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Ireland qualify for 2025 World Cup and WXV 1 with win over Scotland

By PA
Ireland/ PA

Ireland finished third in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations after they twice came from behind to narrowly beat Scotland 15-12 and secure their qualification for the 2025 World Cup.

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Scotland hit the front with the only try of the first half when Elis Martin crossed the whitewash to give them a 5-0 lead at the interval.

It took Ireland just one minute of the second half to draw level when Katie Corrigan dotted down in the corner, but Scotland restored their advantage in the 50th minute as Lisa Thomson broke the line and Helen Nelson added the extras to give them a seven-point lead.

With 20 minutes to go, Ireland were on level terms once again following a rolling maul, Cliodhna Moloney barged over the line and Dannah O’Brien successfully kicked the conversion to make it 12-12.

Both teams went in search of a winning score and Ireland got the opportunity when Aoife Wafer helped earn a penalty, with O’Brien making no mistake in slotting over the three points to put her side in front for the first time.

Match Summary

1
Penalty Goals
0
2
Tries
2
1
Conversions
1
0
Drop Goals
0
108
Carries
98
4
Line Breaks
2
13
Turnovers Lost
14
5
Turnovers Won
6

Scotland had a chance to nick it at the end after a scrum penalty then gave Scotland territory with less than five minutes to go, but Ireland stood firm despite Beibhinn Parsons being sent to the sin bin late on.

After failing to qualify for the last Rugby World Cup and finishing sixth in last year’s Women’s Six Nations, the result is hugely significant for Irish women’s rugby.

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They will play in WXV 1 for the first time, joining England, France, and three teams from the upcoming Pacific Four Series in Canada this September. In 2023 they won WXV 3 in Dubai with victories over Kazakhstan, Colombia, and Spain.

Last year’s WXV 2 winners Scotland will return to the second level in South Africa this autumn alongside Italy, the winner of the playoff between Wales (Women’s Six Nations sixth place) and Spain (Rugby Europe Championship winners), the fourth-placed team at the Pacific Four Series, winner of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, and Asia Women’s Championship winner.

For Scotland, there is still a chance to qualify for RWC2025 as the highest-finishing six teams from WXV who are yet to secure a RWC place will qualify.

Italy, who lost to Wales earlier in the, finish the 2024 Women’s Six Nations in fifth place while Scotland finish their campaign in fourth.

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Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 is coming to England. Register now here to be the first to hear about tickets.

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H
Hellhound 37 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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