The Combined Provinces recorded an impressive 45-12 victory over The Thistles in Kingspan Stadium this evening, crossing for seven tries they remain unbeaten in the warmup series.

It was a much better second half showing from the Irish from what we say in Cardiff last weekend, they really knuckled down and made sure that the Thistles never really came back at them to cause them a worry.

With the series giving minutes to younger names ahead of the Six Nations, plenty of players have put the hand up for selection, Dannah O'Brien was excellent at fly-half, Ella Roberts looks a good fit having moved to the wing, Maeve Og O'Leary is coming to life in the back row, while the older heads in the team also look to continue in the green jersey.

Seven tries from Six players is also a great indication that scores can come from anywhere, with Roberts getting another brace in the competition she will be looking to nail down a spot in that Irish selection for the Six Nations.

A great start for the Combined Provinces almost brought an early try, Leah Tarpey with a great drive after the Irish had worked possession well, at the breakdown the Thistles were offside and Dannah O’Brien opted for touch from the penalty despite being in front of the posts.

The Thistles however turned over possession however as the Combined Provinces made an error in the lineout, they had a penalty a short while later to give them a chance to clear their lines, it failed to meet touch and back came the Irish selection, another solid drive and Tarpey again carried well using her hand to keep tacklers away from her she went over for a trey after three minutes, O’Brien converted for an ideal start for the hosts.

Francesca McGhie almost found the equalising score with their first drive at goal in the ninth minute, the Scottish winger having the tacklers bounce off her, she offloaded to Emma Orr to continue the drive as they got inches from the line, but a foul in the breakdown awarded the Irish a penalty to relieve pressure.

Having spent time on the backfoot the Irish went back in search of a score, some powerful drives as Aoife Dalton made a run down the touchline, but it was knocked forward, handling errors had stopped their momentum for a couple of drives as the Thistles held firm.

They would get their second try after 18 minutes, Claire Bennet driving with pace and having the strength to break clear the Scottish cover managed to touch down under the posts for the score, O’Brien doubled their lead with the conversion which followed.

Pressure was still on the Scottish visitors as the Combined Provinces attacked with intent looking for further scores and also trying to impress ahead of the Women’s Six Nations, Ella Roberts made a beautiful catch in the air but as she went down the touchline the Thistles brought her into touch, they had their moments as the game was not all one way traffic but the hosts were looking confident,

Out of nowhere from a Thistles scrum shy of their line, Maeve Og O’Leary scored the third Irish try having chased down and blocked an attempted clearance kick she gathered possession and touched won, with O’Brien making it a big 21-0 lead by the half hour mark.

During the Women’s Interpros we saw how effective Deirbhile Nic an Bhaird was on the counter and being able to take scores, she made a great drive through the heart of the thistles backline, but her offloaded pass had a little too much power and a knock on relieved some pressure on the Scottish outfit.

However the Irish really were motoring well and some fast hands down the left channel saw the Irish break clear with Ella Roberts continuing her purple try scoring patch for the provinces, touching down in the corner to get their fourth try after 36 minutes, O’Brien had a difficult touchline conversion and the kick looked to have made the target but just drew just short.

Thistles had plenty of chances but were unable to work a score in the half, that all hanged in the final act of play, down their left flank McGhee was dangerous, a drive by prop and co captain Panashe Muzambe created a chance and a little floated pass found McGhee in space on the wing and she raced in to score the opener for the visitors, Orr had a tough conversion as it drifted left and wide but the Irish went in ahead 26-5 at the interval.

The Provinces started the second half with intent as O’Brien was really having a terrific performance and after a lovely dink over the Thistles defence from her left boot, she needed to be tackled well to stop the Irish adding another try. Another drive from Nic a Bhaird really stretched the Thistles line, quick passes and good hand offs had the provinces close to the line but the referee blew for a Scottish penalty as they cleared their lines.

Despite being on the defence to begin the second half, it was the Scottish side that got the opening score of the half, they were again defending but after the dangerous McGhee got the ball she cut through the Irish line and sprinted clear almost like the Road Runner she raced clear with the afterburners on full and needed catching but proved too elusive to tackle as she got the second Thistles try putting two tries between them after Orr converted.

Having went behind early the Provinces replied well as from almost nothing Aoife Dalton found enough space to get over for their first score in the second half, the Irish had looked likely to get a score earlier on but this time they sniped having had little levels of danger, O’Brien putting them 33-12 ahead from the tee.

The game as a contest was still very competitive but the Irish side had really laid a marker down throughout the tie, after a dominant scrum the Irish worked the ball out wide where Roberts had a clear line of sight to explore, she burst with pace down the wing and evading tackles on the way she got her second try, O’Brien went off so Hannah O’Connor took up kicking duties but her effort went wide.

A dominant display from the Provinces to see out the contest at the end of the second half having almost let the Welsh game slip, Nic a Bhaird is a big ball carrier and had deserve a score off her efforts earlier in the half, with Scottish bodies hanging off her to stop her charge she did enough to drive over for their seventh try in the final ten minutes of play, O’Connor continued kicking duties, plenty of fresh legs had came on but Greg McWilliams will be happy with the performances of his players.