Highlights: Moore And McGann Both Score Twice Against Spain

Spain proved hard to put away, but try doubles from Grace Moore and Anna McGann did most of the damage for Ireland in a 43-27 bonus point win in Northampton.

Join the Green Wave and support the Ireland team – sign up here today.

Amee-Leigh Costigan, Dannah O’Brien, Eve Higgins, and McGann all crossed to make it 24-12 at half-time, before number 8 Moore scored twice during the third quarter, and winger McGann added the team’s seventh try with 10 minutes remaining.

There is plenty of room for improvement, though, with Spain racking up five tries in response, while Scott Bemand’s charges, who have secured their place in the quarter-finals with a game to spare, were guilty of a number of unforced errors.

Their Rugby World Cup campaign continues next Sunday afternoon with a mouth-watering Pool C decider against New Zealand, the 62-19 winners over Japan, in Brighton (kick-off 2.45pm).

Looking forward to closing out the pool stages against the Black Ferns, out-half O’Brien said: “We’re going to focus on ourselves, like cutting out small errors in our own half of the pitch, not giving teams opportunities to pin us in. We’re massively excited to go out there next week.

“We came back really well (against Spain) – every time they scored, we scored again and we came back by a double score. We stuck in it really well, so just a bit of resilience to finish it out well.”