Narrow Twickenham win for England

Nerves were tested for a second time as England's put in a resilient performance in another tight encounter against the Irish.

Tries from Vice Captain Sarah Hunter, winger Kay Wilson and replacement Marlie Packer denied Ireland the Triple Crown and secured England's second victory on the bounce. Having beaten Scotland away 63-0 two weeks ago, their opening 18-6 defeat to France is now well behind them.

It was the home side who were the first to score, driving over the line and touching down through No. 8 Sarah Hunter, after they had kept Ireland under pressure with a number of lineouts in the 22. Captain Katy Mclean converted to take a seven point lead inside 10 minutes.

Some lively runs from Ireland's Alison Miller and Niamh Briggs followed, but with the visitors giving away a number of penalties England maintained the upper hand in territory, moving the ball well through the hands and making good ground down the wings.

Momentum looked to be changing however, when full-back Briggs kicked a penalty on 24 minutes. Scrum half Larissa Muldoon then sniped over after a strong maul from Ireland put them within a metre of the line. Briggs added the additional points to put the visitors ahead, 10-7.

Last year's meeting in Ashbourne saw the Girls in Green announce their presence as a major nation in women's rugby, upsetting the odds as a hat-trick of tries by Alison Miller propelled them to a first ever win over England (25-0).

That result, and the subsequent Grand Slam success, has helped to put women's rugby on the map in Ireland and following  their recent wins over Scotland and Wales, Ireland were primed for another shot at the Triple Crown.

Motivation was always going to be a major factor for Gary Street's England charges though, and their response was immediate.

With 10 minutes of the first half remaining England responded with a surging run from Kat Merchant before Maggie Alphonsi's carry further disrupted the Irish defence. The ball was moved quickly to exploit the overlap that had developed on the far side and Kay Wilson dived over in the corner to regain the lead as the whistle went for half-time.

England had the chance to extend the lead after 50 minutes but Mclean pulled her penalty kick wide, but a few minutes later saw Ireland suffer the injury-enforced loss of Briggs and influential centre Jenny Murphy which significantly dented their hopes.

Alphonsi and player of the match Emily Scarratt lifted the Twickenham crowd with strong runs into the 22 but the women in white were unable to turn the breaks into scores.

A try-saving tackle denied Wilson her second but the home side were eventually rewarded when Marlie Packer touched down in the corner from a driving maul. Mclean missed the conversion, leaving England seven points ahead with 20 minutes remaining.

The sin-binning of England's Joanne McGilchrist after 62 minutes, and yet another wayward Mclean penalty attempt, did give Ireland something of a lifeline.

Against that, Ireland's most-capped player, centre Lynne Cantwell, also received a yellow card eight minutes from the end and the pressure was lifted on the Alphonsi-inspired English outfit.

Ireland, who fell foul of referee Trumbull's whistle at times, did their level best to try and salvage something from the game.

Some probing breaks by Nora Stapleton and work-hungry winger Miller tested the English defence, but the hosts were worthy winners on the night and Ireland's frustrating night ended with number 8 Heather O'Brien in the sin-bin.

Head Coach Gary Street said: "I thought Ireland defended outstandingly well and kept the score line closer than we perhaps deserved.  We need to address a number of errors but overall I'm pleased with tonight's performance.  We played some exciting rugby and this evening was a good advert for the women's game.  It is always an honour to play at Twickenham and especially in front of such a great crowd."

"One of the areas we need to look at is our execution as we created more chances than we took but we can take confidence from the way we opened up a very good Ireland team.  The competitiveness of the game puts us in good stead ahead of our next fixture against Wales at the Twickenham Stoop, but we will have to raise our performance again if we are to be successful in this campaign.”

England

15 Emily Scarratt (Lichfield), 14 Katherine Merchant (Worcester), 13 Amber Reed (Bristol), 12 Rachel Burford (Thurrock), 11 Kay Wilson (Bristol), 10 Katy Mclean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks) C, 9 Natasha Hunt (Lichfield), 1 Rochelle Clark (Worcester), 2 Emma Croker (Richmond), 3 Sophie Hemming (Bristol), 4 Rebecca Essex (Richmond), 5 Joanne McGilchrist (Wasps), 6 Hannah Gallagher (Saracens), 7 Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens), 8 Sarah Hunter (Lichfield) VC. Replacements: 16 Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield), 17 Laura Keates (Worcester), 18 Sasha Acheson (Bristol), 19 Tamara Taylor (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks), 20 Marlie Packer (Wasps), 21 La Toya Mason (Wasps), 22 Ceri Large (Worcester), 23 Lydia Thompson (Worcester).

Scores:

Tries: 1T Hunter (7 mins), 1T Wilson (39 mins), 1T Packer (60 mins)

Conversions: 1C McLean (8 mins)

Replacements: Packer on for Gallagher (46 mins), Fleetwood on for Croker (51mins), Taylor on for Essex (51 mins), Mason for Hunt (56 mins), Acheson on for Hemming (58 mins), Keates on for Clark (58 mins), Thompson on for Wilson (58 mins), Large on for Burford (71 mins)

Ireland

15 Niamh Briggs (UL Bohemians/Munster), 14 Ashliegh Baxter (Belfast Harlequins/Ulster), 13 Lynne Cantwell (Richmond/Exile), 12 Jenny Murphy (Old Belvedere/Leinster), 11 Alison Miller (Portlaoise RFC/UCC/Leinster), 10 Nora Stapleton (Old Belvedere/Leinster), 9 Larissa Muldoon (Bristol/Exile). 1 Fiona Coghlan (UL Bohemians/Leinster) C, 2 Gillian Bourke (UL Bohemians/Munster), 3 Ailis Egan (Old Belvedere /Leinster), 4 Sophie Spence (Old Belvedere, Leinster), 5 Marie-Lousie Reilly (Old Belvedere/Leinster), 6 Siobhan Felming (Tralee/Munster), 7 Claire Molloy (Bristol, Connacht), 8 Heather O'Brien (Highfield/Munster).

Replacements: 16 Stacey-Lee Kennedy (Cooke/Ulster), 17 Fiona Hayes (UL Bohemians/Munster), 18 Kerrie Ann Craddock (Saracens, Exile), 19 Laura Guest (Highfield, Munster), 20 Amy Davis (Blackrock, Ulster), 21 Hannah Casey (Saracens/Exiles), 22 Grace Davitt (Cooke/Ulster), 23 Jackie Shiels (Richmond, Exile)

Scores:

Tries: 1T Larissa Muldoon (30 mins)

Conversions: 1C Briggs (31 mins)

Penalties: 1P Briggs (24 mins)