IRISH BLUSHES SPARED

Fitzpatrick’s double joy gets hosts out of jail against Japan

IRELAND remain on course for a place in the semi-finals of the Women’s Rugby World Cup but they made hard work of it, recovering from 14-0 down to defeat unfancied Japan in front of another full house at the UCD Bowl.

It was a bit too close for comfort on Wednesday when Ireland beat Australia by two points and the hosts again put their enthusiastic supporters through the ringer as they required a Nora Stapleton penalty seven minutes from time to take the lead for the first time.

Paula Fitzpatrick stretched out her long arms to ground the ball from the final play but in truth, the home side were flattered by a 10-point winning margin after a below-par display and will need to improve considerably if they’re to trouble the French on Thursday.

‘We didn’t play well and we won. We have to look at that again and move onto the French game. We are not making any excuses for that first-half performance but the girls showed great resilience in the second half to score 24 points,’ said Tierney.

‘We gave away a number of penalties, especially a number from high tackles. Thankfully the girls came together in the second half, we got the field position and pushed on. There were stern words but there was no panic in the dressing-room at half time.

‘We’re mightily relieved but we’ve got a lot of work to do if we’re going to be competitive against the French on Thursday night. We’re going to be underdogs but we will go out against them and give it our best shot,’ added Tierney.

For long spells, Ireland played second fiddle to a brave Japanese outfit who had shipped 12 tries in a 72-14 drubbing at the hands of France in their opening Pool game. Tierney shuffled his pack with one eye on Thursday’s probable pool decider, with seven changes in personnel and two positional switches.

However, the new line-up never really gelled and one third of the team were replaced by the start of the second half as Ireland trailed by 14 points with an early exit from the tournament a distinct possibility.

Ultimately, the changes worked. Alison Miller and Fitzpatrick, with two, crossed for tries and with Stapleton converting all three as well as the vital penalty, Ireland could breathe a sigh of relief.

Any notion that Ireland would dominate the physical exchanges was quickly dispelled with the hosts shunted off their own scrum as early as the ninth minute as Japan forced an early penalty.

Ireland were guilty of several basic errors in the opening stages. Mairead Coyne knocked on twice, referee Ian Barker twice penalised Tierney’s side for high tackles and the backline lacked any real cohesion.

Ireland never seriously threatened the Japanese try line in the first half and it was no surprise when they underdogs took a deserved lead in the 27th minute.

Coyne’s knock-on gave Japan a platform inside the 22 and only a poor final pass from Mayu Shimizu to Honoka Tsutsumi denied them the try.

However, Ireland were again shunted backwards in the scrum, Japan wisely opted for another scrum when the penalty was awarded and this time referee Barker quickly awarded the penalty try as the Irish eight again retreated.

Tierney reacted immediately by introducing Ailis Egan for Ciara O’Connor in the front row but there was no change in the pattern of play up to the interval.

Minori Yamamoto chipped ahead for Iroha Nagata who almost got over for the second Japanese try. The TMO saved Ireland but it proved to be a short stay of execution as Shimizu jinked inside the cover for the second try two minutes before the break and added the conversion herself to double the advantage.

A 14-point lead was a fair reflection of the opening half and Tierney completed the revamp of the front row introducing Ruth O’Reilly and Leah Lyons in place of Lindsay Peat and Cliodhna Moloney.

Louise Galvin and Paula Fitzpatrick also came on and the changes soon reaped a dividend as Ireland upped the tempo and Cronin fed Miller who jinked in for a try which Stapleton converted after 47 minutes.

A further spell of Japanese pressure was halted by a crunching tackle from Sene Naoupu and when Ireland chose the direct route following a line-out in the 64th minute, Fitzpatrick forced her way over after a series of drives.

Stapleton converted and kept her cool to slot a 73rd-minute penalty to edge Ireland in front and the experienced out-half again converted with the help of the upright when Fitzpatrick applied the finishing touch right at the death.

‘We’re mighty relieved but we’ve got a lot of work to do for France’