Offaly duo make Irish debuts

Clara teenager Aoife Dalton scored a try on her debut as Ireland scored an emphatic 57-22 win over Japan in the opening match of their first ever summer tour.

And her Tullamore RFC team mate Leah Tarpey also made her debut from the bench in what was a day to remember for the Offaly duo.

A nervous start left Ireland, captained by Kilcormac woman Nichola Fryday, trailing 15-0 after 11 minutes, but the new look side recovered their composure and worked their way back into the game in style.

First half tries from Neve Jones, Aoife Doyle and Dalton, coupled with two conversions from impressive teenage out-half Dannah O’Brien, saw Ireland finish the half 19-15 ahead.

There was plenty more from this young Ireland side with in-form hooker Jones adding two more maul tries to register her hat-trick.

Méabh Deely capitalised on some super work by the back-line, who showed real promise throughout the 80 minutes, to score on her debut.

Further tries followed from Chloe Pearse and Molly Scuffil-McCabe as Ireland hit 50 points. Fellow replacement Emma Hooban added a ninth and final score which O’Brien converted to complete her 12-point contribution.

Tarpey, Natasja Behan and Taryn Schutzler made it six debuts on a night that saw the Ireland Women score their most points and tries since beating Scotland 73-3 to win the 2015 Six Nations title.

Jones, who continued her excellent form from the Six Nations earlier this year, became only the fourth Irish woman to score a hat-trick of tries at Test level, after Lynne Cantwell, Alison Miller (3) and Sophie Spence.