Relentless Performance Leads Ireland U-20 Women To Record Win

Captain Jane Neill scored two tries in a player-of-the-match performance as the Ireland Under-20 Women (sponsored by PwC) ran out comprehensive 62-7 winners over Scotland in Ystrad Mynach.

SIX NATIONS WOMEN’S SUMMER SERIES – ROUND 3:

Thursday, July 17 –

SCOTLAND UNDER-20s 7 IRELAND UNDER-20s 62, Centre of Sporting Excellence, Ystrad Mynach
Scorers: Scotland: Try: Freya MacColl; Con: Lucy MacRae
Ireland: Tries: Jane Neill 2, Alma Atagamen, Emily Foley, Sophie Barrett, Tara O’Neill, Robyn O’Connor 2, Aoibhe O’Flynn, Saoirse Crowe; Cons: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton 4, Caitríona Finn 2
HT: Scotland 7 Ireland 19

It was a record-breaking win for Ireland at this level, eclipsing last summer’s 37-7 defeat of Scotland, and saw Niamh Briggs’ side win two games at a Six Nations Women’s Summer Series for the first time.

Determined to put last week’s 41-12 loss to France behind them, tries from Neill, Alma Atagamen, and Emily Foley had the girls in green leading 19-7 at half-time.

With Scotland losing both Louise Taperell and Nicole Flynn to the sin bin, Ireland used their numerical advantage to build a handsome lead. Neill and replacements Sophie Barrett, Tara O’Neill, and Robyn O’Connor (2) touched down either side of the hour mark.

Briggs’ youngsters were in rampant form, with the bench eager to have its say, and Munster duo Aoibhe O’Flynn and Saoirse Crowe crossed late on as Ireland pushed through the half-century mark to finish with 10 tries in all.

It was a real squad effort with ten personnel changes seeing Clara Dunne, Foley, Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton, who kicked four conversions, May Goulding, Gráinne Burke, Maebh Clenaghan, Lily Morris, Beibhinn Gleeson, and Rosie Searle make their first starts of the tournament.

Ennis back rower Sally Kelly, an Ireland Under-18 debutant in April, was also sprung from the bench to make her U-20 bow, capping off a rewarding campaign which gave the players an opportunity to gain vital experience and showcase their talents on the international stage.

Ireland lay down a physical marker with their early tackling, as Clenaghan and Jemima Adams Verling forced a five-metre scrum. Neill plunged over from a subsequent ruck, and O’Sullivan Sexton’s right boot made it 7-0 after four minutes.

Scotland’s outside backs threatened to respond, but Ireland were dominating the collisions, and a Clenaghan turnover, coupled with a scrum penalty, provided the foundations for a 13th-minute converted score.

Lucia Linn and Neill added zip to an attack from the edge of the Scottish 22, and following a couple of penalties, Clenaghan’s short lineout sent Atagamen powering over. O’Sullivan Sexton also nailed the conversion from out on the left.

Strong running from Poppy Mellanby and Flynn set up Scotland to get off the mark, midway through the opening half. They used a penalty to work the ball wide to in-form winger Freya MacColl who managed to squeeze over in the corner.

Ireland hit back within five minutes, busy flanker Searle picking up turnover ball to launch a pacy attack that saw locks Atagamen and Gleeson combine neatly in front of the posts. Following up on some quick clearouts, Dunne’s skip pass put Foley racing over out wide.

The Connacht winger was soon back on the defensive, covering MacColl’s dangerous kick chase. With Lucy MacRae prominent, Scotland made decent inroads approaching the interval but Ireland, with O’Sullivan Sexton kicking well out of hand, remained 12 points to the good.

After a scrappy start to the second period, O’Connor chased down scrum half Goulding’s kick to force an error from Mellanby. It gave the Irish pack an inviting platform, the ensuing lineout maul gaining serious ground before Taperell’s collapse earned her a yellow card.

Gleeson won the resulting lineout, and a big drive from closer in resulted in Ulster prop Barrett crashing over. Another crisp strike from O’Sullivan Sexton, out on the left, extended the lead to 26-7.

Flying winger O’Connor continued to cause problems for Scotland, a sweeping move off a scrum allowing her to stretch her legs before Holly McIntyre produced a try-saving tackle. Ireland kept pressing, and Flynn was binned for what was adjudged to be a deliberate knock-on.

Supported by O’Flynn, Neill duly drove in low to complete her brace, and kick off of a run of four tries in the space of 13 minutes. O’Sullivan Sexton’s last conversion made it 33-7 before O’Neill, darting onto a Caitríona Finn pass, showed her strength to score on the hour mark.

Centre Linn typified Ireland’s industry in attack, making a number of purposeful carries, and Scotland conceded again in the 64th minute. The Irish backs ran a loose kick back, Finn firing a pass out to O’Connor who burned past Sophie Price on the outside for her opening score.

Dunne’s timely offload then put Katie Corrigan cutting in off the right wing to good effect, the territory eventally leading to try number eight. O’Connor scampered over to make it 48-7, rewarding the passing of Adams Verling and the replacement half-backs off a scrum.

There was no sign of Ireland’s future stars in-the-making taking their foot off the gas, and Crowe, having collected a loose Scottish lineout a few phases earlier, then got her hands free in a double tackle to send the supporting O’Flynn over just to the right of the posts.

Finn converted and also added the extras to Crowe’s own closing effort, the Shannon hooker reacting quickest to a Scottish lineout throw that went out the back. Before that, O’Connor’s classy run on a kick return made sure Ireland ended the contest on the front foot.

TIME LINE: 3 minutes – Ireland try: Jane Neill – 0-5; conversion: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 0-7; 13 mins – Ireland try: Alma Atagamen – 0-12; conversion: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 0-14; 20 mins – Scotland try: Freya MacColl – 5-14; conversion: Lucy MacRae – 7-14; 25 mins – Ireland try: Emily Foley – 7-19; conversion: missed by Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 7-19; Half-time – Scotland 7 Ireland 19; 45 mins – Scotland yellow card: Louise Taperell; 46 mins – Ireland try: Sophie Barrett – 7-24; conversion: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 7-26; 54 mins – Scotland yellow card: Nicole Flynn; 55 mins – Ireland try: Jane Neill – 7-31; conversion: Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton – 7-33; 60 mins – Ireland try: Tara O’Neill – 7-38; conversion: missed by Caitríona Finn – 7-38; 64 mins – Ireland try: Robyn O’Connor – 7-43; conversion: missed by Caitríona Finn – 7-43; 68 mins – Ireland try: Robyn O’Connor – 7-48; conversion: missed by Caitríona Finn – 7-48; 75 mins – Ireland try: Aoibhe O’Flynn – 7-53; conversion: Caitríona Finn – 7-55; 79 mins – Ireland try: Saoirse Crowe – 7-60; conversion: Caitríona Finn – 7-62; Full-time – Scotland 7 Ireland 62

SCOTLAND U-20: Poppy Mellanby (Biggar RFC/Glasgow Warriors), Emily Norval (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors), Nicole Flynn (University of Edinburgh/Glasgow Warriors), Lucy MacRae (University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Rugby), Freya MacColl (Loughborough University/Loughborough Lightning); Ceitidh Ainsworth (Stirling County RFC/Glasgow Warriors), Emily Love (Corstorphine Cougars/Edinburgh Rugby); Poppy Fletcher (University of Edinburgh/Glasgow Warriors) (capt), Megan Hyland (Garioch/Glasgow Warriors), Eilidh Fleming (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors), Aisha Zameer (Hillhead Jordanhill/Glasgow Warriors), Gemma Thomson (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors), Merryn Gunderson (Corstorphine Cougars/Edinburgh Rugby), Lily Crisp (Loughborough University), Emily Coubrough (University of Edinburgh/Glasgow Warriors).

Replacements used: Rebekah Douglas (Stirling County/Glasgow Warriors) for Love, Louise Taperell (West of Scotland) for Fletcher (both 34 mins), Sophie Price (Hillhead Jordanhill/Glasgow Warriors) for Crisp, Holly McIntyre (University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Rugby) for Norval (both half-time), Fletcher for Mellanby (48-57), Holly Wilson (Biggar RFC) for Thomson (52), Fletcher for Taperell (59), Megan Riach (Garioch/Edinburgh Rugby) for Fleming (65), Karis Craig (Watsonian FC/Edinburgh Rugby) for Hyland, Lisa Brown (University of Edinburgh/Edinburgh Rugby) for McIntyre (both 66), Thomson for Zameer (69), Love for Mellanby (76).

IRELAND U-20: Lyndsay Clarke (Ennis RFC/Munster); Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Clara Dunne (Wicklow RFC/Leinster), Lucia Linn (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Emily Foley (Galwegians RFC/Connacht); Ellie O’Sullivan Sexton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), May Goulding (Old Albanian Saints/Saracens/IQ Rugby); Gráinne Burke (Ennis RFC/Munster), Maebh Clenaghan (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Lily Morris (Ballincollig RFC/Munster), Alma Atagamen (Balbriggan RFC/Leinster), Beibhinn Gleeson (Tuam/Oughterard RFC/ Connacht), Rosie Searle (Navan RFC/Leinster), Jane Neill (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) (capt), Jemima Adams Verling (Creggs RFC/Connacht).

Replacements used: Sophie Barrett (Enniskillen RFC/Ulster) for Morris, Robyn O’Connor (Wexford Wanderers RFC/Leinster) for Foley, Aoibhe O’Flynn (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) for Atagamen (all half-time), Ella Burns (Tuam/Oughterard RFC/Connacht) for Burke, Caitríona Finn (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) for Dunne (both 51 mins), Saoirse Crowe (Shannon RFC/Munster) for Clenaghan, Sally Kelly (Ennis RFC/Munster) for Searle, Tara O’Neill (Cooke RFC/Ulster) for O’Sullivan Sexton (all 59), Foley for Goulding (62), Dunne for Clarke (66), Searle for Neill (70), Goulding for Linn (73).

Referee: Emily Hope (RFU)