HEAD COACH SCOTT Bemand has hailed the “absolutely outstanding” role that Declan Danaher is playing behind the scenes with the Ireland women’s rugby team.
Former London Irish back row Danaher is now working as Ireland defence coach, with Bemand’s side set to open their Six Nations campaign against France at Stade Marie-Marvingt in Le Mans this Saturday,
Born in London to a Kerry father and a Limerick mother, Danaher initially lined out as a youngster for the Ireland U19s before going on to represent the England U21s and the England Saxons.
After clocking an impressive 275 appearances for London Irish over a 15-year spell, he subsequently served as a coach at the club from 2016 to 2023 — working alongside former Munster and Ireland head coach Declan Kidney for much of that period.
However, last summer saw The Exiles being placed into administration and having known Danaher for quite some time, Bemand jumped at the opportunity to get him on board.
While he wasn’t involved when Ireland secured the inaugural WXV 3 crown in Dubai last October, he has made a strong impression since joining the fold at the beginning of 2024.
“I’ve known Dec a good while,” Bemand explained on Tuesday.
“When you’re doing your coaching badges and coming through, Dec was on my Level 4. I would have played against him a good few times, a gnarly back-row — just the kind of person that was ideal to bring in.”
“With the London Irish situation, which is sad for all involved, I picked up the phone and reached out to him and said, ‘Look, would you ever be interested?’
To be fair, he is incredibly receptive to it and wants to challenge himself, wants to come and taste what coaching in an international environment looks like. He has been brilliant. From my perspective, he has been absolutely outstanding.”
Eve Higgins, Beibhinn Parsons and Aoibheann Reilly have all returned to the 15s set-up having missed the 2023 Six Nations – when Bemand’s predecessor Greg McWilliams was at the helm – due to their commitments to the Ireland 7s.
All three featured in last year’s success at the inaugural WXV 3. Higgins and Parsons made their presence felt in the latter tournament’s opener against Kazakhstan, registering four tries apiece as Ireland cruised to a record-breaking 109-0 victory. Parsons also grabbed a brace of tries in their second round win over Colombia, before being joined on the pitch by both Higgins and Reilly as Ireland sealed the WXV 3 trophy with a narrow triumph against Spain.
The trio remain part of Bemand’s plans, while another pair of Ireland 7s stars – Claire Boles and Katie Heffernan – were also named in his 35-strong player pool for Six Nations.
Given Ireland are targeting a top-three finish in the 2024 Six Nations – which, by extension, would guarantee them a spot at next year’s Rugby World Cup finals in England – it would be a massive boost to Bemand and his coaching staff to have this quintet at his disposal for the entire duration of the tournament.
The former England women’s lead coach confirmed yesterday they are available for selection this weekend at the very least and with a strong line of communication existing between himself and his 7s counterpart Allan Temple-Jones, he believes the IRFU’s two women’s rugby programmes can continue to complement each other in the weeks, months and years to come.
“We’ve got a great working relationship with Allan Temple-Jones in the 7s programme. We’ll get some support from the 7s and we will offer some support back.
It will be a two-way relationship and will be ongoing from here.”
Meanwhile, Bemand also said he is hopeful of being able to call on a fully-fit Dannah O’Brien in Le Mans on Saturday. The Carlow native contributed 27 points off the kicking tee over the course of Ireland’s WXV 3 campaign, but has been troubled by an ankle issue in recent months.
“Dannah injured her ankle just after Christmas and she’s been working really hard, really hard. A young player, it’s her first real injury. She’s worked her way back to fitness, so she’ll travel to France with us.
“What role she takes, we’ll see when we announce the selection [on Thursday],” Bemand added.
“We’re pretty confident she’s in the hat for selection, so we’ll see what we need when we get out there.”