The Leinster Rugby U18 Girls travelled to Westmanstown on 14th April for the second and final day of this year’s Interprovincial 7s Series.
Head coach Niall Neville made some changes to the squad that won three games out of three the week before as players had been called into the Ireland U18 7s camp and to give other girls in the extended squad a chance to show their abilities.
The day started off with a good display against Ulster. Two tries from Ciara Faulkner and Molly Fitzgerald saw Leinster lead 10-0 at half-time. This confident performance was followed up with two more tries in the second half to leave the final score 20-0 to Leinster.
Leinster’s second game, against Munster, was an outstanding match, although the result did not go the way of the girls in blue.
Munster started off with lots of pace and power and forced errors on the Leinster side. This early dominance saw Munster race into a 10-0 lead and it looked like Leinster could be on the end of a big score. However, some calming words from the coaches helped to settle the girls and they managed to pull a score back through Ciara Faulkner to make it 10-5 to Munster at the break.
Leinster started the brighter in the second half and scored through the impressive Meabh Scally to draw things level. However, as Leinster were pressing hard for the winner, a Munster turnover gave them the chance of a breakaway try which proved to be the deciding score in a 15-10 defeat for Leinster.
In the final game of the day, Leinster played a Connacht side that had shown their quality the previous week, and this was again the case in Westmanstown.
Leinster were the happier of the two sides, taking a slim 10-5 lead into the break. As the players fought hard to settle the game it took a break from Tess Meade who finished from 30 metres out to allow Leinster to pull away and take control of the game, winning 15-5.
Leinster Rugby U18 Girls – Interprovincial 7s Series results
Week 1 – Mullingar RFC
Leinster 29 Munster 0
Leinster 17 Connacht 5
Leinster 38 Ulster 5
Week 2 – Westmanstown
Leinster 20 Ulster 0
Leinster 10 Munster 15
Leinster 15 Connacht 5
