Ireland 7-51 England
Ireland were second best against a dominant England side as the visitors scored eight tries in a 51-7 win at Donnybrook Stadium in the Women’s Six Nations.
A penalty try was all Ireland had to smile about, apart from the pleasing sight of Alison Miller making her international return from a serious ankle injury.
A record crowd of 4,637 for a stand-along women’s fixture at the venue saw a bright start by the women in green but a break away saw Jess Breach touch down on five minutes.
Sarah McKenna finished off a good England move to make it 13-0 at half-time.
The second half was a difficult one for Ireland as Sarah Bern, Lark Davies, Katy Daley McLean, Zoe Harrison, Emily Scott and Bryony Cleall all recorded tries.
Afterwards Ireland head coach Adam Griggs claimed that England's superior physical strength was the deciding factor, as the visitors wore down Ireland as the game progressed.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport, Griggs took some positives from the game and insisted that while they'll analyse what went wrong, they won't dwell on the defeat.
"We created some chances there and some opportunities, we held the ball for some good phases but ultimately we just couldn’t break down the English," he said.
"The message is simply that we’re going to have to review this, park it and move on.
"They’re a great side, they put you under a tremendous amount of pressure and when that happens with their physicality it’s bound to wear you down.
"You can’t fault the commitment that the players showed and we definitely wanted to play some attacking rugby and I think we definitely did that, especially in the first half when we had a bit more energy.
"But as I say the physicality can tell on you and it wears you down when you have to make so many tackles and you get put on the back foot like that."
