World Cup warm-up: Ireland 26 Canada 47
Ireland head coach Scott Bemand admitted he is pleased overall with what he saw from his side during their two Women’s Rugby World Cup warm-up fixtures.
After coming from behind to claim a 27-21 victory over Scotland in Cork seven days earlier, Ireland were seeking to ramp up their preparations for the forthcoming tournament in England by recording another win against Canada at Affidea Stadium in Belfast on Saturday.
However, Kevin Rouet’s Maple Leafs showed just they are seen as one of the main contenders for the World Cup and they effectively placed the outcome beyond doubt by moving into a 40-7 lead with 25 minutes remaining.
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Yet before Canadian lock Sophie de Goede completed the scoring on the stroke of full-time, Ireland registered 19 unanswered points to provide themselves with plenty of encouragement from the game.
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“I’m happy with what we’ve looked at, I’m happy that we’ve come out of pre-season having tested a few things that we may need in the next, call it eight weeks. Now it’s just about delivering it when the pressure truly is on,” remarked Bemand, who used a total of 30 players over the course of Ireland’s two warm-up games.
“The work that we’ve done in the build-up to this has prepared us well for a test against a World Cup contender. There’s a bit of a breeze here today, so there was always going to be points within that breeze. There’s a learning piece about how we control momentum in the first half when you’re playing into it.
“You look at momentum in the middle of the pitch that Canada managed to win and then that gives penalties. It gives entries into a 22 and they’re a good team when they get those entries. That told on the scoreboard in the first half [Canada led 33-7 at the interval].”
In addition to Erin King and Dorothy Wall already being ruled out of contention before Ireland’s preparation for the World Cup began in June, there has also been some concern surrounding the fitness of Edel McMahon, Aoife Wafer and Christy Haney in recent weeks.
It remains to see if this triumvirate will be included in the final squad for the tournament when it is announced on Monday morning, but Bemand is relieved that Ireland emerged from Saturday’s game without any fresh injury concerns.
Although Brittany Hogan was replaced by Claire Boles on 56 minutes – a short while after receiving on-field treatment from the Irish medics – Bemand insisted this was a case of erring on the side of caution.
“This stage of going into a World Cup, you want to come out of these games intact. You want your players okay and we’ve come out of that relatively intact, so I’m delighted about that. Britt, it’s actually nothing too serious. Just as you go through, you get the odd bump and bruise,” Bemand said.
“We retain the right to be a little bit cautious and take people off a little bit early. If this was a quarter-final, she could have stayed on. Britt’s obviously a big player and has been the last two years. I’m happy with how our medics have operated.
“We are in constant communication on the sideline. ‘Who’s under pressure, who’s got a niggle’. Where it sits, what it looks like for next week. We’ve plans put in place. We’ve got a small scenario and we can be a little bit protective here.”
Down 14-0 in the first half of their eventual triumph against Scotland, Ireland found themselves adrift by the same margin in Belfast following converted opening quarter tries for Canada from Florence Symonds and Justine Pelletier.
The hosts eventually opened their account when Béibhinn Parsons dotted down on 20 minutes, but even though their opponents had lost Daleaka Menin to a yellow card just before that, Symonds bagged a second converted try in her temporary absence.
The returning Menin was then on hand to cross over after Ireland’s starting skipper Neve Jones was sent to the sinbin herself and a stoppage-time try from Paige Farries ensured that Canada established a commanding 26-point interval buffer.
Despite looking far brighter on the resumption, Ireland conceded a sixth try when Canada fullback Julia Schell was on hand to finish off a breakaway move.
Yet the Irish finally enjoyed a purple patch either side of the third-quarter mark and Anna McGann did her chances of future selection no harm by bagging tries in the 59th and 62nd minutes.
The aforementioned Parsons joined her fellow winger McGann in finishing the game on a brace of tries as she rounded off an extended attack on 71 minutes. But it was Canada who had the final say with a late converted score from De Goede.
Scorers – Ireland: B Parsons, A McGann 2 tries each, D O’Brien 3 cons. Canada: S de Goede try, 6 cons; F Symonds 2 tries; J Pelletier, D Menin, P Farries, J Schell try each.
IRELAND: S Flood; B Parsons, A Dalton, E Breen, A McGann; D O’Brien, A Reilly; N O’Dowd, N Jones, L Djougang; R Campbell, F Tuite; G Moore, I Kiripati, B Hogan.
Replacements: C Moloney-MacDonald for Kiripati (31-40 mins); S Monaghan for Kiripati (h-t); E Higgins for Breen (52); E Perry for O’Dowd, C Moloney-MacDonald for Jones, C Boles for Hogan (all 56); E Lane for Reilly, E Corri Fallon for Campbell (both 66); S McGrath for Djougang (71).
CANADA: J Schell; A Corrigan, F Symonds, A Tessier, P Farries; C Gallagher, J Pelletier; M Hunt, G Boag, D Menin; S de Goede, T Beukeboom; K Paquin, C Crossley, F Forteza.
Replacements: S Seumanutafa for Tessier (24 mins); O Demerchant for Farries (26-30); O Demerchant for Menin (h-t); B Kassil for Hunt, E Tuttosi for Boag (both 52); O Apps for Pelletier, P Buisa for Paquin both (56); C O’Donnell for Buisa (60); S-M Lachance for Symonds (68).
Referee: A Groizeleau (France).
