Eire pulled off a shock 29-27 win over New Zealand of their opening WXV1 match in Vancouver.
The outcome is likely one of the greatest in Eire’s historical past, as they downed the reigning World Cup-holders because of Erin King’s late strive, and Dannah O’Brien’s conversion. The win sees Eire proceed their enchancment beneath Scott Bemand, after ending third within the 2024 Six Nations.
“It is an vital step, a extremely huge second for this group and a extremely huge second for Irish ladies’s rugby, however we’ll not get forward of ourselves,” Bemand mentioned. “We have to maintain going after it, there’s two video games left to come back. We’ll get pleasure from it however we’ll be going after the following two video games.”
However this is likely one of the largest shocks in latest ladies’s rugby historical past as Eire scored 5 tries in opposition to a New Zealand facet that gained the World Cup in 2022.
It was New Zealand who began the higher of the 2 groups, with Atlanta Lolohea scoring after 9 minutes as she rumbled over off the again of a driving lineout. Aoife Wafer struck again for Eire with a close-range end within the 14th minute, and the excellent flanker adopted that up with a second rating 18 minutes later as she darted over off the again of a five-metre scrum.
Neve Jones then scored a decide and go strive for Eire within the thirty eighth minute, however Katelyn Vahaakolo scored a surprising strive on the stroke of half time for the Black Ferns, with the sport locked at 17-17 on the break.
The 2 groups exchanged scores within the second half with Holmes preserving the scoreboard ticking over for New Zealand whereas Erin King then scored within the 67th minute to present Eire a 22-20 lead.
The Black Ferns struck subsequent by Mererangi Paul who crashed over after some slick offloads within the build-up, giving the Kiwis the lead within the 73th minute, nevertheless it was King’s strive within the 78th minute and O’Brien’s last-gasp conversion gave Eire a well-known win.
“I am misplaced for phrases, that was unbelievable,” Eire captain Edel McMahon mentioned. “The women [got] caught in proper from the get-go and that went to the wire. We had perception in one another and ourselves, it was completely superb … it was unreal.”
