Ireland & Japan join World Series

Stacey Flood, Amee-Leigh Crowe and Claire Molloy celebrate Ireland qualifying for the World Series. (Photo: Colm O'Neill/www.Inpho.ie)

A well-attended competition played, on the second day, in typically Irish weather began with a Japan – seeded third in their pool – recording an apparently surprise 19-10 over Olympic hosts and World Series regular Brazil. In practice this was the first sign that change was coming. Japan went on to win the pool, with Wales finishing second after they too beat the Brazilians. Brazil made the quarters thanks only to a big win over Samoa.

China were starting the defence of their World Series position in Pool B and began with two comfortable wins, but it was the Netherlands who won the pool with an impressive 22-10 win in the final crucial game. Kenya finished in third in the pool, but would have to wait for results from Pool C to see if they could make the last eight.

That pool featured what appeared to be the opening day’s leading two teams. Both Ireland and South Africa looked in great form as they dismissed Hong Kong and Mexico in their opening games before ending the day with the best game of the pool phase, South Africa winning by 17-5. Prior to this Hong Kong stole the final quarter-final spot. Faced with having to overcome a 46-point deficit to overtake Kenya, they beat Mexico 48-0 with a try from the final play of the game.

With South Africa finishing as the top pool winner and Ireland the leading runner-up, a repeat semi-final seemed probable, and so it proved after they both recorded comfortable wins over Hong Kong and China respectively. The other quarter-finals looked less predictable, but Japan shut-out Wales with a 17-0 win before the Netherlands hung on to beat Brazil 12-10.

And so to the crucial semi-finals, with a place in the World Series for the winners. Ireland made up for their defeat to South Africa in the pool, racing to a 19-7 lead at the break before effectively neutralising an attempted Springbok comeback to win a place in the Series 26-14.

Japan and the Netherlands came together in the second series qualification decider, and it was Japan who seized the initiative with two first-half tries. The Dutch pulled a try back in the second half, but it was not enough.

After the excitement of the semi-finals, the final risked being something of anti-climax, but in the end was a terrific battle – despite the now pouring rain – with Japan winning 13-12 with a converted penalty in the final seconds.

“Japan are a serious team”, said Lucy Mulhall after the game, “and I'm sure we'll have plenty more battles with them over the next year. It's going to be a big year for us from here. We'll build on this and compete hard in the World Series. It was so nice to play at home with a home crowd, thanks to all the fans for coming out and supporting us.”

Group A

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

Japan

3

0

0

69

24

Wales

2

0

1

64

29

Brazil

1

0

2

52

41

Samoa

0

0

3

17

108

·         Brazil 10-19 Japan

·         Wales 33-12 Samoa

·         Wales 14-17 Japan

·         Brazil 42-5 Samoa

·         Japan 33-0 Samoa

·         Brazil 0-17 Wales

Group B

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

Netherlands

3

0

0

77

17

China

2

0

1

65

29

Kenya

1

0

2

26

58

Colombia

0

0

3

7

71

·         China 29-7 Kenya

·         Netherlands 33-0 Colombia

·         Netherlands 22-7 Kenya

·         China 26-0 Colombia

·         Kenya 12-7 Colombia

·         China 10-22 Netherlands

Group C

Nation

Won

Drawn

Lost

For

Against

South Africa

3

0

0

87

10

Ireland

2

0

1

119

17

Hong Kong

1

0

2

52

83

Mexico

0

0

3

0

150

·         South Africa 33-5 Hong Kong

·         Ireland 64-0 Mexico

·         Ireland 50-0 Hong Kong

·         South Africa 38-0 Mexico

·         Hong Kong 48-0 Mexico

·         South Africa 17-5 Ireland

Bowl Semi Finals (9th-12th)

·         Kenya 31-0 Mexico

·         Colombia 12-5 Samoa

11th/12th Match

·         Mexico 0-22 Samoa

Bowl final:9th/10th Match

·         Kenya 5-0 Colombia

Quarter-finals (1st-8th)

·         South Africa 21-5 Hong Kong

·         Ireland 27-5 China

·         Japan 17-0 Wales

·         Netherlands 12-10 Brazil

Plate Semi Finals (5th-8th)

·         Hong Kong 14-10 China

·         Wales 5-10 Brazil

7th/8th Match

·         China 7-29 Wales

Plate final: 5th/6th Match

·         Hong Kong 0-17 Brazil

Cup Semi Finals (1st-4th)

·         South Africa 14-26 Ireland

·         Japan 10-5 Netherlands

3rd/4th place

·         South Africa 12-0 Netherlands

Cup Final: 1st/2nd place

·         Ireland 12-13 Japan