Ireland given 'almighty fright': Four takeaways from Ireland v Spain

Ireland bettered their points total from their World Cup opener but not the performance as they struggled to a 43-27 victory over Spain at Franklin’s Gardens.

The 16-point margin fails to pay justice to the Spanish performance, albeit a series of errors gifted Ireland the territory and opportunities they needed to kill the game off.

Dannah O’Brien and Amee-Leigh Costigan crossed for early scores to open up a 12 point lead. The gap was wiped out by two tries in the space of six minutes, Spain riding their at times dominant maul to give Ireland a significant scare.

Anna McGann and Eve Higgins struck back to give Scott Bemand’s side a 14-point lead at the break, one which was quickly cut in half as Claudia Pena Hidalgo struck almost from the opening kick off of the second half.

Ultimately, Ireland pulled away as a Grace Moore double and a second from McGann ensured Lourdes Alameda’s score didn’t allow things to get close. The game ended with a clever lineout move ensuring sending Cristina Blanco Herrera over in the corner, adding some scoreboard respectability – the least Spain deserved.

Set-piece battle
Plenty of talk in the build-up focused on the sevens influence on both sides. With good reason, Ireland’s back three – all sevens veterans – did untold damage against Japan. Those same players talked up Spain’s running threat during the week precisely because of their experience against them on the short form circuit.

Despite that, the contest quickly turned into a battle of the set-pieces. Three of Ireland’s four first-half tries came off the back of mauls narrowing the Spanish defence. Spain’s own two first period scores also came off the back of a strong catch and drive, their attacking maul looking the more dominant of the two.

Ireland have made clear that, while they want to use their wide threats effectively, earning the right to do so first is a priority. You have to go through teams, as well as around them.

Which makes next weekend’s pool decider against New Zealand fascinating. On paper, a better team should be able to deal with the power game. What, then is plan B? The last time the two sides met, though, at WXV last year, Ireland relied on their set-piece to the tune of a series of vital scores.

If they didn’t think they could compete with the Black Ferns for power, they wouldn’t be playing like this just seven days out.

Perry Power
If it wasn’t clear already, it’s fast becoming evident why Ireland were so keen to recruit former England loosehead Ellena Perry. She wasn’t actually supposed to be in this Irish squad, a late injury to tighthead Christy Haney prior to the competition prompting Irish head coach Scott Bemand to pick up the phone.

On her first start in green, the Gloucester front row showed her value. In the first half alone, she won a pair of scrum penalties. Her battle with Spain tighthead Eider Garcia Fuentes – all 185cm of her – was something to behold.

Perhaps height isn’t necessarily an advantage at scrum time, Perry earning the upper hand there. She also spun the gargantuan Garcia Fuentes out of a maul which then inched forward, sucking in more defenders before Ireland went wide to score.

Given Ireland historically struggles to develop props, to have Perry fall into their lap from England, offering a set-piece power element Ireland simply do not have elsewhere, could be a godsend.

Errors
Perhaps inevitably given Spain made nine changes to their starting line-up, Ireland seven, individual errors defined this game. Be it lack of game time for those who came in, or a lack of team cohesion, both sides were guilty of lapses which led directly to opposition scores.

Spain’s first try came directly off the back of a poor kick from Ireland out-half Dannah O’Brien. Her mistimed effort gave Amalia Argudo plenty of time to pick her mark and find a 50:22. After half-time, Ireland’s inability to deal with the kick-off was punished by Claudia Pena Hidalgo’s score which narrowed the gap to seven.

Spain, though, definitely came off the worse. After their first half purple patch which levelled the scores, a needless double movement penalty allowed Ireland the territory to retake the lead and with it the momentum.

After Hidalgo’s early second half scored, out-half Zahia Perez failed to call a mark when fielding an O’Brien kick inside the 22. Instead of earning plenty of time for a clearance, she rushed her kick in open play, slicing it badly while still in the 22. Grace Moore scored off the resulting lineout.

This after her failure to deal with an earlier O’Brien kick led to the opening score of the game. Spain will be proud of the way they came back from last week’s drubbing at the hands of the Black Ferns to give Ireland an almighty fright. Yet given the way they let Ireland back into the game, they can’t help but wonder about what might have been.

Not all big scorelines are bad
On paper, an 16-point winning margin for Ireland adds another entry to the comfortable scoreline ledger which has dominated the tournament conversation throughout this competition’s pool stages. Yet the nature of the game probably leaves Spain happier than Ireland, even though the latter secured a quarter-final berth and the former can no longer progress.

Half an hour into the match, Spain had levelled things up after falling 12 points behind. They also gave Ireland a scare when narrowing a 14-point deficit to seven within minutes of the second half starting.

That Ireland had too much forward depth and ultimately pulled away on the scoreline shouldn’t detract from what was a genuinely entertaining contest.

Some will try and argue the merits of 90-point drubbings elsewhere in this tournament. This contest did not need any straw-clutching to argue for its merits.