Ireland hit Japan for six in Rugby World Cup opener

Ireland are just 80 minutes away from a guaranteed quarter-final place. 

PERFECT START: Ireland's Eve Higgins makes a break on her way to scoring her side's fifth try against Japan. The 42-point total is Ireland's highest ever at the Women's Rugby World Cup. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

Women's Rugby World Cup: Ireland 42 Japan 14 

Ireland’s Rugby World Cup campaign is off to a flyer with a comprehensive, six-try defeat of Japan in Northampton early on Sunday afternoon leaving them just 80 minutes away from a guaranteed quarter-final spot.

This was a game eight years in the making because of the failure to make New Zealand three years ago and it translated into the country’s highest ever points total in the tournament, edging the 40 recorded against Kazakhstan in 2014.

This was a game Ireland were absolutely expected to win and, while there were some fraught moments, the Six Nations side did more than enough to suggest that they will dispense with Spain at the same venue in seven days’ time.

After that it’s the world champion Black Ferns and the start of the really serious stuff.

Scott Bemand’s team had started slowly in both of their warm-up matches and they had clearly targeted this as an area of improvement against an opponent that was considerably weaker than both Scotland or Canada.

It wasn’t perfect. There were a handful of knock-ons inside the opposition 22, a stray kick to touch and the lineout would creak and crack all through the first-half, but they were ‘on it’ in so many areas and that told.

Amee-Leigh Costigan opened the scoring after just five minutes, haring down the left wing and breaking an appalling ‘tackle’ from Komachi Imakugi on the way, and then hooker Neve Jones went over off the base of a maul shortly after.

Japan found some solid ground after that, their tactical kicking and those Irish gremlins out of touch having plenty to do with that, but the green wall held before Costigan found a dog leg in the Japanese line and fed the flying Beibhinn Parsons for a third.

Then Ireland lost their second lineout inside their own 22. Minutes later, approaching the half-hour, and Haraka Hirotsu was touching down on the back of the pressure which that systematic error created.

Ireland won’t be able to thrive with such a fundamental weakness later in the tournament but they were still well in control here and claimed a fourth try approaching the break when a superb Eve Higgins break put Fiona Tuite over for the bonus score.

Dannah O’Brien, whose left boot was again a key feature throughout the 80 minutes, added all four conversions to leave it 28-7 at half-time. Comfortable. Or so you would think. Japan had other ideas on the restart.

Masami Kawamura’s try just three minutes in threatened to put the cat among the pigeons. Now just two converted tries behind, Ireland had to live on their wits for the next ten minutes as the underdogs dominated possession and territory.

The turning point was such a close-run thing.

Misaki Matsumura was only five metres from the try line when Aoibheann Reilly just about dragged her down by the heels. One ill-advised hand-off later and Higgins had intercepted and ran it back for seven points and a 35-12 advantage.

A real sliding doors moment.

The breathing came easier after that, even when a penalty try and yellow card for Japan were overturned, Enya Breen grabbing a sixth try with what may have been her first touch just after the hour mark.

Linda Djougang’s yellow card hardly changed things a jot, its greatest effect serving only to delay Sadhbh McGrath’s World Cup debut off the bench. It’s been a long wait for this day – and the squad started training in early June – but they made it worth it.

IRELAND: S Flood; B Parsons, A Dalton, E Higgins, AL Costigan; D O'Brien, A Reilly; N O’Dowd, N Jones, L Djougang; R Campbell, S Monaghan; F Tuite, E McMahon, B Hogan.

Replacements: A McGann for Costigan, E Breen for Higgins, E Perry for O’Dowd, E Corri-Fallon for Campbell, C Moloney-MacDonald for Jones (all 61); G Moore for Hogan, E Lane for Reilly (both 74), S McGrath for Djougang (76).

JAPAN: S Nishimura; M Matsumura, M Furuta, H Hirotsu, K Imakugi; A Otsuka, M Tsukui; S Kato, A Kuge, W Kitano; Y Sato, O Yoshimura; M Kawamura, I Nagata, S Saito.

Replacements: A Sakurai for Yoshimura and N Nagata for Kitano (both 51); M Mine for Kato and K Hosokawa for Saito, M Yamamoto for Nishimura, M Abe for Tsukui (all 61); K Taniguchi for Kuge (64), S Hatada for Imakugi (68).

Referee: C Munarini (Ita).