With a sellout crowd in attendance on day one of Women's
Rugby World Cup 2010, hosts England picked up a late try bonus
point against Ireland, while USA proved too strong for
Kazakhstan.
ENGLAND 27-0 IRELAND
By Duncan Wood
The England back row stood up to be counted when they needed to and played a pivotal role as the Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 hosts overcame an error strewn performance on a damp and gloomy Surrey evening to defeat Ireland 27-0.
It was physical, bruising stuff with Ireland refusing to be dominated by their English counterparts and Philip Doyle's side can certainly hold their heads up high despite the look of the scoreboard in their Pool B encounter.
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England will be happy with the win and relieved to get the
bonus point at the death, whereas Ireland will face the rest of the
tournament with relish knowing that they can be a match for anyone
they face.
It was all England in the opening stages, but the Irish defence was physical and committed. Numbers eventually told in the ninth minute, however, as Ireland ran out of tacklers in defence and Fiona Pocock scored in the left hand corner. Katy McLean converted for a 7-0 lead.
England, winners of the last five Women's Six Nations titles, enjoyed a superiority up front in these early stages and the Ireland set piece suffered some uncomfortable moments, but Gary Street's side conceded too many penalties to prevent any further score.
As the first half ticked by there was a growing sense of English frustration as they were unable to add to their lead, were well aware that Ireland would have the wind at their backs in the second period.
Maggie Alphonsi duly provided a spark as she powered through a gap in midfield and was only hauled down a metre short of the line. Quick ball followed and Katherine Merchant scored in the corner. The conversion drifted wide but England breathed just a little easier.
England looked revitalised and powerful work from the pack established superb field position, but Merchant just couldn't hold onto the ball when a second try seemed likely and the error was compounded as McLean sliced an eminently kickable penalty, meaning that a 12-0 half-time lead was all the hosts had to show for their efforts.
Ireland emerged after the break firing on all cylinders, sensing the possibility of a first ever win over England. As predicted, playing into the wind proved tough for England and Ireland gave their defence a good work over in the first few minutes without being able to force their way over the line.
With England pinned back, Ireland's confidence grew but an off target drop goal from full back Niamh Briggs was their best effort before a powerful break from Heather Fisher relieved the pressure on the hosts.
England made the most of their first foray into the Irish 22 as they remained patient near the goal line before Amy Turner took a quick tap penalty and muscled her way over from close range to open up a 17-0 lead.
McLean added a second penalty as Ireland's challenge faded
away and Alphonsi's try clinched the bonus point just minutes
from time, to leave England second in Pool B on point differential
behind the USA.
POST MATCH REACTION
England coach Gary Street: "It was important
to get that first game out of the way, there were a few nerves out
there, but to come out with four tries and a bonus point was
brilliant.
"We asked the girls to be patient at half time as
Ireland are a cracking side. To come away with 27-0 was really
pleasing.
"There was some pressure as the home side but we get
that in every Six Nations and we try to get the players to thrive
on it."
England captain Catherine Spencer: "The first
job was to get the win but it was definitely a relief when
'Maggie the Machine' popped up in the right place at the
right time to get that fourth try. The win was first and foremost
but, to get the bonus when we know we've more to come, was
important.
"It was extremely important to hold them out at the
start of the second half. They're big psychological moments,
the Irish threw everything at us and I'm so proud of the girls
for sticking at it."
England flanker, Maggie Alphonsi: "It was a brilliant result; today was a tough day. We play Ireland every Six Nations, we know what they are going to produce and we know them inside out, so we didn't let our fans down.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game and it was a great game to watch. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and pleased for our team that we came out with a win, which was what we wanted, and the bonus point. So an overall good day.
"For us we need to look at what things we need to improve on as
a team, because we won but obviously need to work on a few things.
Our next game is Kazakhstan and we need to go out and produce."
Ireland coach Philip Doyle: "It's very
disappointing; I thought we deserved a little bit more out of that
game. I thought we matched England at the break down at times. We
certainly created chances but we weren't able to capitalise,
England are a very good outfit, Gary has done a great job with
them.
"In the first half we were very happy with our defence
and keeping the scoreline down. The fitness started to slip a bit
in the second half, we started to leave too many gaps and, with the
pace England have, it's hard to close those gaps. But a lot of
positives to take out of it despite the scoreline being against
us."
Ireland captain Fiona Coghlan: "Their defence
was outstanding at the start of the second half when we hung onto
possession for a long time and it's unfortunate that we
didn't get over the whitewash.
"I think our scrum has improved significantly since the
Six Nations, we definitely held our own in the first half and took
the game to them."
USA 51-0 KAZAKHSTAN
By Nathaniel John
USA secured their first win of the Women's Rugby World
Cup 2010 with an emphatic 51-0 victory over Kazakhstan thanks to
tries from Nathalie Marchino (2), Christy Ringgenberg (2), Ashley
Kmiecik, Phaidra Knight and Amy Daniels.
In a game of contrasting styles, USA's approach of
fast-paced, running rugby overcame the forward-orientated game of
Kazakhstan, in the first match of Pool B at Surrey Sports Park in
Guildford, England, on Friday.
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After a fiercely contested opening, USA took the lead when
fly half Ringgenberg slotted a 25-metre penalty from in front of
the posts after Kazakhstan were penalised at the breakdown.
Just a minute later, USA scored their first try of the
tournament through wing Marchino, increasing their lead to 10-0.
The Women's Eagles won a scrum in the middle of the park and
the backline fed Marchino, who outpaced three Kazakhstan defenders
to score in the corner with just six minutes played.
Kazakhstan suffered another blow when wing Svetlana
Klyuchnikova was stretchered off with what looked like a serious
injury after a lengthy stoppage on Pitch 2, being replaced by
Lyudmila Sherer.
The injury seemed to awaken Kazakhstan, who began to use
their traditional strength in the forwards to work their way up the
field, mostly through rolling mauls generated from lineout wins.
On the half hour mark, Kazakhstan found themselves down to 14
as tighthead prop Tatyana Pshenichnaya was sin-binned for
deliberately killing the ball at the breakdown. Ringgenberg made
light work of the resulting penalty, increasing the Women's
Eagles' lead to 13-0.
The rest of the half saw the USA constantly frustrated by a
resolute Kazakhstan defence as the score remained the same at the
interval.
Five minutes after the break, Ringgenberg scored and then
converted USA's second try of the afternoon, increasing the
lead to 20-0, after a good break from right wing Victoria Folayan
allowed the backs to spread the ball wide.
USA's third try was a testament to their style of rugby
with Folayan heavily involved again. The wing collected the ball in
her own half before outpacing three defenders and offloading. The
ball found full back Kmiecik who stepped inside to score beneath
the posts for a 27-point lead.
With an hour played flanker Knight crashed over after good
work from her fellow forwards following a quickly-taken penalty,
bringing the score to 32-0. Moments later, things went from bad to
worse for Kazakhstan, as fly half Tatyana Tur became the second
player to be sin-binned for using her hands in a ruck.
Try-scorer Knight then became the third player to be
yellow-carded after failing to roll away at the breakdown. Her
sin-binning though did not stop the USA juggernaut with Ringgenberg
scoring the fifth try of the day with a long run from inside her
own half, before outside centre Daniels crossed after good work
again from Marchino.
Marchino scored the final try of the game with five minutes
left to play, bringing the final score to 51-0 and setting up USA
for their second pool match against Ireland on Tuesday, the same
day as Kazakhstan play hosts England.
POST MATCH REACTION
USA coach Kathy Flores: "We were happy with the
first 10 minutes and the last 40. And the middle period there,
unfortunately after one of the Kazakhstan players got hurt, we got
a little slow and we were playing a little more of Kazakhstan's
game which was more around the breakdown, but then we opened up a
little bit later and started scoring points. We're trying to
score as many points as we possibly can do [so] if we don't
finish first then we're the highest second place team."
USA fly half Christy Riggenberg: "We got off to
a slow start with the game, we got some penalties that hurt us
early on, but we stepped it up after the stoppage and came out on
fire and put some points on the board which is really exciting for
us because we have some trouble putting points on the board in the
past.
"Putting points on the board for my team is definitely
very exciting. I like to run, I like to move around a little bit.
To be able to find space is something for a fly half but I was glad
I was able to do it."
"We've got some things to iron out in our attack. We
threw the ball around a little bit more then we want to so I guess
for Ireland we are going to iron up some of our attacking, our
pace. I think Ireland is going to come out really hard and they
have had some really good games already this season so we're
excited to see what we can do against them."
Kazakhstan vice captain Anastassiya Khamova:
"It was a tough game, USA are one of the very strong teams.
It's the first game in the World Cup so we had many mistakes
but I think it is a good experience for us and we'll try to do
our best for the next game."
