UL BOHEMIAN SHATTERED Blackrock’s unbeaten record in the final regular season round of the Women’s AIL in an intriguing encounter at Stradbrook on Sunday.
The Rock girls headed into this ninth and final regular-season round of the Women’s AIL unbeaten after seven wins and one draw.
For the majority of the opening half-hour, the Rock women were camped within the visitors’ 22 and had two tries held up thanks to some heroic defending from the likes of Munster No. 8 Chloe Pearse and Six Nations-winning front-row, Fiona Hayes.
Against the run of play Bohs’ wing Liz Bourke broke away to score on 33 minutes. Ireland captain Niamh Briggs could not add the extras.
Blackrock showed their class as the seasoned New Zealand-born Ireland international Tania Rosser, playing at out-half, scored under the posts. Rising Ireland star Jeamie Deacon added the extras to take the score at half-time to 7-5 in favour of the hosts.
Playing with the wind at their backs in the second half, the Limerick side dazzled Blackrock after the interval with two tries in quick succession, the first from Pearse at the 46-minute mark and then just six minutes later Bourke dashed down the wing to score her second of the afternoon. Briggs could only convert the Bourke try.
At 17-7 down, Blackrock started to click and on the hour-mark Deacon looked to have an excellent try-scoring opportunity after a strong run but she was stopped in her tracks by Hayes, who was yellow-carded for a deliberate infringement.
The momentum swung back in favour of Bohs despite being a woman down. They sealed a bonus-point victory when Bourke ran in for her hat-trick on 70 minutes. The match finished Blackrock 7, UL Bohemian 22, which sees Bohs leapfrog Rock and take top spot on the table.
Elsewhere, reigning champions Old Belvedere secured third position with a gritty 15-8 away win against Galwegians. The hosts opened the scoring after just six minutes via recent Ireland test debutant Mairead Coyne, playing at full-back.
However, less than 10 minutes later Old Belvedere came back with a score from another recent addition to Ireland’s international ranks; centre Aine Donnelly. At the 25-minute mark Belvo asserted their dominance as openside Niamh Fitzgerald crossed the whitewash. The score remained 5-10 until half-time.
An early second-half penalty from Nicole Fowley helped Galwegians narrow the gap to two points.
In an extremely physical contest, two-time Six Nations winning out-half Nora Stapleton scored her side’s third try of the afternoon and that proved to be the match-winner.
The result saw Galwegians fall out of the top four and lose their chance of a semi-final.
The last play-off spot was claimed by a rampant Railway Union, who put Cooke to the sword with a 10-try performance, winning 62-5.
Braces came from out-half Emma Murphy and inside centre Kim Flood.
Queens were unable to field a full team and were forced to concede their away fixture against Highfield. The Belfast side finished bottom of the league.
The semi-finals will be played next Sunday with UL Bohemian entertaining Railway Union and Blackrock hosting Old Belvedere, in a repeat of the 2014 final.
Results:
Highfield – Queens conceded, Woodleigh Park,
Blackrock 7 – 22 U.L. Bohemian, Stradbrook
Galwegians 8 – 15 Old Belvedere, Crowley Park
Railway Union RFC 62 – 5 Cooke, Park Avenue
