Erin King has ‘no doubt’ about Ireland after shock loss

Four tries up at half-time, Ireland looked firmly in control of their WXV Global Series opener at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin, with dominant displays from both the forwards and backs and a green wave of support behind them.

Yet, 40 minutes later, the home side were left stunned as the USA Women’s Eagles produced a huge second-half comeback to snatch a 40-36 victory and start their campaign strongly.

Ireland raced out of the blocks, with tries from Vicky Elmes Kinlan, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Aoife Wafer and Eve Higgins putting Scott Bemand’s side in a commanding position at the interval.

Playing with pace, power and attacking intent, Ireland produced some of their best rugby of the afternoon in the opening 40 minutes and looked set to make their dominance count on the scoreboard.

But the momentum shifted dramatically just shy of the hour mark when Elmes Kinlan was sent to the sin-bin for failing to roll away quickly enough following a tackle.

The USA seized their opportunity immediately.

Kathryn Treder scored twice in quick succession, along with Hallie Taufoou and player of the match Freda Tafuna, which completely turned the contest on its head.

Ireland refused to go quietly, and Dorothy Wall’s late try gave the hosts one final chance to snatch victory as the clock moved into the red.

But with one last attack to come, Ireland were unable to find a way through the USA defence, allowing Jack Hanratty’s side to hold on for a nail-biting 40-36 victory.

Speaking after full-time, Ireland captain Erin King told TG4: “I’m disappointed if I’m being honest.

“We came out of the blocks, and we showed what we’re capable of and I think we’re a little bit frustrated that we didn’t show that for the full 80 minutes.

“It’s our first game of the season, so we were definitely looking to hit the ground running as we know what we’re capable of.

“Our discipline slipped a little bit and we gave them some easy ins, but we’ll come back stronger from that and it was a positive day as Jemima [Adams Verling] got her first cap and a few girls got on the try-scoring sheet there, so definitely lots of positives but lots of learnings too.”

The girls in green will now look to put the disappointment behind them and respond next week when they head to Galway’s Dexcom Stadium to Japan on Sunday 26 September.

The captain explained, “You get your best learnings from your losses, and if we can take them and bring them into next week against Japan, we’ll be happy with that.

“We’re so capable. We have so much potential in this squad. I really love playing with this team. We have so much talent and it’s a joy to get to captain this team.

“I think the girls show day in day out what they’re capable of, so I have no doubt in this squad that we’re going to come together and come back stronger as a team.”