ON PAPER IT all looks rosy. Two wins from two, two bonus points, the highest points total Ireland have ever registered in a World Cup match and a place in the quarter-finals already in the bag before the final pool game against New Zealand, a team Ireland beat when the two sides last met less than 12 months ago.
Considering Ireland weren’t even at the last World Cup and collected a wooden spoon in the Six Nations just over two years ago, it might seem harsh to pick holes with the above achievements.
Yet anyone who has watched Ireland’s opening two pool wins over Japan and Spain would acknowledge the numbers don’t tell the full story of this World Cup journey so far.
Against Japan Ireland looked hungry and confident, playing some slick attacking rugby and controlling the game from start to finish. Yet they also left some chances behind them and had frustrations around the lineout. It was noted by the Irish camp that while it was a positive start, clearly, there were areas to tidy up.
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Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Then Scott Bemand changed seven of his starting XV for yesterday’s date with Spain, where Ireland turned in a less cohesive and connected team performance. While they still hit their opponents for seven tries and generally looked accurate in attack, they struggled to kill Spain off. The team ranked 13th in the world stuck to Ireland like a piece of gum on the sole of a shoe, coming from 12-0 down to level the game and testing Ireland’s defence to the point of notching five tries.
That is not the type of return that suggests Ireland are ready for the bigger challenges that lie ahead at this tournament, starting with defending world champions New Zealand in Brighton on Sunday – it’s worth highlighting again that James Scaysbrook only replaced Hugh Hogan as defence coach earlier this summer.
The message from the Ireland camp is that any flaws evident across their opening performances can be corrected, and while that may well be the case, they certainly need it to come together over the next few weeks if they are to rumble New Zealand and do something special in the knockouts.
“Everything’s fixable. Yeah, absolutely,” said Bemand.
“But everything gets bigger, every game from now on. I think as a group we’re ready for that challenge. It won’t always be perfect. Unfortunately there’s going to be some edge of the seat moments, but that’s the beauty of women’s rugby, isn’t it?
“But what we are doing now, we’re scoring tries, and in a variety of ways we’re creating different problems for people to solve. So I’m sure anybody that plays us will take us seriously. That’s a good place for us to be and we’ve just got to keep getting a bit better and a bit better.”
New Zealand warmed up for Ireland with a 62-19 thumping of Japan. They’re now level with Ireland on 10 points, but ahead on points advantage: +89 to Ireland’s +44.
Grace Moore is tackled by Spain's Claudia Cano. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Bemand feels his players are well placed to test a side they memorably beat 29-27 at WXV1 last September, and that a group still getting used to World Cup rugby are ready for the heightened attention heading their way over the coming weeks. He’ll also hope the decision to rest some key players against Spain pays off against the Black Ferns.
“Absolutely. The longer you go in this competition, each game, the media, the fan base, everything magnifies.
“That’s exactly where we want to be. We’ve got our two wins, we’ve got two bonus-point wins, all roads lead to Brighton now and we want to go and challenge a World Cup contender.
“We had a good crack at it in the second half against Canada (in the warm-up game). We’ve had Six Nations where we made England work for 50 minutes. We had 70 minutes against France. Part of our growth is we want to fire more shots. We want to take these games deeper against the World Cup contenders, so this will be a massive game for us just in terms of continuing momentum.”
Bemand continued, outlining his belief that the testing nature of the opening two games should stand to Ireland.
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Ireland conceded five tries against Spain. Alamy Stock Photo
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“I think we got the warm-ups right as well, to be honest. There were two groups essentially, playing the first game (v Scotland), and I think getting a game against Canada teed us up well with their ability to move the ball, physicality, ability to offload.
“Spain brought a slightly different flavour today, didn’t they? Whenever they got an entry, they resorted to a narrow pick-and-go game. And look, we actually look defensively comfortable in terms of a width perspective. It’s just very hard to stop the close game.
“We feel if we can get entries and it can become a contest, we can do a job on it, but there’ll be some bits for us to learn around how we deal with that pressure.”
Two weeks in, Ireland are exactly where they want to be. They also know this is the point where their World Cup really ramps up.
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Defence must be a concern as Ireland face into tougher World Cup tests
ON PAPER IT all looks rosy. Two wins from two, two bonus points, the highest points total Ireland have ever registered in a World Cup match and a place in the quarter-finals already in the bag before the final pool game against New Zealand, a team Ireland beat when the two sides last met less than 12 months ago.
Considering Ireland weren’t even at the last World Cup and collected a wooden spoon in the Six Nations just over two years ago, it might seem harsh to pick holes with the above achievements.
Yet anyone who has watched Ireland’s opening two pool wins over Japan and Spain would acknowledge the numbers don’t tell the full story of this World Cup journey so far.
Against Japan Ireland looked hungry and confident, playing some slick attacking rugby and controlling the game from start to finish. Yet they also left some chances behind them and had frustrations around the lineout. It was noted by the Irish camp that while it was a positive start, clearly, there were areas to tidy up.
Then Scott Bemand changed seven of his starting XV for yesterday’s date with Spain, where Ireland turned in a less cohesive and connected team performance. While they still hit their opponents for seven tries and generally looked accurate in attack, they struggled to kill Spain off. The team ranked 13th in the world stuck to Ireland like a piece of gum on the sole of a shoe, coming from 12-0 down to level the game and testing Ireland’s defence to the point of notching five tries.
That is not the type of return that suggests Ireland are ready for the bigger challenges that lie ahead at this tournament, starting with defending world champions New Zealand in Brighton on Sunday – it’s worth highlighting again that James Scaysbrook only replaced Hugh Hogan as defence coach earlier this summer.
The message from the Ireland camp is that any flaws evident across their opening performances can be corrected, and while that may well be the case, they certainly need it to come together over the next few weeks if they are to rumble New Zealand and do something special in the knockouts.
“Everything’s fixable. Yeah, absolutely,” said Bemand.
“But everything gets bigger, every game from now on. I think as a group we’re ready for that challenge. It won’t always be perfect. Unfortunately there’s going to be some edge of the seat moments, but that’s the beauty of women’s rugby, isn’t it?
“But what we are doing now, we’re scoring tries, and in a variety of ways we’re creating different problems for people to solve. So I’m sure anybody that plays us will take us seriously. That’s a good place for us to be and we’ve just got to keep getting a bit better and a bit better.”
New Zealand warmed up for Ireland with a 62-19 thumping of Japan. They’re now level with Ireland on 10 points, but ahead on points advantage: +89 to Ireland’s +44.
Bemand feels his players are well placed to test a side they memorably beat 29-27 at WXV1 last September, and that a group still getting used to World Cup rugby are ready for the heightened attention heading their way over the coming weeks. He’ll also hope the decision to rest some key players against Spain pays off against the Black Ferns.
“Absolutely. The longer you go in this competition, each game, the media, the fan base, everything magnifies.
“That’s exactly where we want to be. We’ve got our two wins, we’ve got two bonus-point wins, all roads lead to Brighton now and we want to go and challenge a World Cup contender.
“We had a good crack at it in the second half against Canada (in the warm-up game). We’ve had Six Nations where we made England work for 50 minutes. We had 70 minutes against France. Part of our growth is we want to fire more shots. We want to take these games deeper against the World Cup contenders, so this will be a massive game for us just in terms of continuing momentum.”
Bemand continued, outlining his belief that the testing nature of the opening two games should stand to Ireland.
“I think we got the warm-ups right as well, to be honest. There were two groups essentially, playing the first game (v Scotland), and I think getting a game against Canada teed us up well with their ability to move the ball, physicality, ability to offload.
“Spain brought a slightly different flavour today, didn’t they? Whenever they got an entry, they resorted to a narrow pick-and-go game. And look, we actually look defensively comfortable in terms of a width perspective. It’s just very hard to stop the close game.
“We feel if we can get entries and it can become a contest, we can do a job on it, but there’ll be some bits for us to learn around how we deal with that pressure.”
Two weeks in, Ireland are exactly where they want to be. They also know this is the point where their World Cup really ramps up.
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