On Tuesday, Ireland start to do battle for fifth place, against the competitive Aussies in a rematch of their opening match. It has been a tough tournament for Ireland, I think the occasion has been getting to them, in each match it has taken ages for them to click into gear and get going. Against France they just gave them too much of a start, and couldn't reel them in. We've let in too many soft tries this tournament, and against a superbly drilled French side that was always going to hurt us. We did however, never give up, and prevented them from getting a bonus point try which they really wanted.
However, as ever, the women's team are delivering fantastic bang for the their buck - we don't have the player numbers, financial backing or as professional a back up coaching set up as some of the other teams but we still manage to compete at the highest level. And this tournament needs to start the discussion on the solution to some of these issues, getting more money and players into the sport.
Anyway, the focus for the team has to be on putting all that behind them and finishing with two wins, of which if they can beat the Aussies, Canada will be far the tougher match. So they need your support now, more than ever, get to the match, watch the match, give them all the support you can on Twitter and Facebook... they're out there giving it their all for us.
SEMI-FINALS
New Zealand v USA, Kingspan Stadium, 5pm
England v France, Kingspan Stadium, 7.45pm
5th-place SEMI-FINALS
Ireland v Australia, Kingspan Stadium, 2pm
Canada v Wales, Queen's University, 5pm
9th-place SEMI-FINALS
Italy v Japan, Queen's University, 12pm
Spain v Hong Kong, Queen's University, 2.30pm
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