World Rugby Sevens Series
Australian women sweep Ireland at Sydney 7s
ESPN staff
February 7, 2016
© Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

The Australian women's sevens side has defeated Ireland 3-0 across three matches at the HSBC Sydney7s in front of a collective crowd of more than 73,000 fans across the two days.

The world No.1-ranked side highlighted their experience with victories of 26-7, 29-7 and 24-0 against visitors who improved with every performance.

Australia coach Tim Walsh cited areas for improvement two weeks out from the next stop on the HSBC Women's Sevens World Series in Sau Paulo.

"For what it was, it was great," Walsh said.

"The preparation we got out of playing Ireland, leading into Sau Paulo was extremely valuable for the girls and also having this rare opportunity to play in front of a huge home crowd has been a great experience for them.

"We did some really good things that we are happy with and other things that we were less happy with. We were nowhere near our best today but there were some areas that were passable."

With the Australian management opting to experiment with younger players, Walsh spoke of highly of his young charges.

"Shenae Ciesiolka scored that wonderful try and showed some amazing footwork and did really well. Mahalia Murphy showed some real intent and is very dangerous with the ball. The great thing about this squad is that we are in a great position to build and if a player is not available another one can step in."

Taleena Simon crossed for the opening try of the Sunday fixtures just moments into the first contest. Ireland looked like making an immediate response when captain Lucy Mulhull sliced through under the posts only to be jolted by a heavy knock from behind by Nicole Beck that forced the ball loose just before the Irish skipper touched down.

The crowd rose to their feet as Beck made the desperate stop, but Ireland crossed out wide just moments later to take the lead for the only time in any of the three matches, 7-5.

The young Australian side continued to gain confidence and some quick hands between Simon and Murphy saw them cross again through Gemma Etheridge to make the score 12-7 at the break.

Australia continued to apply pressure with the next generation of Sevens stars enjoying their opportunity to shine, and Evania Pelite burned the incoming defence out wide after excellent passing to score in the corner. Moments later the crowd jumped to their feet again as Shenae Ciesiolka made a brilliant run, darting and weaving through out-stretched Irish hands to score next to the posts. A final try to Charlotte Caslick was the final straw for Ireland to complete the 29-7 victory.

The Aussies made a nervous start In the third and final hit out of the weekend, with uncharacteristic wayward passing and miscommunication causing frustration for the home side.

Emilee Cherry finally sparked the home side with a clean break before unloading to Emma Tonegato, who raced away to score in the corner.

Fiji-born flyer Ellia Green was then injected in to the attack with immediate effect, crossing for the first of her two tries before Tonegato notched her second of the match to blow the final score out to 24-0.

© ESPN staff

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