‘She’s coping with it well’ – Griggs backs ‘mature’ Parsons to handle hype against French

Béibhinn Parsons celebrates one of her tries against Wales last weekend

David Kelly Twitter Email

April 15 2021 03:39 PM

Irish coach Adam Griggs has backed flying teenager Béibhinn Parsons to follow up on her scintillating form against France this weekend – but has warned that she can’t just wing it as she seeks to build on her opening brace of tries in the 45-0 demolition against Wales.

“She is getting a lot of attention but she is quite mature for her age, I was involved with her at U18 Sevens and we’ve known each other a while and she’s coping with it well,” he said.

“She is going to come across a stronger defence and I’d be putting two defenders on her to make sure she is marked up well.

“So we need to put her in the game in other areas as opposed to the highlights reel of last week.

“She is learning how to be a threat in other areas of the field and not just waiting to receive the ball.”

Another exciting Sevens recruit, Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe, is destined to make her Donnybrook debut.

“She has that X-factor and she is still learning the intricacies of the game. It’s important to give her another step in her learning and I’m sure it can be good for her,” he said.

Griggs has the relative luxury of naming an unchanged side as the Irish seek an upset against the fourth best team in the world.

“We’ve talked about cohesion and after a good opening half’s performance, it’s how we want to play the game so it’s key they’re rewarded against the French,” he said.

“We know the second-half dropped out but that’s natural because we haven’t played in a while but our focus is on the ten minutes before and after half-time to maintain our good platform.

“They have threats from Pauline Bourdan at nine and Caroline Boujard on the wing, We need to keep an eye on them and slow down their ball and not give them the platform.

“For us, we need to patient and earn the right to play, that’s probably why it got loose last week, before we can try to expose them out wide.

“The breakdown on both sides of the ball is where any game is won and lost, it can allow us to play and also apply pressure in defence.

“We’ve tried to keep their feet on the ground, we know we can better and we are full of confidence. Every game you want to get better and we know this is better opposition but there’s no reason we can’t put them under pressure.

“We’re excited to see where we are against a side ranked fourth in the world and last week has made us excited to think we can create an upset.”