Ireland are off the mark in their Women’s World Cup after an emphatic win over Japan.
After slow starts in their warm-up games, Ireland were fast out of the blocks, using one of their short lineout variations to give the midfield target, before their backline sprang into action and fed Amee-Leigh Costigan on the wing to put them seven points up.
Japan were stuck in their own half in the opening exchanges, their poor discipline at the breakdown gave Ireland another chance in the maul, which they converted easily.
The Irish backline opened Japan up once again, this time Costigan was the provider and Béibhinn Parsons raced into the corner to make it 21-0 and Ireland seemed to be cruising.
Dannah O’Brien kicked smoothly from the tee, and had a very comfortable day with her tactical kicking too.
It was a huge improvement in the kicking exchanges, although Japan aren’t at the level that Ireland experienced against Canada in the final warm-up game.
Despite the fast start, Ireland left some chances behind them. Aoibheann Reilly controlled proceedings throughout the game, but failed to ground the ball as she picked from the base of the ruck very early on.
A knock-on in a clever maul transfer also stopped Ireland from adding pressure to Japan in the opening stages. They kicked on from there with three unanswered tries.
However, Ireland stuttered their way through the second quarter.
By half-time, Ireland had lost possession from four lineouts. A couple were thrown crooked into the lineout, and things got nervy from there.
If Ireland want to fulfil their potential in this tournament, that will be one of their biggest improvements going into their second tie against Spain.
The better teams in this competition will pick apart your setpiece.
Japan aren’t renowned for their lineout dominance, yet Ireland put themselves under pressure and allowed the Sakura XV to get a foothold in the game.
The Japanese doubled down on putting Ireland into difficult positions by finding space in the backfield.
Ireland’s defence became narrow at times.
It was a combination of being too narrow around the breakdown, with the effects filtering out to the wide channels, and Ireland’s backfield being more reactive than they could afford to be.
Japan kicked back over the ruck on the short side to pin Ireland back, while also using a midfield ‘wiper’ style kick to challenge the defensive shape of Ireland’s back three.
When Spain and New Zealand analyse the Irish performance, they’ll note those two areas as weaknesses for Ireland during their opening-round victory.
They are easy fixes for Scott Bemand and his team, but improvements that need to be made nonetheless.
Ireland scored their highest tally in a World Cup despite these areas of improvement. They’ll be very satisfied with their first run-out, building nicely into their second game versus Spain.
While Japan dominated the first 10 minutes after half-time, Eve Higgins had her second match-breaking moment with an intercept five metres from the Irish try line.
She used her strength and athleticism to fend off the Japanese tackler and raced away under the posts from 95 metres. Ireland were lucky that Higgins stepped up.
Their narrow defence nearly brought them back into a competitive game.
Higgins struck at either side of half-time to help Ireland to such a dominant victory. As impressive as the intercept was, her assist for Fiona Tuite’s try was a great piece of individual play.
Ireland used one of their short lineout variations, breaking back down the short side on the third phase.
Higgins stepped back inside the Japanese defence, beating a couple of defenders before putting the ball on a plate for Tuite in support.
Enya Breen finished Ireland’s scoring after Aoife Dalton provided the platform from the lineout play. Breen popped up outside the forwards to catch the Japanese defenders. It was a smart play from Reilly and Breen.
While Ireland created a lot of opportunities against Japan, they will need to be more ruthless and efficient against the higher ranked teams in the competition.
Another maul try was chalked off because of an illegal maul set-up. There won’t be as many chances to waste in more competitive games.
Bemand’s side could have run away with a much higher score but mistakes and individual errors crept into their game.
Yet, when you score your highest World Cup tally and open your account with tries from both the pack and the backline, you’ll take the victory with areas to improve on.
Sam Monaghan and Brittany Hogan led the Irish pack. Yellow card aside, Linda Djougang had big moments for Ireland too.
Reilly and O’Brien controlled the game at their ease which will please the Irish coaches. They were backed up by individual brilliance from Higgins and Costigan, with another high standard performance from Stacey Flood at the back.
Bemand is unlikely to make many changes for the weekend, given the fact that Ireland can qualify for a quarter-final with one more win from their two games, Spain being the easier of the two.
We could see Moloney-Macdonald start, with Neve Jones swapping to the bench.
There might be other close calls that could be swapped around for this second round game, but Ireland are looking to build momentum and it’s doubtful that there’ll be much experimenting with games coming thick and fast.
It was a very positive start for Bemand and his team after an eight-year wait since their last World Cup match. Their focus now turns to Spain at 12pm on Sunday.
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