Turning the tables on Women’s Rugby World Cup hosts Ireland has ensured Grace Hamilton and her Wallaroos will improve on 2014’s seventh finish, but the dominant, 12-point victory handed the Australians a far bigger prize than just a crack at fifth place.
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Tuesday night’s (AEST) triumph also grants the side automatic qualification for the 2021 edition of the tournament.
In the big scheme, the magnitude of having that security blanket during the next four years of preparation cannot be underestimated considering the side’s already-bulging stock of young talent and the seemingly inevitable continued growth of the women’s game.
“[Earning automatic qualification] was our main target today,” Wallaroos coach Paul Verrell said
“Leading to the next four years to that next World Cup, women’s XVs is going to grow and this is the first step in that direction.”
Australian stand-in skipper Sharni Williams, one of several Wallaroos to have benefited from the Australian Rugby Union’s (ARU) recent focus on sevens, agreed.
"It's a massive effort," she said.
"It's going to be amazing to get the young girls playing not just sevens, but XVs, because we are role models for them.
"I'm just ecstatic for the girls, not being professionals but coming out with that professional attitude."
Tuesday night’s 36-24 win wasn’t as close as the scoreline suggests, but for an error-ridden 10-minute period early Australia was the far better side.
The victory had a feel of revenge around it for the Wallaroos, the Irish won the two sides’ tournament-opener 19-17.
“Coming into the World Cup and having that pool match, losing by two points was a bit gut wrenching, but we knew we could perform a lot better than that,” Williams said.
“We’ve regrouped and we’ve come out and given that Aussie mongrel and really gone forward from there.”
Although boasting a simple attacking structure – exhausting one edge then spinning it wide – Australia proved too much for the Irish to handle, particularly through the forwards.
It led to an easy try early, but the wheels fell off a little for the Aussies after that.
Ireland used the rolling maul beautifully to score its first and went over again on the back of a number of basic Wallaroos skill errors.
But when outside centre Sarah Riordan crashed over after a scrum, Australia kicked back into gear.
Hamilton and player of the game Hilisha Samoa in particular provided valuable go-forward and the Aussies scored again to lead 19-12 at the break.
The Wallaroos added another two converted tries in the second half and Ash Hewson – who was magnificent in the No.10 jersey – slotted a penalty goal as well to secure the win, although the Irish added some respectability to the scoreline with two late consolation tries.
Australia faces Canada in the fifth-place play-off from 11.30pm on Saturday night (AEST).
Matt Findlay
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
Formerly a sports specialist, I'm based at Orange and shift between wide-spread range of subjects here and, often, across the entire Central West region of NSW as well. I have almost a decade of experience in the media and marketing industries both here in Australia and internationally, along with journalism I have experience in content strategy, brand development, and digital and social media. Along the way, I've been fortunate to win a handful of media awards and be nominated for several others too.
