Spirited Ireland beaten by Canada in final warm-up game

Women’s Rugby World Cup warm-up

Ireland: 26 (7)

Tries: Parsons (2), McGann (2) Cons: O’Brien (3)

Canada: 47 (33)

Ireland suffered defeat in their final warm-up game before the Rugby World Cup as they lost 47-26 against an impressive Canada side at the Affidea Stadium.

Canada, who are ranked number two in the world, dominated the first half, scoring five tries to hold a comfortable 19-point lead at the break in Belfast.

Ireland put up a fight in the second half, scoring three more tries to close the gap and give them confidence they can compete against the top nations heading into the World Cup.

Bemand made 10 changes from the side that fought back to beat Scotland 27-21 last weekend.

The team lining out in Belfast looked more like the one that could take to the field against Japan in two weeks’ time, although their head coach will hope to have the likes of Aoife Wafer and Edel McMahon fit for that game.

The persistent Canadian pressure early in the game paid off for the visitors on nine minutes as Florence Symonds spotted a gap in the Irish defence and darted through for their first try.

Their second arrived four minutes later as Jasmine Pelletier raced past a couple of defenders and touched down.

Ireland were handed a lifeline when Daleaka Menin was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Ivana Kiripati and the hosts took advantage.

In their first sustained spell in the Canada half, Beibhinn Parsons picked up the ball off the base of the ruck and dotted down.

Canada replied with a third try on 25 minutes as they again exploited space in the Irish defence, with Symonds holding off Aoife Dalton in a driving run to the line.

The returning Menin then powered over from close-range for Canada’s fourth try.

Ireland co-captain Sam Monaghan was introduced at half-time as Bemand tried to stem the Canadian flow.

As they did against Scotland last time out, Ireland improved in the second half, delivering a more attacking performance which delighted the ample Belfast crowd.

However, Canada continued to be a threat on the counter-attack and Julia Schell added a sixth try on a clinical breakaway.

Ireland eventually got their second try as Stacey Flood found Anna McGann, who finished well out wide.

McGann followed that up with another a few minutes later, bustling her way through before diving down.

Parsons got her second and Ireland’s fourth try to cut the gap further, but they were ultimately left with too much to do as Sophie de Goede scored a late try to put the game beyond Ireland.