Tom Tierney steps down after Ireland's women's rugby team end World Cup with disappointing loss
Tom Tierney has stepped down as the Ireland's women's rugby Head Coach after their World Cup campaign ended on a disappointing note with a 27-17 loss to Wales in Belfast today.
The tournament started on an optimistic note with a close win over Australia only for the team to struggle to a win over Japan, followed by a comprehensive defeat to France in their final pool game.
Although the Irish finished second in their group, they entered the fifth-place play-off due to their lack of bonus points in the pool stage.
They met Australia who went on to avenge their defeat earlier in the competition by 36-24. The seventh place play-off against Wales beckoned with the prize of automatic qualification for the next World cup on the line.
Wales went on to win by 27-17 and speaking to Newstalk's Oisin Langan afterwards, Ireland coach Tom Tierney said: "Obviously, the way things were going we were going from game to game and looking to get that seventh place.
"Now we just have to take it on the chin. We'll take time out. We'll reflect, we'll review but we were looking to finish on a high just to put a line under it.
"We were looking for a big start. We got that, we got seven points up on the board, playing a good bit of territory and holding on to the ball.
"The key for us today was that we were trying to hold onto the ball more than we did against Australia but unfortunately we let the Welsh come back into the game though penalties, through defence that was being bullied a small bit and we were conceding yards in the tackle which has been unfortunately something that has been common in the tournament.
"So, leaving that happen, coming in at 10-7 at half-time, we were in good shape but unfortunately the first 20 minutes of that second half, they got the points on the board and you know you're playing catch-up rugby then.
