International
Wallabies hold on for hard-fought victory over Scotland
The Wallabies have survived a tense finish to escape Murrayfield with a 16-15 win over Scotland.
Blair Kinghorn had a 79th-minute penalty to win the game for the hosts, pushing it to the left as the visitors started their Spring Tour on a positive note.
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Ollie Smith got Scotland off to the perfect start before a pair of Bernard Foley penalties put the Wallabies in front at the break.
This was short-lived as Kinghorn won the race to a loose ball to put Scotland in front 15-6.
Glen Young’s yellow card brought Dave Rennie’s men back into the contest as James Slipper dived over, with the boot of Foley proving the difference-maker with a 70th-minute penalty.
“There’s a bit of relief especially with Blair Kinghorn lining up and a hell of a lot of noise in the
crowd so there’s either a hell of a lot of Aussies or some drunk Scotsman in the stands. We’re happy to hang on,” Rennie said after the match.
“I’m proud of the effort because at 15-6 we’d given up a soft try straight after half-time but we fought our way back in and put our nose in front.
“We can be a lot better. We had a lot of possession inside their 22 we didn’t convert and we knew Scotland were very good post-tackle and got their hand on the ball so we know we have to better against France.
“There’s been a hell of a lot of hard work from people and it’s pleasing to get a result.”
The Wallabies were dealt a late blow as Pete Samu (back) was ruled out, handing Langi Gleeson a debut.
This failed to derail their campaign as they started strong via Tate McDermott, who relished his first start of 2022, instantly breaking through the line.
Whilst the visitors had the early chances, it was Scotland that opened the scoring as Ollie Smith sliced through some weak defence to dive over.
The Scottish continued to build pressure via the breakdown as the Wallabies struggled to build consistent pressure.
Bernard Foley reduced the margin via a penalty goal as both teams traded attacking opportunities.
The Wallabies went close before the ball spurted out whilst great work from Rob Valetini held up lock Glen Young over the line after the hosts turned down multiple penalty shot opportunities.
Foley’s second penalty of the night got Dave Rennie’s men in front at the break as they struggled to make use of their dominant share of territory.
Scotland caught the Wallabies napping after the break as a loose pass from Foley hit the deck, allowing Blair Kinghorn to grubber it through and win the race to the putdown.
Some great maul defence from the visitors kept them in the contest before Kinghorn extend the lead via the boot.
As the hosts built pressure, the Wallabies were given a golden opportunity when Glen Young’s cleanout collected Tate McDermott in the head, earning a yellow card.
This allowed captain James Slipper to strike, finishing off some great interchange between the forwards and backs.
With the game in the balance, the Wallabies earned a penalty with ten to go, with Foley continuing his perfect night to put the visitors in front.
After a strong injection, Taniela Tupou provided Scotland with one last chance to win the game after a breakdown infringement.
Up stepped Kinghorn, who pushed the penalty to the left to stun a packed Murrayfield crowd as the siren sounded.
Needing to close out the game, Nic White’s experience shone through as he delivered a bullet restart to find the touchline on the bounce, getting the Wallabies home
SCOTLAND 15
TRIES: Smith, Kinghorn
CONS: Kinghorn 1/2
PENS: Kinghorn 1/2
WALLABIES 16
TRIES: Slipper
CONS: Foley 1/1
PENS: Foley 3/3
Scotland: 15 Ollie Smith, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Ali Price, 8 Matt Fagerson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie (captain), 5 Grant Gilchrist, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Dave Cherry, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 George Turner, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 WP Nel, 19 Glen Young, 20 Jack Dempsey, 21 George Horne, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Damien Hoyland.
Australia: 15 Tom Banks, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Tom Wright, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Tate McDermott, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Jed Holloway, 5 Cadeyrn Neville, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 David Porecki, 1 James Slipper (captain).
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Matt Gibbon, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Ned Hanigan, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Nic White, 22 Noah Lolesio, 23 Jock Campbell.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Karl Dickson (England), Christophe Ridley (England)
TMO: Stuart Terheege (England)
Content & Images from – Australia Rugby
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
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