The Ireland women’s 7’s team have finished 8th in a hard fought but unlucky tournament. Starting off in a difficult pool the Irish girls faced Great Britain in their last game for 7th/8th place play off where they lost 28 – 12. After such a promising performance against Australia earlier in the day with only 5 points between them, the quarter final match crushed Irelands hopes of winning any medals.

Match 24: Ireland 7 Australia 40

The first half saw four Australia tries, a hattrick from Levi Maddison and another by Faith Nathan to give an Australian 26 – 0 lead at halftime after three were converted by Tia Hinds.

A minute into the second half saw Isabella Nassar cross the line which was successfully converted by Hinds again, putting Australia 33 points up.

After 12 minutes of battling it out Ireland got some points on the board with Stacey Flood going over in the corner which was well converted by Eve Higgins with the current score standing 33 – 7 before Australia finished the game off with a try from Bienne Terita and a conversion from Dominique du Toit

Match 26: France 19 Ireland 7

The game started off an equal contest between the two sides until Ireland’s Eve Higgins broke through with the first try after 5 minutes of play. She also successfully converted her own try to take the score to 0 – 7.

France didn’t get on the score board until the second half but the pulled clear with tries from Serephine Okemba (2) and Carla Neisen to take the game 19 – 7 after Caroline Drouin added two conversions.

Match 31: Great Britain 28 Ireland 12

The first score came in the second minute when England star Meg Jones went under the posts, successfully converting her own try which resulted in a 7 – 0 lead to Great Britain.

Irelands Megan Burns answered back with an unconverted try which gave GB a two point lead.

Two more tries came from the British side before the half by Jade Shekells and Jones again leaving the score 21-5 at the break.

Another GB score came 1 minute after the re-start by Heather Cowell which was successfully converted by the captain, Emma Uren. The score now being 26 – 5.

Irelands Claire Boles dived over for a last minute try with only 30 seconds to the whistle, which was successfully converted by Stacey Flood.