Ireland 59 (Tries: Spence (3), Cantwell (2), Miller (2), O'Brien, Molloy, Kennedy, Egan. Cons: Stapleton, Murphy) Scotland 0
Success is too heavy a burden for some teams. Judging from last night's evidence, it has had the opposite effect on Fiona Coghlan's Grand Slammers. Winning the Six Nations appears to have cloaked Ireland with a new layer of confidence. There is certainly no fear of failure in attack.
Considering expectation and hype are the twin evils all defending champions must conquer, this final score puts coach Philip Doyle in an unenviable position.
“Absolutely,” said a beaming Doyle . “I put the bench on very quickly and it staggered the team but I’m delighted with how they dug themselves out of the mire to go down and get one last try. Shows a little bit of character.”
Scotland showed up but any resistance akin to last season's triple crown game was quickly dismissed.
Constant yardage
The offloading of midfield trio of Nora Stapleton, Jenny Murphy and Lynne Cantwell - delivered constant yardage over the gainline.
Utter dominance in the scrum and out of touch meant Stapleton and Cantwell, who alternate as first receivers, had the luxury of picking and choosing their runners.
Powerful centre Murphy laid an intimidating early marker, bulldozing through opposite number Gillian Inglis and Lindsay Wheeler.
Cantwell kept the move going before a pre-planned five metre lineout saw the excellent Sophie Spence stretch over for the first try.
The Old Belvedere lock is a vital cog in Doyle’s squad mainly due to her physique. A relatively small pack, in comparison to England and France anyway, Spence’s hat-trick of tries merely reinforced her value.
Not that Claire Molloy allows size to stymie her influence. A natural-born openside, she tackled and soon regained her feet to disrupt any clean Scottish possession.
But Scotland’s brittle defending caked a lot of make-up on this performance. Portlaoise flyer Alison Miller took full advantage, running riot down the left wing, to bank two tries before half-time.
Heather O’Brien and Cantwell also scrambled over with Stapleton missing all but one conversion, which may prompt Niamh Briggs’ return to the line-up against Wales (Murphy did marginally better with placed ball duties).
New exile pair Jackie Shiels and Hannah Casey hardly weakened the Ireland back three. Victory was cooked by half-time as Spence went over for her second and Ireland's sixth try off a well-tuned rolling maul. In a second half that was little more than a test of the team's ruthlessness, a final tally of 11 tries ensured they passed with honours.
Scoring sequence – 3 mins: S Spence try, 5-0; 9 : A Miller try, 10-0; N Stapleton conv, 12-0; 18: H O'Brien, 17-0; 22: A Miller try, 22-0; 29: L Cantwell try, 27-0; 31: S Spence try, 32-0. Half-time. 48 mins: S Spence try, 37-0; 50: A Egan try, 42-0; 54: S-L Kennedy try, 47-0; J Murphy conv, 49-0; L Cantwell try, 54-0; 80: C Molloy try, 59-0.
IRELAND: J Shiels; H Casey, L Cantwell, J Murphy, A Miller; N Stapleton, A Davis; F Coghlan (capt), S-L Kennedy, A Egan; S Spence, M-L Reilly; S Fleming, C Molloy, H O'Brien. Replacements: F Hayes for A Egan (50 mins), O Fitzsimmons for M-L Reilly (54 mins); G Bourke for SLKennedy, P Fitzpatrick for S Fleming (both 60 mins), L Muldoon for A Davis (62); G Davitt for J Murphy, N Briggs for J Shiels, K-A Craddock for F Coghlan (both 63).
SCOTLAND: S Johnston; K Green, A Sergeant, G Inglis, M Gaffney; L Martin, S Law; T Balmer (capt), S Quick, L Smith; J Konkel, D McCormack; T Forsberg, R Slaven, L Wheeler. Replacements: L Dalgliesh for S Law, N McLeod for S Quick, H Lockhart for L Smith (all half-time), L Steven for K Green (48 mins), L Robertson for T Balmer, T Griffiths for L Martin (both 63 mins). Yellow card: T Forsberg (50-60 mins).
Referee: L Hodnett (England).
