Ireland to prepare for WXV 1 debut with Australia Test in Belfast
Ireland Women will warm up for their first taste of WXV 1 with a Test against Australia at Kingspan Stadium this September.
The Belfast fixture, which pits the WXV 3 2023 winners against the side ranked fifth in the current World Rugby Women’s Rankings, will be played on 14 September and will get Irish Rugby’s 150th anniversary celebrations under way.
The IRFU stated the kick-off time, broadcast arrangements and ticket details for the match would be announced "in due course".
Although on the receiving end of a chastening 88-10 defeat to England at Twickenham last month, Ireland have made impressive progress under coach Scott Bemand.
Having missed out on qualification for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand, Ireland booked their ticket to England 2025 – and WXV 1 in Canada – with a third-place finish in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
That came on the back of winning WXV 3, Bemand’s first tournament in charge, and was secured through victories against Wales and Scotland.
Last Saturday's win against Scotland was clinched by Dannah O’Brien’s late penalty in front of 7,468 fans at Kingspan and Belfast will have another opportunity to show its support for Ireland’s women when they run out against Jo Yapp’s Wallaroos in September.
Bemand said: “We are really pleased to add this Test match into our fixture list at the start of next season, providing the squad with a valuable preparation window ahead of our WXV campaign in September and October.
“Australia will be coming off the Pacific Four competition. It’s a great chance for us to play an opponent with a different game style."
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There is nothing particularly significant about Ireland in this regard compared to other Tier 1 nations. To look at 'strategy' for illegal play its best to see what teams push boundaries with new laws. SA have milked two tries at ruck block downs. The strategy is to charge the first few before the ball is out at about 4 seconds but pull out and put up hands in reigned apology. The referees usually allow the scum half to clear without awarding a penalty in this scenario. The problem with that being that the scrumhalf is now taking over 5 seconds through no fault of his own. Having achieved a few slow balls > 5s , the SA forward can now pick a scrum to charge dead on 5s. Now if the scrum half waits, he will concede a penalty, as we saw against Scotland. With the new rule in place, any early charge should result in an immediate penalty.
SA also got an offside block against England which was pivotal again after a couple of 'apologetic' offside aborted charges forcing England to clear slowly.
Go to commentsYep, you're not the sharpest tool in the shed are you?
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