There are matches that live long in the memory and this will certainly be one of them. Ireland women claimed the right to sit at the top tier of women’s International rugby with a 25 – 0 victory over England in an outstanding display of controlled aggression in defence and composure under pressure in attack.

Connacht’s Alison Miller will grab the headlines by virtue of her hat trick of tries but this was a squad performance, from 1 – 23, as dominant as the scoreline suggests. Ireland out fought and out thought their opponents for the entire 80 minutes with England unable to find any response to the Irish onslaught.

England enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges but the Irish defence held firm and the home side took a deserved lead when Miller beat three defenders, in limited space, to go over for Ireland’s first try after good work from Niamh Briggs.

Briggs narrowly missed the conversion from out wide but the Munster legend was on target with a penalty minutes later to give Ireland a 8 – 0 lead.

England tried to respond and things got a little feisty at times but Ireland refused to be intimidated and the impressive Lynne Cantwell found Miller on the opposite wing for the hard running winger to outpace the defence to go over for her second. Briggs narrowly missed the difficult conversion but Ireland were good value for the 13 – 0 lead.

Ireland continued to batter their opponents, with captain Fiona Coghlan leading from the front, and, after a period of sustained pressure in the England 22 Nora Stapleton sent Miller over for her third. Briggs added the extras to give Ireland a 20 – 0 lead at the break.

England had to respond early in the second half if they were going to get anything out of this match but it was Ireland who turned up the heat with English prop Rochelle Clark being binned in the face of  intense pressure.

Larissa Muldoon, who controlled the pace of the game exceptionally well at scrum-half, spotted a gap in the English defence and popped the ball to the onrushing Briggs who took a couple of English players with her over the line for Ireland’s fourth try, and the game, with Ireland leading 25 – 0.

With the result now beyond doubt the intensity of the game dropped off and both teams swapped out their replacements. Ireland continued to look the more dangerous with Ashleigh Baxter, Millar and Muldoon having chances, but with no further scores the game ended Ireland 25 England 0, with England failing to record a score for the first time since 2004.

IRELAND: Niamh Briggs, Ashleigh Baxter, Lynne Cantwell, Jenny Murphy, Alison Miller, Nora Stapleton, Larissa Muldoon, Fiona Coghlan, Gillian Bourke, Ailis Egan, Sophie Spence, Marie Louise Reilly, Siobhan Fleming, Claire Molloy, Joy Neville. Replacements: Stacey-Lea Kennedy, Fiona Hayes, Lauren Day, Leigh Dargan, Laura Guest, Amy Davis, Grace Davitt, Niamh Kavanagh.

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