JUST OVER 10 years on from Ireland’s famous 2014 World Cup win over New Zealand, they have another shock success to go with it.
The teams met for just the third time on Sunday in Vancouver and Scott Bemand’s Ireland side delivered a brilliant upset victory that had strong echoes of 2014.
“One thing we speak about, last time the Black Ferns met the Irish was in 2014 and we’re just ready to go and introduce ourselves,” said Kiwi skipper Kennedy Tukuafu ahead of this game.
Instead, it was this exciting young Irish side who introduced themselves on the global stage as their impressive rise continued with a 29-27 win in the WXV 1 competition.
Similarly to their recent Test win over Australia in Belfast, Ireland were resilient, combative, clinical, physically powerful, and well-prepared for this clash with reigning world champions New Zealand.
Collectively, Ireland looked well-coached again and while there were outstanding individual performances, the key is how Bemand’s side are harnessing the skills of players like Aoife Wafer by creating opportunities for them to shine.
Here, we dig into the keys behind an Ireland win that has rocked international rugby.
Restart success
Against a team as skilful and dangerous as New Zealand, it’s always likely there will be moments when you crack. While never accepting try concessions as inevitable, it’s vital to be able to bounce back without delay. Wallow in self-pity and the Kiwis will finish the game as a contest in a flash. Bemand’s side showed great character in this sense.
Take Ireland’s response to the 10-minute onslaught of pressure they faced at the start of the game, ending with New Zealand scoring the opening try for a 7-0 lead.
Straight from the restart, Ireland were aggressive and proactive as the Kiwis attempted to run the ball out of their own 22.
It’s outside centre Aoife Dalton and right wing Eimear Considine who bring the linespeed on the edge of the defence here, Dalton doing a good job of reading the pass out the back to swim past the front-door option she initially has to worry about.
There are two Kiwi players outside Considine but she races up high to close off the easy passing lane for Black Ferns centre Sylvia Brunt.
Brunt attempts to fend her way past Dalton but the Irish 13 hangs on in the tackle to drag her down behind the gainline. It’s an excellent bit of defence.
Considine closes in on the contest and her presence is key because she’s able to shove the first arriving Kiwi player to ground, outmusculing opposite number Ruby Tui.
And that means Ireland lock Dorothy Wall, who has worked across from inside, is presented with a clear opening to jackal.
Wall snaps over the ball in a strong position that she’s close to impossible to move from.
Ireland have a breakdown penalty and congratulations go to Dalton, who has taken a blow to the face for her troubles.
Bemand’s side turned down the shot at goal here and while they didn’t covert the kick into the corner as their close-range lineout was picked off, they kept the pressure on to force another turnover from the Kiwis as they once again tried to run the ball out.
This time, loosehead prop Niamh O’Dowd brings the heat as she blitzes up from the defensive line to pressure Kiwi lock Chelsea Brember’s sweep pass.
This is a repeat feature of O’Dowd’s game. She has quickly become a big defensive leader for Ireland.
With the ball on the ground and Ireland coming forward at speed, Black Ferns centre Amy du Plessis is under intense pressure and she accidentally kicks the ball over her own dead-ball line.
That means an attacking five-metre scrum for Ireland and they score a try off it through Wafer.
It’s a superb response to the Kiwi try five minutes earlier, with Ireland’s defensive intent forcing errors from the New Zealanders and yielding a score of their own.
A soon penalty saw New Zealand go 10-5 ahead but Ireland did another good job straight off their restart.
First, captain Edel McMahon and lock Fiona Tuite hammer du Plessis in a big double tackle.
On the next phase, tighthead prop Linda Djougang combines with Wall for another powerful double tackle on New Zealand flanker Layla Sae.
Djougang does well to be involved in the hit on Sae, given that she is initially required to deal with the possible ball carry from Kiwi number eight Liana Mikaele-Tu’u.
Djougang reads the play well, though, appreciating the possibility of a tip-on pass from Mikaele-Tu’u to Sae.
So even while giving herself scope to tackle Mikaele-Tu’u if she does carry, Djougang never fully plants her feet for that tackle, keeping her shoulders open to the possibility of the tip-on, then sliding out off Mikaele-Tu’u when she does pass.
Djougang and Wall land a good tackle on Sae and then Djougang’s explosive second action sees her immediately bounces back up onto her feet and barge the Kiwi ruck.
With Djougang driving forward, Mikaele-Tu’u reacts by neck-rolling her and it’s a penalty to Ireland, giving them another attacking opportunity almost instantly after conceding.
The theme continued throughout the game.
Straight after New Zealand went 20-17 ahead in the second half, with O’Dowd in the sin bin, out-half Dannah O’Brien strikes an excellent restart to the left.
The hang time gives Ireland left wing Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe and inside centre Enya Breen time to swarm Mererangi Paul, holding her up and then dragging her over the touchline.
Murphy Crowe’s delight at being part of this kick-chase win is obvious as Ireland celebrate.
This effort was key in Bemand’s side seeing out the remainder of O’Dowd’s sin-bin period without further damage on the scoreboard. 0-3 in that 10 minutes was a good outcome.
It’s obviously better not to concede in the first place but when it does happen, it’s key for any team not to let the setback linger. Against New Zealand, Ireland responded brilliantly and made their restarts a major success.
Breakdown dominance
As we’ve already seen above, Ireland got a firm grip on the breakdown in this game, repeatedly winning big defensive turnovers to deny New Zealand attacking flow but also earning themselves attacking opportunities.
That breakdown dominance was crucial in Ireland bouncing back from the 73rd-minute try concession to Mererangi Paul that left the Kiwis 27-22 ahead.
Once again, Ireland responded with composure and leaned on their jackaling skills to create an opportunity. In the 76th minute, the outstanding Wafer came up with a big poach.
Wafer wins the turnover but it’s smart collective work here.
Number eight Brittany Hogan does an excellent job of working across from the tail of the lineout to be the one to tackle Mikaele-Tu’u as she looks to thunder upfield.
It’s also notable how Wafer [yellow below] visibly hangs back from making the tackle on Mikaele-Tu’u. This is a tactic Ireland would have discussed.
Wafer doesn’t want to be part of the tackle so she can be free to jackal. She allows Hogan to close across as out-half O’Brien steps up and in from outside Wafer to assist in the tackle.
That means Wafer can target the ball at the earliest possible split second, giving her time to get into a strong enough position to ride the incoming clearout attempt.
Wafer wins the penalty, O’Brien kicks to touch, and Ireland pile on the pressure in New Zealand’s 22 only for an O’Brien pass to get intercepted. With less than three minutes remaining, Ireland fans’ hopes might have dropped – but only for a few seconds.
Straight off the intercept, Ireland win another turnover. Murphy Crowe and fullback Stacey Flood tackle Renee Holmes…
… and Flood does a great job of fighting to stay on her feet, allowing her to show a release from the tackle, then jackal for the turnover.
7s experts like Flood have to be proficient at the breakdown on both sides of the ball and her background is valuable here as she comes up with a massive poach for Ireland.
They kick into touch on the left again and this time, they make it count with Erin King’s game-winning converted try.
Kick pressure
One of the areas in which Ireland have struggled in recent years is the kicking game which was completely lacking at times.
This win over New Zealand featured lots of fine kicking as Ireland applied more pressure on the Kiwis, often earning good field position as a result. Ireland had 23 kicks in play to New Zealand’s 14.
21-year-old O’Brien is a superb left-footed kicker of the ball and led these tactics with a whopping 16 kicks in play, delivering some brilliant efforts like the one below.
The kick comes from yet another Irish breakdown turnover – this one from replacement scrum-half Emily Lane – and O’Brien picks out the backfield space as New Zealand look to recover into defensive shape.
The power of O’Brien’s kicking game is unique and she clears the retreating Kiwi fullback Holmes, whose fatigue after working back is evident. Holmes has no other choice than to retrieve the ball and kick to touch for an Irish lineout on the New Zealand 10-metre line.
It’s a gain of 25 metres with one kick from Ireland, while their kicking game also opened further breakdown chances thanks to a hard-working chase throughout this win.
Scrambling
Ireland conceded 27 points and might have lost but for a TMO intervention to highlight obstruction from New Zealand when it looked like they might have scored a maul try when O’Dowd was in the sin bin.
There will be a couple of fix-ups in this regard but defence coach Hugh Hogan will surely have been delighted with how the players competed. They had to scramble to deny New Zealand a few times after linebreaks.
Take this moment in the first half when Ruahei Demant’s offload sets flanker Sae scorching beyond the Irish frontline defence.
It looks like a near-certain New Zealand try and probably should have been one, but Ireland do well to rescue the situation.
Firstly, scrum-half Molly Scuffil-McCabe sprints flat out as she tracks back from the edge of Ireland’s frontline defence in pursuit of Sae.
Sae has scrum-half Maia Joseph [pink below] running support on the inside and the pass should really go at some point but Ireland fullback Flood [yellow] helps to sow a seed of doubt in Sae’s mind by opting against committing up into tackling Sae – as many last defenders would do in this instance.
Indeed, with Scuffil-McCabe [red above] working so hard to sprint back, Flood backs off Sae and shapes to move off to cover Joseph.
As a result, Sae decides to dummy and while she does beat Flood, Scuffil-McCabe’s work-rate and pace mean she can tackle Sae from behind.
Sae then opts for a ‘double carry,’ whereby she releases the ball, gets up, scoops the ball, and carries again.
But she’s immediately shoved back to ground by the hard-working lock Tuite, who has sprinted back, and Flood, who has returned for another bite.
Flood shows her jackal skills by offering a lightning-quick release and snapping onto the ball to earn a hugely relieving penalty for Ireland.
Clinical from close range
While they managed to thwart a few dangerous Kiwi attacks, Ireland were clinical when they had visits down the other end of the pitch – continuing a theme from their recent Test win over Australia in Belfast.
They took their five tries in ruthless fashion, starting with Wafer’s first score in the 14th minute.
Ireland win a scrum penalty five metres out and there’s no hesitation whatsoever from Wafer as she demands the ball from Scuffil-McCabe, taps, and explodes at the line.
Wafer’s acceleration is impressive and explains why Ireland have used her in the number eight slot at scrums all year despite wearing the number six shirt. It’s a move which has proven successful, as we also saw against Australia.
Wafer’s power is obvious as she steps left to scorch past the advancing du Plessis, dips low and drives into Sae and Mikaele-Tu’u, winning the collision and continuing her leg drive to allow herself to reach out with her right arm and dot down.
Her second was similar but came directly off the base of the Irish scrum.
Watch how Scuffil-McCabe dummies a run off to the left to draw Kiwi scrum-half Joseph away to that side as Wafer picks and burstx with startling acceleration into the shortside.
Sae is beaten by Wafer’s pace, meaning she can’t tackle up around the ball, and a dummy pass from Wafer to Considine ensures Kiwi left wing Katelyn Vaha’akolo sits off, allowing the Irish back row to finish cleanly before Mikaele-Tu’u can get across.
Hooker Neve Jones scored Ireland’s third try soon after, finishing at the end of an extended passage that featured strong carries from the likes of Tuite, Flood, and McMahon.
Jones arrives to resource the breakdown after McMahon’s carry and with everyone else in the contest off their feet, simply picks the ball up and dives over untouched to score.
This try required review, with Jones appearing to be ahead of the ball as she picked it up, but TMO Ian Tempest felt that because none of the Kiwis arrived on their feet, it was a “tackle only” situation and not a ruck, and that the ball was “between the legs” of Jones.
The try stood and Ireland got great reward for a powerful, aggressive, gritty passage of combat in the Kiwi 22.
20-year-old replacement back row Erin King scored Ireland’s other two tries, both of which came from close-range platforms. In the 67th minute, forwards coach Alex Codling’s charges used this smart play from the five-metre lineout.
New Zealand might have expected a maul from this position but Ireland deliver a smart trick play for sub hooker Cliodhna Moloney to go close.
Just as Wafer rips the ball from lineout jumper Wall and darts into the shortside with Moloney, the dummy runs from King and Lane to the openside prove distracting for the Kiwis.
Wafer draws in Sae and passes to Moloney, who is stopped by an excellent tackle from New Zealand replacement scrum-half Iritana Hohaia. But they’re only inches away and King finishes the job by burrowing over for the try.
And when Ireland need a score in the dying minutes, their breakdown defence earns them one last shot.
Again, they opt for a simple but smart play at the lineout in the Kiwi 22, with O’Dowd going close this time.
With New Zealand more worried about either jumping to compete or defending the maul, O’Dowd is left open at the very front of the lineout. Moloney hits her, O’Dowd dummies a pass and nearly blasts over only for Paul to halt her just short.
Wafer carries next, Hogan goes close, Moloney has a surge, O’Dowd carries a second time, then with New Zealand being warned about their hands being ahead of the tryline and offside as they set themselves to tackle, King strikes again.
King’s handy knack of finishing from close range leaves Ireland tied at 27-27.
Responsibility falls onto O’Brien’s shoulders with the conversion in the last minute of the game.
In off the post, never in doubt.
Ireland survive the closing seconds of the game as the Kiwis’ restart fails to go 10 metres. The ball goes in and out of the scrum, O’Brien blasts it into touch, and Ireland celebrate a famous win.
