THE FLIGHT OF the ball never looked convincing. The legs just faded at the crucial moment.
RTÉ rugby commentator Hugh Cahill questioned whether the kicker Enya Breen had the range for a penalty of this distance. It would need a mighty thump to go through the posts.
And Ireland desperately needed the points to rescue a narrow win and keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive. After leading Spain for 71 minutes in an error-strewn performance, they now trailed by one with seconds remaining. Escape was still possible.
Instead of going to the corner, Breen was presented with the tee. Her effort was accurate but a low trajectory brought the ball down sharply, hitting the ground just in front of the posts.
A seemingly unfathomable result: Ireland had been beaten 8-7 by Spain. Their World Cup quest wasn’t quite dead but the time to fetch a priest was closing in.
The Ireland team huddle together after losing out to Spain in 2021. Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO
Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO / INPHO
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Memories of that night in 2021 must surely have come roaring back when Ireland discovered their World Cup pool opponents for this year’s competition. There’s plenty of survivors from that fateful round-robin World Cup Europe Qualifier event in Parma. Breen, still a young cub on the international circuit, had the misfortune of standing over that decisive penalty kick. 10 other players from the current World Cup squad featured in that game too. It should be 11 but for an Achilles injury ruling out the brilliant backrower Dorothy Wall.
The result was branded a humiliation in many rugby cirlces.
A Béibhinn Parsons try in the eighth minute gave Ireland a 7-3 lead on the back of a well-executed set-piece. Aoife McDermott’s claim from a Clíodhna Moloney lineout put Ireland in motion, and a pass out wide to Parsons allowed the Galway speedster to tear in at the corner.
But that was one of the few highlight moments for Ireland as they failed to put any more points on the board. Adam Griggs, Ireland’s head coach at the time, offered a blunt assessment of his side’s dismal performance.
“We didn’t turn up to play,” he was quoted by the Irish Independent as saying after the game.
“We were outplayed in a lot of facets by Spain. We didn’t take our chances.”
That defeat to Spain was Ireland’s first outing in a three-game round-robin competition in Italy where the competition hosts and Scotland were also involved. The reward for the winning team was a spot in Pool B at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand which was pushed back to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The runner-up would go into a Final Qualification Tournament where qualification was still within reach.
Ireland rebounded from that loss with a 15-7 win over Italy to revive their campaign. And heading into the final round, all four teams were deadlocked on five points each. Victory over Scotland would see Ireland conquer the group if their margin of victory exceeded the winners of the other match between Italy and Spain.
Conversely, Ireland could still lose out completely. And as they discovered, there was further to fall.
Adam Griggs pictured at the World Cup Europe qualifier in 2021. Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO
Matteo Ciambelli / INPHO / INPHO
Leading Scotland by five points in the dying stages, Ireland were on the verge of clinching place in the World Cup repechage. But a late converted try courtesy of Chloe Rollie delivered a lethal blow to Ireland’s World Cup aspirations with a 20-18 defeat. All roads to New Zealand suddenly became impassable.
“Sometimes you don’t always get what you deserve in life,” a crestfallen Griggs said as the chance to compete at a World Cup in his home country slipped from his grasp. “It’s one of those things we have to take on the chin at the moment.
“There’s a huge core of young players who have done the jersey proud. Once they can take the time to reflect on this experience, I hope it makes better rugby players but also better people.”
There were wider implications to consider with this setback. Ireland had now completed two disappointing World Cup cycles back-to-back. The 2017 tournament was held in Ireland, and was signposted as a home World Cup to savour having reached the semi-finals of the 2014 edition in France. If you’ll recall, the word ‘legacy’ symbolised what Ireland hoped to achieve at that tournament.
However, the intent was not matched by their actions as Ireland slumped to an eighth-place finish after a 27-17 loss to Wales in the seventh place playoff.
And when Ireland’s 2021 World Cup hopes were extinguished, former captain Fiona Coghlan grimly summed up the sorry state of women’s rugby on RTÉ.
“It’s a killer blow. It’s a low point for Irish rugby. The 2017 World Cup was a low point, we’ve reached even lower by not going forward to the next World Cup.”
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Griggs stepped down as head coach that year after four years in charge, and was replaced by Greg McWilliams. But a new era did not lead to improved results.
In truth, the slide continued for the Ireland women’s team in 2022 and 2023. They avoided the wooden spoon finish to the 2022 Six Nations after a dramatic win over Scotland in Belfast. Breen enjoyed a moment of redemption when she drove through the Scots for a late try before nailing the conversion from a tricky angle into the wind.
Ireland’s luck ran out in the 2023 championship as they suffered the smack of losing all five games, sending them into the third tier of the WXV competition.
Ireland will meet Spain this weekend with a win already banked in the World Cup. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
When Spain take to the field in Northampton tomorrow, a much more robust Ireland will be there to greet them. Ireland are buoyed by their opening World Cup Pool C win over Japan while Spain carry the bruises of a 54-8 thumping at the hands of New Zealand.
A ticket to the World Cup quarter-finals is the prize for Ireland if they win, but there’s more at stake for those who lived through the nightmare in Parma four years ago.
Time to erase the memories that haunt them. Atonement awaits for Scott Bemand’s side.
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Erasing memories of a humiliating defeat as Ireland take Spanish test for quarter-final spot
THE FLIGHT OF the ball never looked convincing. The legs just faded at the crucial moment.
RTÉ rugby commentator Hugh Cahill questioned whether the kicker Enya Breen had the range for a penalty of this distance. It would need a mighty thump to go through the posts.
And Ireland desperately needed the points to rescue a narrow win and keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive. After leading Spain for 71 minutes in an error-strewn performance, they now trailed by one with seconds remaining. Escape was still possible.
Instead of going to the corner, Breen was presented with the tee. Her effort was accurate but a low trajectory brought the ball down sharply, hitting the ground just in front of the posts.
A seemingly unfathomable result: Ireland had been beaten 8-7 by Spain. Their World Cup quest wasn’t quite dead but the time to fetch a priest was closing in.
****
Memories of that night in 2021 must surely have come roaring back when Ireland discovered their World Cup pool opponents for this year’s competition. There’s plenty of survivors from that fateful round-robin World Cup Europe Qualifier event in Parma. Breen, still a young cub on the international circuit, had the misfortune of standing over that decisive penalty kick. 10 other players from the current World Cup squad featured in that game too. It should be 11 but for an Achilles injury ruling out the brilliant backrower Dorothy Wall.
The result was branded a humiliation in many rugby cirlces.
A Béibhinn Parsons try in the eighth minute gave Ireland a 7-3 lead on the back of a well-executed set-piece. Aoife McDermott’s claim from a Clíodhna Moloney lineout put Ireland in motion, and a pass out wide to Parsons allowed the Galway speedster to tear in at the corner.
But that was one of the few highlight moments for Ireland as they failed to put any more points on the board. Adam Griggs, Ireland’s head coach at the time, offered a blunt assessment of his side’s dismal performance.
“We didn’t turn up to play,” he was quoted by the Irish Independent as saying after the game.
“We were outplayed in a lot of facets by Spain. We didn’t take our chances.”
That defeat to Spain was Ireland’s first outing in a three-game round-robin competition in Italy where the competition hosts and Scotland were also involved. The reward for the winning team was a spot in Pool B at the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand which was pushed back to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The runner-up would go into a Final Qualification Tournament where qualification was still within reach.
Ireland rebounded from that loss with a 15-7 win over Italy to revive their campaign. And heading into the final round, all four teams were deadlocked on five points each. Victory over Scotland would see Ireland conquer the group if their margin of victory exceeded the winners of the other match between Italy and Spain.
Conversely, Ireland could still lose out completely. And as they discovered, there was further to fall.
Leading Scotland by five points in the dying stages, Ireland were on the verge of clinching place in the World Cup repechage. But a late converted try courtesy of Chloe Rollie delivered a lethal blow to Ireland’s World Cup aspirations with a 20-18 defeat. All roads to New Zealand suddenly became impassable.
“Sometimes you don’t always get what you deserve in life,” a crestfallen Griggs said as the chance to compete at a World Cup in his home country slipped from his grasp. “It’s one of those things we have to take on the chin at the moment.
“There’s a huge core of young players who have done the jersey proud. Once they can take the time to reflect on this experience, I hope it makes better rugby players but also better people.”
There were wider implications to consider with this setback. Ireland had now completed two disappointing World Cup cycles back-to-back. The 2017 tournament was held in Ireland, and was signposted as a home World Cup to savour having reached the semi-finals of the 2014 edition in France. If you’ll recall, the word ‘legacy’ symbolised what Ireland hoped to achieve at that tournament.
However, the intent was not matched by their actions as Ireland slumped to an eighth-place finish after a 27-17 loss to Wales in the seventh place playoff.
And when Ireland’s 2021 World Cup hopes were extinguished, former captain Fiona Coghlan grimly summed up the sorry state of women’s rugby on RTÉ.
“It’s a killer blow. It’s a low point for Irish rugby. The 2017 World Cup was a low point, we’ve reached even lower by not going forward to the next World Cup.”
Griggs stepped down as head coach that year after four years in charge, and was replaced by Greg McWilliams. But a new era did not lead to improved results.
In truth, the slide continued for the Ireland women’s team in 2022 and 2023. They avoided the wooden spoon finish to the 2022 Six Nations after a dramatic win over Scotland in Belfast. Breen enjoyed a moment of redemption when she drove through the Scots for a late try before nailing the conversion from a tricky angle into the wind.
Ireland’s luck ran out in the 2023 championship as they suffered the smack of losing all five games, sending them into the third tier of the WXV competition.
When Spain take to the field in Northampton tomorrow, a much more robust Ireland will be there to greet them. Ireland are buoyed by their opening World Cup Pool C win over Japan while Spain carry the bruises of a 54-8 thumping at the hands of New Zealand.
A ticket to the World Cup quarter-finals is the prize for Ireland if they win, but there’s more at stake for those who lived through the nightmare in Parma four years ago.
Time to erase the memories that haunt them. Atonement awaits for Scott Bemand’s side.
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