EIRA Girls Open Tour of Ireland
EIRA Girls Open Tour of Ireland
The Eagle Impact Rugby Academy girls U18s were beaten by Munster girls on their opening game of their Ireland tour.
Munster ran out to a 19-0 lead in the first half but after the slow start the EIRA girls matched Munster in the second half 5-5.
"We struggled to have that go-forward on attack and defense," said Head Coach Jason Scrogham. "The Munster line speed was phenomenal and put us under a lot of pressure."
Scrogham had praise for forwards coach John Watson and the team's scrum performance.
"He was able to identify great combinations in our forwards and have them gel with relatively little time together," said Scrogham. At halftime, despite leading, Munster requested uncontested scrums for the remainder of the match.
Scrogham said the EIRA team settled down after halftime and played a little more confidently.
"Our defense was on a mission to make a statement with our physicality," Scrogham said.
Fullback Amanda Homer, who moved up from the U16 team, made several try-saving tackles in the game.
The attack started to operate a little better in the second half as well and with the likes of Sadie Hershberger, Kylee Mercer, and captain Rachel Kissinger, they were able to break through.
"How we played in the second half should give us a great foundation to build off of going into our game against Connacht."
This is the third year EIRA girls have toured Ireland and Scrogham acknowledged that they might have caught the Irish by surprise in the first year.
"The Irish teams have more tactical kicking," said Scrogham. "They have a structured attack; they are really good at manipulating defenses and creating gaps."
What the EIRA team has shown already is some strong defense. A somewhat different roster toured Spain and won three games against senior women's teams, holding each team to just one try, and that was a good indication of the defensive abilities of these players.
Scrogham ran the defense on that tour.
"It was simple," said Scrogham. "I told them the other team wants to score on you, and you need to take them personally. I think that really set in with them and they took pride in not letting a team score. We took that mindset through the tour."
