Munster Women Face Leinster In Interpro Finale
31st August 2015 By Munster Rugby
Following Munster’s comprehensive victory over Ulster last weekend, Captain Niamh Briggs will lead her side to Thomond Park next Saturday (kick-off 2.30pm) to take on Leinster, as both sides fight it out for the Interprovincial title.
Match Report courtesy of:- Eileesh Buckley
Munster Women 43 – 0 Ulster Women
In changeable conditions the defending Interprovincial Champions built on last week's win to continue their defence of the title.
A seven try win for Munster led by captain Niamh Briggs who opened the scoring for the southern province.
Ulster faced an uphill struggle with minimal possession despite causing some headaches for the Munster pack in the scrums.
Throughout the game the packs fought valiantly in the scrums as balls were won against the head by both sides.
Ulster rarely held onto possession as Munster's entire squad went to work at the rucks winning turn-over ball or forcing Ulster into mistakes.
The opening minutes of the game were somewhat concerning for munster as both the lineout and scrum mis-fired but they soon regained dominance in the lineout.
By the eighth minute they had established the first rolling maul of the game with number 1 Fiona Reidy unfortunate to be held-up over the line.
The subsequent scrum was won by Munster and the following phases led to the opening try of the game, dotted down by Niamh Briggs. While the conversion was unsuccessful Munster took the lead, 5-0.
It took a further twenty minutes before Munster once more breached the Ulster defence, this time in a sequence of play with the backs finger-prints all over it. Munster winger Laura O'Mahony made a clean break through the Ulster defence to score the second try of the day.
Briggs narrowly missed the conversion attempt, but the Munster pack rumbled into action again to earn the third try after an effective lineout, maul and series of pick and go's. The front row drove through the defence to ground the ball for Munster.
Briggs made sure of the conversion for this one, and the first half ended 17 – 0 in Munster's favour.
Due to a torrential downpour at half-time the referee kept the break shorter than normal as both teams had remained on the pitch.
The second half started with Munster immediately putting pressure on Ulster pushing them back inside their own 22.
Possession was exchanged a few times before Munster lost the ball in a ruck just meters from the Ulster try line. Ulster attempted to relieve the pressure with a kick, but Munster centre Niamh Kavanagh charged it down and continued her run to gather the ball and open the scoring in the second half.
Munster continued the pressure on Ulster after the restart with the forwards winning another line out which they followed up with a maul to bring them from just inside half-way all the way to the 22. They continued their forward momentum in the tight, eventually getting over the line for fifth try of the game picked off by prop Leah Lyons which was converted by Briggs.
Whilst the scrums continued to have alternating outcomes for the teams regardless of who had the put-in, Munster limited any opportunities to attack by Ulster.
Heather O'Brien was next on the scoresheet after further tight play from the Munster forwards. A successful conversion brought the scoreline to 36-0.
The restart was gathered by the Munster number 7 Ciara Griffin who broke through the initial Ulster defence and then linked-up with Briggs to bring the ball right up to the Ulster try line, but the last ditch defence from Ulster kept the ball from being grounded.
The final try of the game was from substitute Chloe Pearse just after coming onto the field , a successful conversion from Briggs wrapped up the scoring to give Munster a comprehensive victory over the visitors with a final scoreline of 43 – 0.
