LAST UPDATE | 29 Jul

Australia 19

Ireland 14

IRELAND WILL FACE Australia in the Olympic 7s quarter-finals tonight despite losing narrowly to the Australians in their last pool game at Stade de France.

With Ireland going through as one of the two best third-placed teams, they will meet Pool B winners Australia again at 9.30pm Irish time this evening.

Having finished second in the overall World SVNS Series table this season, winning the Grand Final leg in Madrid, Australia will be favourites for the knock-out clash, with Ireland facing a big challenge.

Allan Temple-Jones’ side will take encouragement from their skillful and spirited showing against the Australians in their closing Pool B game, as Eve Higgins came into the starting side and scored all 14 of their points in a superb individual performance.

Higgins replaced the injured captain Lucy Mulhall Rock, with Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe taking over as skipper against the Australians.

Ireland had to deal with a tough start in Paris as Faith Nathan broke through in midfield and raced 45 metres to score under the posts after just 20 seconds of play. 

The Irish women responded with an exhaustingly long passage of cohesive attack that nearly resulted in a score, only for Béibhinn Parsons to agonisingly knock on as she looked to dive over in the left corner.

However, Ireland had penalty advantage and they crossed from the close-range scrum as Erin King threw a brilliant offload inside for Higgins to drive over and convert her own try for 7-7. 

Eve Higgins was outstanding for Ireland. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

But the Australians had the class to score again just before the break, with Bienne Terita offloading for Teagan Levi to finish a try she was unable to convert, leaving her side 12-7 in front at half time.

King made a promising break early in the second half but the Australian defence came up with a big turnover and their swift counter-attack ended with Maddison Levi dotting down under the posts, with Tia Hands converting.

Murphy Crowe nearly scored a sensational solo try soon after, stepping past and sprinting clear of several Australian defenders, but lost control of the ball just as she looked to dot down one-handed.

Still, Ireland kept the pressure on as Higgins’ big tackle forced a turnover and Hands was sin-binned for infringing close to the Aussie tryline.

From the ensuing scrum attack, Higgins surged over impressively and again converted for 19-14.

Ireland had a chance to restart but did so with mere seconds remaining, so the Australians were able to kick the ball out to seal their win.

The sides will meet again tonight to battle for a place in the Olympic semi-finals.

Australia scorers:

Tries: Faith Nathan, Teagan Levi, Maddison Levi

Conversions: Teagan Levi [1 from 2], Tia Hands [1 from 1]

Ireland scorers:

Tries: Eve Higgins [2]

Conversions: Eve Higgins [2 from 2]

AUSTRALIA: Bienne Terita, Faith Nathan, Dominique du Toit (captain), Teagan Levi, Maddison Levi, Isabella Nasser, Sariah Paki.

Replacements: Charlotte Caslick, Tia Hands, Kahli Henwood, Sharni Smale, Bridget Clark.

IRELAND: Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe (captain), Megan Burns, Eve Higgins, Emily Lane, Béibhinn Parsons, Erin King, Stacey Flood.