Women"s Rugby World Cup 2014: England book final place with stunning victory ...

The contest had rightly been billed as one of potentially epic proportions,

given that Ireland had already brought New Zealand’s campaign to a premature

end with a shock victory in the pool stages.

Yet although Ireland took the lead briefly after hooker Gillian Bourke drove

over from a line-out maul, the Irish challenge soon fizzled out in the face

of an unrelenting English onslaught.

Twelve of the England side had endured the bitter taste of defeat in the final

at the Stoop four years ago and the frustration of that day was unleashed on

an Irish side whose lack of squad depth finally caught up with them.

Most impressive was the manner in which England targeted Ireland’s areas of

strength, their scrum and line-out maul, before the impact of the England

bench landed the hammer blow in the final quarter.

First-half tries by Clark and Kat Merchant, embellished by the kicking of

Scarratt, who landed two penalties, established an 11-point lead at the

interval. It already looked too much of a gap for the Irish side to make up.

Scarratt added a third penalty before further tries by Kay Wilson and the

excellent Marlie Packer (two) completed the victory.

Gary Street, the England head coach, said: “We knew that this was going to be

a huge game, there’s been a lot of build up and there was a fair amount of

pressure on us, but we really did deliver and I’m massively proud of them

all.

“We felt like the scoreboard was fair – we were clinical in attack and strong

in defence. One of our strengths is the amount of experience we have in the

squad. To be able to bring players off the bench with 60 caps is a huge

bonus, and picking the squad for the final will certainly be a challenge.

“It’s a cliche but we really have taken it one game at a time – if you had

said to us at the start of the tournament that we would have the opportunity

to play France or Canada in the final then of course we would have taken it.

Sunday is a huge game for us, and one that we are massively looking forward

to.”

Ireland may have been soundly beaten, but departed the semi-finals unbowed.

Philip Doyle’s side had made the key contribution to this tournament, with

their stunning victory over New Zealand in the pool stages creating an

explosion of interest across the world’s media.

It must be remembered that in 1991, when England contested their first World

Cup final against the United States, Ireland had yet to play a Test match.

Twenty-four years later the Irish side are now in the top four of world

rugby, beating their previous best finish of seventh.

They had their moments after Bourke’s try, but critically failed to claw

themselves back into the game when Niamh Briggs kicked a penalty to touch

beyond the dead-ball line, allowing England to clear their lines. Moments

later Scarratt landed her second penalty.

Ultimately lack of depth in their squad finally caught up with them against

the pace, power and tactical astuteness of an English squad who had been

able to rotate their players to a much greater degree during the pool

stages.

Article source: http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/aug/11/forty-rugby-players-chase-thieves-raided-clubhouse-edinburgh-academicals

Women"s Rugby World Cup 2014: England book final place with stunning victory ...