Ireland 42; Japan 14
Ireland women certainly showed their intention this World Cup campaign with an emphatic 28-point win over Japan in Franklin's Gardens on Sunday.
This was the ideal opening to their Pool C fixture and the hope now is that the players can take confidence from this performance and go far into the tournament.
Four of their six tries came in the first-half from Amee-Leigh Costigan, Neve Jones, Béibhinn Parsons and Fiona Tuite while Eve Higgins and Enya Breen got in for touchdowns after the break to put the icing on the cake.
On top of that out-half Dannah O'Brien was perfection personified in her kicking duties as she landed six conversions out of six with Brittany Hogan getting the Player of the Match for her all-round performance.
It was obvious from the first whistle that Ireland wanted to play this game on the front foot and even before they scored, they could have got in for tries only for some valiant defending by the Japanese to deny Brittany Hogan and Aoibheann Reilly.
However, the sluice gates were under pressure and soon they were opened under the pressure from the team in green
Both Hogan and Sam Monaghan succeeded in driving forward before Eve Higgins found Stacey Flood, who in turn passed to Costigan and she did the rest.
We hadn't to wait long for an encore as five minutes later as Ireland went through their process for a lineout maul try, to free Jones for her 13th international score.
The game entered a slump phase then before the flying Costigan came off her wing to create an opening for Parsons who got in at the corner.
Japan got their first score when Hirotsu got over with a successful conversion by Otsuka.
Ireland were in no mood to entertain a comeback and the outstanding Higgins made a mazy run before laying off a pass to Tuite who touched down to leave an easy conversion for O’Brien to give Ireland a 28-7 lead.
Within three minutes of the restart, the Japanese girls were adding to the score-sheet as a rolling maul saw flanker Masami Kawamura touch down. It could have got worse for Ireland who nearly conceded a third try but heroic defending stopped the move short of the line.
Had Japan got in there, it could have led to a dose of the heebie-jeebies. Instead Ireland upped their game and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty try as the TMO spotted an obstruction penalty against Monaghan in the lineout.
They were not to be denied for long though as sub Enya Breen fielded a pass close to the line for try number six.
On next Sunday, Ireland will face a tougher task when they come up against Spain
Scorers Ireland: Tries - Costigan, Jones, Parsons, Tuite, Higgins, Breen
Cons - O'Brien (6)
Japan: Tries - Hirotsu, Kawamura; Cons - Otsuka (2)
Ireland: Stacey Flood; Béibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O'Brien; Aoibheann Reilly, Niamh O'Dowd, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang; Ruth Campbell, Sam Monaghan (co-captain); Fiona Tuite, Edel McMahon (co-captain), Brittany Hogan
Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald (Jones 61), Ellena Perry (O'Dowd 61), Sadhbh McGrath (McMahon 76), Eimear Corri-Fallon (Campbell 61), Grace Moore (Hogan 74), Emily Lane (Reilly 74), Enya Breen (Higgins 61), Anna McGann (Costigan 61).
