Leah Tarpey was “on top of the world” after her two tries steered Leinster to Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship glory at a sunny Musgrave Park.
Tania Rosser’s Blues got the better of defending champions Munster for the second week running, emerging as impressive 33-14 winners of a titanic final tussle.
Tries from Deirbhile Nic a Bháird and Chloe Pearse had Munster leading twice during the first half, but a scrum-inspired penalty try, and a Tarpey close-range effort, moved Leinster level at 14-all.
Rosser’s charges ran in three more tries through Vodafone player-of-the-match Tarpey, captain Hannah O’Connor and replacement Elise O’Byrne-White to be crowned champions for the first time since 2019.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
Connacht arrive to Aviva with strong team and high hopes
Fantastic Farrell hat-trick snatches win for Munster over 14-man Ulster
Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards: ‘The greatest collection of women in Irish sport in one place ever assembled’
Promising centre Tarpey is only three games into her senior career with Leinster. Recently turned 20, the Laois youngster was capped by Ireland on their 2022 Japan tour and will train with Scott Bemand’s squad ahead of the upcoming WXV3 campaign.
“Delighted with that win,” she said afterwards. “Before I came out onto the pitch, I set goals for myself and set the standard for myself.
“’Right, I’m going to win gain-line with my carries, I’m going to break the line, I’m going to support line breaks. Just get my defence better than last week’.
“We knew that this was going to be a really tough game. We were under no illusions that Munster were going to bring the fight to us. I think we just really dug deep and we knew the challenge ahead of us. Just worked together as a team and came out on top.”
Leinster had to do it the hard way after losing to Connacht in the first round. Home victories over Ulster (57-5) and Munster (26-19) got them back on track, and winning the decider at the title-holders’ Cork fortress made it all the sweeter.
Their dominant scrum was a big factor along with the control exerted by half-backs Dannah O’Brien and Ailsa Hughes during the second half. Tarpey’s centre partner Aoife Dalton also had a couple of key passes to set up two tries.
Having lost out to Munster in the last two seasons, head coach Rosser admitted: “It’s been a while since we’ve had the cup, so winning silverware today is great.
“I’m delighted, the girls have worked really hard the last few months. It’s not just down to them, it’s down to the backroom staff, everyone back in Leinster, Sean O’Brien and Simon [Broughton].
“Munster had us under the pump in the first half. We spoke to the girls about getting back to our structures and being patient and that it will come.
“Thankfully it did. I think a couple of players that came on, like Ailsa at scrum half, really settled them into the game in the second half. Leah Tarpey had a stormer as well.”
Meanwhile, Ulster ended a winless interpro streak that stretched back to December 2012 with a brilliant 36-14 victory over Connacht in the 3rd-4th place play-off.
Rachael McIlroy and highly-rated backrower India Daley both crossed the try line to give Murray Houston’s side a deserved 14-0 half-time lead.
Although Connacht did get over through Lily Brady and replacement Orla Dixon, 12 points was the closest they could come as further tries from Ella Durkan, Beth Cregan, Niamh Marley and Aishling O’Connell made it a memorable day for Ulster.
Captain Cregan, who was also the Vodafone player-of-the-match, said: “It’s definitely been a long time coming. We have had a few draws in there and performances that we probably should have got wins from. It’s just amazing.
“Definitely well deserved by the girls. Every player has been calling to have more games in the Interpros – the three games is such a short series – so it’s been brilliant for us to implement changes after a week, trying to beat the same opposition.
“Last week our performance was there but we had slight errors and Connacht were able to capitalise on them. Today we just shut them down and we showed just what type of running rugby we play.
“We’ve been trying to focus on just being on the pitch and nailing our detail. We knew if we kept our discipline and just made sure we were playing our systems, we knew that we would have a performance like this, and that’s what we did.”
At Musgrave Park: MUNSTER 14 (Tries: Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, Chloe Pearse; Cons: Nicole Cronin 2) LEINSTER 33 (Tries: Penalty try, Leah Tarpey 2, Hannah O’Connor, Elise O’Byrne-White; Cons: Pen try con, Dannah O’Brien 3)
At Musgrave Park: CONNACHT 14 (Tries: Lily Brady, Orla Dixon; Cons: Nicole Fowley 2) ULSTER 36 (Tries: Rachael McIlroy, India Daley, Ella Durkan, Beth Cregan, Niamh Marley, Aishling O’Connell; Cons: Ella Durkan 3)
