Ireland dig deep to qualify for World Cup with win over Scotland

Ireland qualified for the World Cup with their Guinness Women's Six Nations victory over Scotland enough to secure third place and passage to next year's tournament in England.

Getting the win over Scotland was the only goal for today, but the team will revel in the achievement after missing out on the last edition.

Victory in Belfast came after a rollercoaster contest in which Ireland, beaten 88-10 last week by England, only led for the final six minutes and held out against a late Scottish onslaught.

It was desperately poor fare at times but Scott Bemand's side dug deep to stay in the game and Katie Corrigan struck for Ireland's first try just after the break.

Scotland retook the lead but Clíodhna Moloney added another try and Dannah O'Brien kicked the conversion and a late penalty to edge Ireland over the line much to the delight of a record crowd at Ravenhill.

The rain held off until a few minutes after kick-off and when it came it fell heavy on the 3G pitch. It didn't bother Scotland in the least.

They opened the scoring in the eighth minute, winning two penalties in the Irish half off the back of a poor missed touch kick by O'Brien and a knock-on from Méabh Deely.

Helen Nelson kicked the visitors into the corner and captain Rachel Malcolm claimed the throw. The pack set quickly and hooker Elis Martin, added to the starting XV yesterday, was in place to touch down.

The game was then delayed for over five minutes with Scotland scrum-half Caity Mattinson needing lengthy treatment before leaving on a stretcher.

Ireland had more territory when play resumed but they were unable to take advantage of it with a number of knock-ons halting any momentum.

They were poor out of touch, too, losing two lineouts and allowing Nelson to use