Women’s Six Nations Rugby: Wales 0 Ireland 45
BEIHBHINN Parsons was the star of the show as Ireland inflicted a painful whitewash on Wales in their Women's Six Nations clash at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday afternoon.
Any concerns coach Adam Griggs may have had about the rustiness of his team having not played since last October’s win against Italy were dismissed early on as Parsons, at wing, and full-back Eimear Considine scored two tries each to help secure a bonus point inside the opening 20 minutes. Sene Naoupu ran in a fifth before the interval.
Considine got the ball rolling after just two minutes as she shimmied inside to cross over, before woman of the match Parsons scorched down the left wing eight minutes later for a brilliant individual score. She burrowed over again on 17 minutes, with Considine and then Naoupu burying the home challenge with just 27 minute son the clock.
Wales, outclassed 53-0 away to France in their opening Pool B fixture, at least managed to stem the flow during the second-half.
It was not until the 72nd minute that Dorothy Wall added a sixth try for Ireland, with Hannah Tyrrell scoring late on to wrap up a comprehensive victory.
"Beibhinn is a really special player, but this squad has 40-plus really special players," Ireland captain Ciara Griffin said on the final whistle.
"What this performance shows is the dedication and work of that squad over the last six months in terms of work rate, working at home, working in camp. That really was a whole squad effort and performance.
"There was a hunger there. You could see there was a real hunger in the group. That gave us that platform to play that attacking style of rugby in the first half and for the rest of the game.”
"Beibhinn backs herself, and that’s what you need in that position,” Griffin added.
“We train so hard because we want to play in the green jersey. Every chance you get to play, you are going to relish it. Everyone wanted to put their best foot forward. You could see the smiles on the faces. That’s what you want. It was an enjoyable day."
Ireland take on Les Bleues at Donnybrook in Dublin this Saturday as they look to progress to a showdown against Pool A winners England in the championship final of a revamped tournament.
