Australia win Sydney 7s exhibition series

Organisers had wanted to being a round of the Women's World Series to the Sydney 7s this year, but proximity in the calendar to the Sao Paulo made it impossible. Instead Australia welcomed Ireland, who played the three games series at the end of a two-week camp down-under.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Australia were too strong for World Series newcomers Ireland in the games, playing in front of a collective crowd of over 75,000 fans across the two days. The Dubai 7s winners highlighted their experience with victories of 26-7, 29-7 and 24-0 over an Irish side which improved with every performance on their three-match tour.Despite the three commanding wins, Australian Head Coach Tim Walsh cited that there were areas for improvement, two weeks out from the next stop on the HSBC Women’s Sevens World Series in Sau Paulo. “For what it was, it was great,” Walsh said. “The preparation we got out of playing Ireland, leading into Sau Paulo was extremely valuable for the girls and also having this rare opportunity to play in front of a huge home crowd has been a great experience for them. We did some really good things that we are happy with and other things that we were less happy with. We were nowhere near our best today but there were some areas that were passable.”With the Australian management opting to experiment with younger players, Walsh spoke of highly of his young charges.“Shenae Ciesiolka scored that wonderful try and showed some amazing footwork and did really well. Mahalia Murphy showed some real intent and is very dangerous with the ball. “The great thing about this squad is that we are in a great position to build and if a player is not available another one can step in.”

Australia beat Ireland 26-7 in Saturday's game, conceding a try in the final minute of the match, where the massive crowd had an effect on both teams: “I know it’s noisy but communication was poor, there were last minute late movements without any chat which ended up being into turnovers,” he said. “I think we from memory had about four turnovers which is unacceptable from our standards. They weren’t from the opposition doing some amazing things they were sort of unforced errors so certainly something that we need to improve on.”

Australia’s first match on the Sunday started strongly with Taleena Simon crossing for the opening try of the day just moments into the contest. Ireland looked like making an immediate response when captain Lucy Mulhull sliced through under the posts, only to be jolted by a heavy knock from behind by Nicole Beck which forced the ball loose just before the Irish skipper touched down. The crowd rose to their feet as Beck made the desperate stop, but just moments later a patient Ireland crossed out wide to take the lead for the first time in any of the three matches, 7-5. The young Australian side continued to gain confidence and some quick hands between Taleena Simon and Mahalia Murphy allowed Australia to cross again through Gemma Etheridge to make the score 12-7 at the break.Australia continued to apply pressure with the next generation of Sevens stars enjoying their opportunity to shine as Evania Pelite burned the incoming defence out wide after some excellent passing from the backs to score in the corner. Moments later the crowd jumped to their feet again as Shenae Ciesiolka made a brilliant run, darting and weaving through out-stretched Irish hands to score next to the posts. A final try to Charlotte Caslick was the final straw for Ireland to complete the 29-7 victory.In the third and final hit out of the weekend, the Aussies made a nervous start with some uncharacteristic wayward passing and miscommunication causing frustration for the home side. The flat start continued for most of the first half before Emilee Cherry sparked the home side with a clean break before unloading to Emma Tonegato who raced away to score in the corner. Fijian-born flyer Ellia Green was then injected in to the attack with immediate effect, crossing for the first of her two tries before Tonegato notched her second of the match to blow the final score out to 24-0.

The Australian RU is due to publish its five-year strategic plan this week, and both sevens and women's rugby in general is expected to be highlighted as key engines to grow the game, which faces strong competition from an expanding women's rugby league code in some parts of the country.IRELAND WOMEN'S SEVENS Squad (Sydney Training Camp):Ashleigh Baxter (Belfast Harlequins / Ulster), Eimear Considine (Talent ID Programme), Jeamie Deacon (Blackrock/Leinster), Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster), Kim Flood (Railway Union/Leinster), Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster), Louise Galvin (UL Bohemians/Munster), Shannon Houston (Blackrock/Leinster), Claire Keohane (UL Bohemians/Munster), Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum/Leinster) (capt), Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe (St. Mary's/Munster), Jenny Murphy (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Alison Miller (Portlaoise/Connacht), Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Megan Williams (St. Mary's)