Ireland pulled off a shock 29-27 win over New Zealand in their opening WXV1 match in Vancouver.
The result is one of the best in Ireland’s history, as they downed the reigning World Cup-holders thanks to Erin King’s late try, and Dannah O’Brien’s conversion. The win sees Ireland continue their improvement under Scott Bemand, after finishing third in the 2024 Six Nations.
“It’s an important step, a really big moment for this group and a really big moment for Irish women’s rugby, but we’ll not get ahead of ourselves,” Bemand said. “We’ve got to keep going after it, there’s two games left to come. We’ll enjoy it but we’ll be going after the next two games.”
But this is one of the biggest shocks in recent women’s rugby history as Ireland scored five tries against a New Zealand side that won the World Cup in 2022.
It was New Zealand who started the better of the two teams, with Atlanta Lolohea scoring after nine minutes as she rumbled over off the back of a driving lineout. Aoife Wafer struck back for Ireland with a close-range finish in the 14th minute, and the outstanding flanker followed that up with a second score 18 minutes later as she darted over off the back of a five-metre scrum.
Neve Jones then scored a pick and go try for Ireland in the 38th minute, but Katelyn Vahaakolo scored a stunning try on the stroke of half time for the Black Ferns, with the game locked at 17-17 at the break.
The two teams exchanged scores in the second half with Holmes keeping the scoreboard ticking over for New Zealand while Erin King then scored in the 67th minute to give Ireland a 22-20 lead.
The Black Ferns struck next through Mererangi Paul who crashed over after some slick offloads in the build-up, giving the Kiwis the lead in the 73th minute, but it was King’s try in the 78th minute and O’Brien’s last-gasp conversion gave Ireland a famous win.
“I’m lost for words, that was unbelievable,” Ireland captain Edel McMahon said. “The girls [got] stuck in right from the get-go and that went to the wire. We had belief in each other and ourselves, it was absolutely amazing … it was unreal.”