Aussie women claim series

Sun, Feb 7, 2016, 2:00 AM
Beth Newman
by Beth Newman

Australia’s women clinched a series win over Ireland with a 29-7 victory in their second of three matches.

The Aussies went up 5-0 through Taleena Simon, after an exciting attacking passage from the home team.

Nicole Beck pulled off a spectacular try-saving chase to keep the Aussies in the lead but the Irish broke through a minute later.

Youngster Shenae Ciesolka nabbed another for Australia, with a breakaway effort that put the home side 24-7 in front.

It was superstar Charlotte Caslick that sealed the big win for Australia, with a five-pointer in the final seconds of the match.

Caslick said they were focused on sustaining strong performances, rather than being one-tournament wonders after their win in Dubai last December.

“Everyone is saying we’re number one at the moment but we’ve really only won the one tournament at the moment in the season so far,” she said.

“So we need to keep staying ahead of Canada and the Kiwis and the other teams that are always knocking on the door.”

Caslick said the experience was critical for their younger girls, particularly in such a big year for the team.

“We had a few of our younger girls out there in the first half giving them a bit of exposure and some game time,” she said.

“This year we need all 20 of us in the squad to have experience on the world stage.

“I think Ireland definitely put up a better fight today and hopefully game three is also another step up from that."

The noise of the crowd has proved the biggest learning curve for the side as they continue preparations for Rio Olympics and Caslick said they still had improvement to make with communication.

“We’re still probably struggling a little bit with the communication especially from midfield to our wingers out wide,” she said.

“I think we’re just going to have to keep dealing with it and keep learning whether it’s hand signals or something else that actually makes things a bit better.

The Aussies play the third match in the series at 2:46pm AEDT.

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