Ireland Women had a steady first day in the Women’s 7’s Grand Prix in Brive winning three out of four games in their pool matches, their best return so far in any senior tournament.

The Girls in Green opened their campaign against a strong Spanish side and, unfortunately, missed conversions cost them dear, with both sides scoring two tries each. Niamh Briggs and Claire Malloy crossed for Ireland but Spain responded with two tries of their own and, crucially, converted both to give the Spanish a 14 – 10 win.

Ireland regrouped and recorded their first win in a feisty match against Ukraine. Ireland’s tries came from Lynne Cantwell, Jenny Murphy and Malloy. With Briggs converting the first, the Irish girls ran out winners 17 – 7.

In their next match, against a struggling Scotland, the Irish romped home with tries from Shannon Houston (2), Niamh Kavanagh and Jeannette Feigherty. Two conversions from Claire Keohane completed the 24 – 0 romp.

The first day ended in some style as two tries each from Ashleigh Baxter and Briggs together with a single try from Cantwell plus conversions from Briggs and Keohane saw Ireland record a 29 -10 win against Italy.

Ireland now face unbeaten Pool leaders France at the start of day two to determine their final rankings for the knock out stages.

The points garnered at this event and in the second Grand Prix Event in Marbella, Spain in a fortnights time will count towards the “ranking” classification which will determine which teams qualify for the World Championships and the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016

Ireland 7’s Squad: Jenny Murphy, Claire Molloy, Niamh Briggs,  Jeanette Feighery, Claire Keohane,  Lynne Cantwell, Shannon Houston, Sophie Spence, Amy Davis, Ashleigh Baxter, Niamh Kavanagh, Ashling Hutchings.

Rank	Teams	Played	W	D	L	Pts
1	England	4	4	0	0	12
2	Russia	4	3	0	1	10
3	Netherlands	4	2	0	2	8
4	Portugal	4	1	0	3	6
5	Germany	4	1	0	3	6
6	Wales	4	1	0	3	6

Rank	Teams	Played	W	D	L	Pts
1	France	4	4	0	0	12
2	Spain	4	3	0	1	10
3	Ireland	4	3	0	1	10
4	Ukraine	4	1	0	3	6
5	Italy	4	1	0	3	6
6	Scotland	4	0	0	4	4