Irish girls hope to end on a high
Alan Foley
Ireland’s interest in the Women's Rugby World Cup was due to continue yesterday evening in the play-offs at the Surrey Sports Park.
Ireland were comfortable 37-3 winners over Kazakhstan in their final pool game on Saturday, but just fell short of making the semi-finals for the first time having defeated the USA 22-12 after losing 27-0 to England in their opening fixture.
Jackie Shiels was a 72nd minute replacement in the final pool game against Kazakhstan. The full-back from Navan, Co Meath, is the daughter of Sarah McGinty and the niece of Charley McGinty, Townawilly, outside of Donegal Town. Nora Stapleton from Fahan, who plays for Old Belvedere and Leinster, played in the first two group games. The victory over Kazakhstan meant that the Irish joined Australia and Canada, the second-placed teams in Pool A and Pool C respectively, on 10 points.
With the three pool winners and the best-placed second ranked side going through to the semi-finals, it was the Australians who progressed to the final four thanks to their superior points difference, topped up by a fine 62-0 final day triumph over South Africa. Therefore, Ireland entered the fifth-eighth place play-offs. A win over the USA yesterday would mean that Ireland will Canada or Scotland in the fifth-sixth place play-off on Sunday.
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Weather for Donegal
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 5 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
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Temperature: 5 C to 7 C
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