munster) 22
Anna McGann (Connacht) 17
Alana McInerney (Munster) 13
Katie Corrigan (Munster) 13
Lucia Linn (Munster) 11
Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Leinster) 11
Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht) 10
Clara Barrett (Connacht) 10
Stacey Flood (Leinster) 10
BREAKDOWN STEALS -
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 4
Enya Breen (Munster) 3
Annakate Cournane (Munster) 2
Eve Higgins (Leinster) 2
Ruth Campbell (Leinster) 2
Alana McInerney (Munster) 1
Aoibhe O'Flynn (Munster) 1
Aoibheann Reilly (Connacht) 1
Aoife Corey (Munster) 1
Aoife Dalton (Leinster) 1
Caitlin Crowe (Ulster) 1
Clara Barrett (Connacht) 1
Eilís Cahill (Munster) 1
Emma Kelly (Connacht) 1
Erin King (Leinster) 1
Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan (Ulster) 1
Grace Moore (Munster) 1
Hannah Wilson (Leinster) 1
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 1
Kathy Baker (Leinster) 1
Katie Corrigan (Munster) 1
Leah Irwin (Ulster) 1
Linda Djougang (Leinster) 1
Méabh Deely (Connacht) 1
Niamh Marley (Ulster) 1
Nikki Gibson (Leinster) 1
Olivia McKinley (Ulster) 1
Sally Kelly (Munster) 1
ATTACKING RUCK ARRIVALS -
Erin King (Leinster) 91
Faith Oviawe (Connacht) 68
Lily Morris (Connacht) 67
Aoibhe O'Flynn (Munster) 65
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 65
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 65
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 63
Clodagh O'Halloran (Munster) 62
Siobhán McCarthy (Munster) 59
Claire Boles (Ulster) 55
Rebecca Beacom (Ulster) 55
DEFENSIVE RUCK ARRIVALS -
Erin King (Leinster) 56
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 30
Beth Buttimer (Munster) 25
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 21
Faith Oviawe (Connacht) 16
Caoimhe Molloy (Leinster) 13
Claire Boles (Ulster) 12
Emma Kelly (Connacht) 12
Grace Moore (Munster) 12
Siobhán McCarthy (Munster) 12
LINEOUT TAKES -
Aoibhe O'Flynn (Munster) 17
Clodagh O'Halloran (Munster) 17
Fiona Tuite-O'Sullivan (Ulster) 16
Erin King (Leinster) 11
Faith Oviawe (Connacht) 11
Ruth Campbell (Leinster) 9
Moya Hill (Ulster) 8
Poppy Garvey (Connacht) 7
Rebecca Beacom (Ulster) 7
Emma Fabby (Connacht) 6
Regan Casey (Leinster) 6
LINEOUT STEALS -
Faith Oviawe (Connacht) 7
Caoimhe Molloy (Leinster) 5
Clodagh O'Halloran (Munster) 4
Rebecca Beacom (Ulster) 3
Erin King (Leinster) 2
Stacy Hanley (Connacht) 2
Alisha Flynn (Munster) 1
Sarah Delaney (Leinster) 1
MINUTES PLAYED -
Alana McInerney (Munster) 320
Anna McGann (Connacht) 320
Claire Boles (Ulster) 320
Jemima Adams Verling (Connacht) 320
Lucia Linn (Munster) 320
Faith Oviawe (Connacht) 316
Aoife Dalton (Leinster) 311
Ella Burns (Connacht) 311
Ailish Quinn (Connacht) 310
Erin King (Leinster) 309
