Tries from Caryl Thomas, Sioned Harries, Carys Phillips and Shona Powell-Hughes – plus seven points from the boot of Robyn Wilkins – gave Wales a well-earned win at the home of Ulster Rugby.
The 17-27 victory in the Women’s Rugby World Cup seventh-place play-off means Wales automatically qualify for the 2021 edition of the tournament. It was a fitting end to their campaign, not least with players such as Elen Evans and Rachel Taylor now stepping into retirement.
“It was a nail-biting finish,” was Phillips’s post-match assessment. “We got ourselves into a really commanding position and were quite controlled. We then made some errors and put ourselves under pressure, but we defended so hard on our try-line.
“We knew Ireland were going to fire out from the start. We had a couple of discipline issues, but we settled down and for the rest of the half we absolutely controlled it.”
Wales continued in the same vein at the beginning of the second half, and impressed in riding out a ten-minute spell when they were down to 14 players; a period in which they even rallied to score a try. However, they were made to weather a late Irish onslaught in front of a partisan home crowd to see out the game.
“One things we need to get better at is never thinking that the game is won,” Phillips said. “When we kept our discipline and our shape, that was the best rugby I’d seen us play for a long, long time.”
A tangible measure of Wales’ development is the improvement on their previous World Cup finish – something that will give heart to coaches and players alike.
“I was really proud of the girls. They’ve achieved something that hasn’t been achieved in a while,” said Phillips. “To get this finish and to qualify for the next World Cup is a real success for us. Now we can look to continue building and prepare for the next World Cup.”
Whilst Wales’ first priority now is to “take a bit of a breather”, he says there is much to be excited about in the seasons ahead. “We’ll review this tournament and look at all the details, but I know for a fact that there are so many young players coming through the system.”
Some of those young players are already in the squad, he acknowledges, such as 17-year-old Lleucu George – players who will have gained invaluable experience at this top level of the game. Phillips said: “The talent we have to build for the next World Cup is significant, and we can’t wait to continue looking at them and develop around that player pool.
“It gives you a lot of hope going forward. We’ve had a tough journey getting to this point, but we’re really pleased to get some reward for all that hard work.”
