Ireland have beaten reigning world champions New Zealand in their opening match at the WXV1 in Vancouver.
Scott Bemand’s side produced a strong finish to win by 29 points to 27, with Dannah O’Brien’s conversion securing the victory after Erin King’s late try.
Ireland scored five tries in all and will play Canada in their next game on Saturday.
Ireland captain Edel McMahon says it was an incredible performance.
“The group had massive belief all week. We believe in what we’re doing, we believe in the connections we have with each other. We believe in the staff.
“We work really, really hard off pitch. And we work harder on pitch. We’re competing at every training session.
“For us, this validates what we’re doing, and I couldn’t be more proud of the girls.”
Head coach Scott Bemand says the win shows that his side are progressing.
“It’s an important step. We always talk about keeping the momentum going. We always said first and foremost we want to be a really hard team to play against. At 60 minutes when we were in it, we started to believe more and more.
“Obviously they (New Zealand) came out pretty fast, and there was a bit of hanging on to start with, but I think as the girls started to adapt to the pace of it I think we started to really believe in what we’ve been doing behind the scenes and how that transmits to the pitch.
“An example would be, we managed to put them in to their half and we defended for our lives in their half.
“We’re building, we’re building minutes, we’re building important minutes in games, which feeds the confidence banks.
“We’re getting there – it’s the next step.”
Next up for Ireland is a clash with the hosts Canada on Saturday night – kick off is at 11.45PM Irish time.