A DEFEAT TO England never goes down well with any Irish team, and there was certainly a sense of frustration at the UCD Bowl this afternoon.

New cap Chloe Pearse, right, celebrates Nora Stapleton's try. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

Ireland Women suffered a 12-10 defeat in their first November Test, conceding a late maul try after leading at half time and for the majority of the second half.

Disappointed at the result, but heartened by the performance – particularly with Nicole Fowley, Leah Lyons and Chloe Pearse having made their debuts.

Outside centre Fowley had a fine game on her first cap, with the Sligo native starting as she meant to go on by dropping off a deft offload with her first touch in the international arena.

The 24-year-old has been in excellent form with Galwegians in the All-Ireland League, having previously excelled in soccer with Castlebar Celtic and Sligo IT, and having also played football with Drumcliffe/Rosses Point and for Sligo at senior level.

Fowley consistently chose good lines for Ireland against the English, showed strong catch-and-pass skills and held up well in contact. There was one knock-on in the England 22 and hints of being slightly narrow in defence, but this was highly-promising stuff.

Connacht's Nicole Fowley was impressive at 13 for Ireland. Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Munster’s Lyons is primarily a prop but an injury to Cliodhna Moloney in the 35th minute meant that her debut came as the stand-in hooker.

The 20-year-old Highfield woman took over the throwing duties at lineout time with confidence and showed her ball-carrying ability throughout. Thrown into the deep end against the world champions, Lyons more than coped.

UL Bohemians back row Pearse, a Munster team-mate of Lyons’, was also sent into the fray a little earlier than she might have anticipated.

She had a hard act to follow when replacing the injured Claire Molloy five minutes into the second half, but Pearse was another to bring her AIL form into international rugby with an impactful and hard-working performance off the bench.

“The three girls did amazing on their first caps,” said Ireland out-half Nora Stapleton after the defeat in UCD. “It’s a big game to come into, a huge game, and some of them came off the bench earlier than they might have expected to, so they did amazing.”

Leah Lyons, left, in action for Munster. Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Captain Paula Fitzpatrick, a relative veteran of the squad with 24 caps was similarly impressed and explained that the three new faces have fitted into Ireland’s set-up comfortably.

“They’ve been fantastic,” said Fitzpatrick. “They look like they’ve been there for years. All three of the girls have been playing fantastically well in the AIL for their clubs. That’s what earned them their call-up into the squad.”

With Tullamore RFC’s Nichola Fryday and Anna Caplice of UL Bohs also in Ireland’s extended squad for this month, there may be further Ireland debuts to come against Canada and New Zealand over the next two weekends.

While Fowley, Lyons and Pearse were winning their first caps against the English, other Ireland internationals were gaining more valuable experience on the pitch.

Loosehead prop Lindsay Peat made her first start in Test rugby, second row Orla Fitzsimons won cap number four, fullback Mairead Coyne earned her fifth, and blindside flanker Ciara Griffin made it six international appearances.

Ireland are building their depth. Source: Billy Stickland/INPHO

Off the bench, scrum-half Mary Healy reached the six-cap mark. All of this is part of the plan to have a deeper, higher-quality squad by the time the home World Cup rolls around next August.

“It’s definitely building,” said Ireland out-half Nora Stapleton of Ireland’s depth. “There are 23 here today, another seven or eight on the extended squad and then a couple of girls injured who are yet to come back into that.

“Plus there’s a bigger pool outside of that as well, girls who are playing for their province now coming into December in the inter-pro games. We’ve got an awful lot of people on the books, as such, where the coaches are keeping an eye on them.

“We’re all working towards similar goals, whether it’s skills, fitness or a certain type of game plan and different things we’re putting in place.

“We’re building that pool of players which is the best case scenario for us.”

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