Women’s Eagles end tour with win over Ireland

The USA Women’s Eagles ended their overseas tour in a high with a 19-10 over Ireland at Donnybrook on Sunday. After opening their first campaign since the 2017 World Cup with two heavy defeats, the team heads home with two wins in the space of a week after the Selects beat England Academy on Tuesday.

It was a back-and-forth affair in the first half with both teams having scoring opportunities. The first to make one count was the USA, with Kimber Rozier crashing over after sustained pressure. She converted her own to make it a full seven.

Kaitlyn Broughton was next, bouncing off the deck and over just minutes before the intermission. The match officials were happy enough to award the score after a brief discussion on whether the fullback was required to release the ball in contact.

Ireland would not go into halftime with a zero on the board. After their own period of possession it was Laura Sheehan who crossed in the corner on debut. Nikki Caughey couldn’t connect with the conversion leaving the score 12-5 to the visitors at the break.

The close contest continued in the second half until Meya Bizer finished off an attack, just making it into the corner with the sideline threatening. It was Bizer’s line break that set up the score, and Rozier nailed the difficult conversion to all put secure the win heading into the final quarter.

A try at the death to Eimear Considine was just rewards for Ireland’s efforts but ultimately academic.

 

SCORING

IRELAND 10
Tries – L. Sheehan (38’), E. Considine (80’)

USA 19
Tries – K. Rozier (12’), K. Broughton (33’), M. Bizer (60’)
Cons – K. Rozier 2 (13’, 61’)

 

TEAMS

IRELAND
1 Lindsay Peat, 2 Sarah Mimnagh, 3 Fiona Reidy, 4 Aoife McDermott, 5 Ciaran Cooney, 6 Edel McMahon, 7 Claire Molloy, 8 Ciara Griffin (capt.), 9 Ailsa Hughes, 10 Nikki Caughey, 11 Laura Sheehan, 12 Michelle Claffey, 13 Sene Naoupu, 14 Eimear Considine, 15 Lauren Delany

Replacements: 16 Emma Hooban, 17 Laura Feely, 18 Leah Lyons, 19 Nichola Fryday, 20 Jeamie Deacon, 21 Nicole Cronin, 22 Claire McLaughlin, 23 Beibhinn Parsons

USA
1 Catie Benson, 2 Katy Augustyn, 3 Nick James, 4 Stacey Bridges, 5 Kristine Sommer, 6 Rachel Johnson, 7 Kate Zackary (capt.), 8 Jordan Gray, 9 Carly Waters, 10 Gabby Cantorna, 11 Jennine Duncan, 12 Kimber Rozier, 13 Meya Bizer, 14 Kelsi Stockert, 15 Kaitlyn Broughton

Replacements: 16 Tiana A’au, 17 Azniv Nalbandian, 18 Nick James, 19 Alycia Washington, 20 AnnaKaren Pedraza, 21 Evan Hoese, 22 McKenzie Hawkins, 23 Megan Foster

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Rebecca Mahoney (NZRU)
Assistants: Paul Haycock (IRFU) & Cilian Hogan (IRFU)