We left it all out there
DANNAH O’Brien kicked a winning penalty and wing Katie Corrigan and sub hooker Cliodhna Moloney crossed for tries, as Ireland defeated Scotland 15-12 in Belfast.
The win, given Wales beat Italy earlier in the day, secured third place in the 2024 Six Nations.
England beat France later in the day to post a Grand Slam.
Third place also secured qualification for next year’s Rugby World Cup in England in August-September 2025.
“I’m very proud, I think we all left it out there,” said skipper Sam Monaghan, who had missed the 88-point pasting against England and the opening loss to France.
“We had a very heavy defeat last week and I think that built the fuel for the fire.
“It was never going to be a straight run in this Six Nations.
“We said at half-time that we’ve every belief that we can win this game and it takes a mentality like that to go forward for a World Cup.”
Second-row Monaghan, playing only three games, was joint fourth across the entire tournament for her 44 carries, while her line-out takes saw her gain third in that category.
Dominant
Loose-head Linda Djougang made the most dominant tackles, 15; back-row Aoife Wafer was fifth for line-breaks, making five; while hooker Neve Jones was sixth in the tackling category with 56 hits.
Second-row Dorothy Wall turned up in two categories, joint-fourth with Monaghan for carries, while also turning up fourth for having made 20 ruck cleanouts.
Brittany Hogan was voted Player of the Match in Belfast, producing a powerhouse display from the base of the scrum.
“It means so much,” said Hogan, who revealed the earlier WalesItaly results had been kept ‘secret’ from the Irish players ahead of the game.
“We came out for a performance today. We didn’t know what was going to happen after the end of it, if we qualified or not, but we just wanted to do it together.
“We’ve come through so much as a group and every single one of us — management, players, people who aren’t here today and all our supporters — everyone means everything.”