Anna Caplice saluted the spirit of her Ireland teammates as they recovered from opening day disappointment to record their first 2019 Women’s Six Nations win away to Scotland.
Soundly beaten against England last time out, Ireland ran in four tries in Glasgow to secure a bonus-point victory and finally get their campaign off the ground.
And flanker Caplice, who scooped the Player of the Match award following a smart second-half score, was pleased with her side’s reponse at Scotstoun.
“Scotland defended us so well, and they made us work so hard. It was enjoyable,” she said.
“We were hurting from last week, we were disappointed with our second half when we came out of the blocks and England scored on us straight away. So we knew in our heads that when we came out it’s ‘switch-on’ time.
“We couldn’t take a breath for one second because we know how ruthless Scotland can be. We were really happy with the second half, the way we were able to up it.”
By contrast, Scotland head coach Shade Munro was left bemoaning indiscipline from his team as they slumped to their second defeat on the spin.
“I am a bit disappointed with that there were too many errors, our discipline was poor, we didn’t play in the right areas,” he said.
“We didn’t do the things we have worked on. It was better against Italy, I was looking for improvement but that was disappointing.
“We had some attacking opportunities in the first half but in the second half we just didn’t get going. We said all the right things at half-time, but just didn’t put it into practice.”
In the Friday night game, Wales earned their first points of this year’s competition in a tight affair against Italy in Lecce.
A Robyn Wilkins penalty had given the visitors the half-time lead at the Stadio Via del Mar, but Michela Sillari responded in kind to level proceedings 20 minutes before the end.
Despite losing 52-3 to Women’s Six Nations champions France last time around, Wales refused to wilt in the final quarter, repelling attack after attack from the hosts to seal a morale-boosting draw.
But head coach Rowland Phillips had mixed feelings after the closely-fought encounter.
“We’re always disappointed when we don’t win and I think both teams feel disappointed,” he said.
“We certainly had opportunities. In the last 10 minutes, they were beating at our try-line. To show that character to fight and keep them out was unbelievable.”
Wales will look to build on the draw when they face England at home in Round 3, with Italy facing Ireland and Scotland heading to France.
