AS IT STANDS, Ireland are the only team in the women’s Six Nations without points on the board.
England and France are both unbeaten and will collide this weekend for the title, while Wales, Scotland and Italy all have at least one victory each. So far, Ireland have been unable to keep any of their losing margins to anything less than double-digits which does not bode well heading into their final outing on Saturday.
Their closest tie was against Italy which they lost by 21 points, a side which Scotland have already narrowly beaten.
Last weekend’s encounter against England was a bruising one to put it mildly. It was the first game of the tournament where Ireland failed to score while the physical exchanges against a side with superior conditioning rendered two Irish players being withdrawn for HIAs. It should also be noted however that of those two injuries, Vicky Irwin did return to finish out the game while front-rower Linda Djougang sat out the remainder of the game as a precaution. Both have been declared fit for Saturday evening.
Added to that is the return of Dorothy Wall from injury to the Ireland replacements. The talented lock was absent for the England game, and will be a welcomed sight in the Irish pack this weekend.
Ireland shipped five tries in the first half but retain their doggedness throughout the game, and kept England scoreless for much of the second half. The defending champions, who are looking to pick up their eighth title in seven years, still managed to muster one more final surge as they rattled off three more tries before the end. But their second-half resolve was surely the biggest plus to draw from an otherwise harrowing day out.
In order to sidestep the Six Nations wooden spoon for the first time since 2004, Ireland will most likely need a bonus point in Edinburgh to start with. They will also need Wales to defeat Italy and hope that Le Azzurre don’t achieve a losing bonus point, as point-scoring difference would then come into play. A win is imperative get into Tier 2 of the Women’s WXV tournament.
“The squad has worked really well throughout the Six Nations,” McWilliams told the media this week when asked about the significance of chasing a bonus-point win this weekend.
“It’s been challenging at times but I think this week has been our best training week and that’s a credit to the players. They’re excited about going. You want to be brave and enjoy this game for what it is, and we hope that comes out in the players’ performance.
“We’re putting together some really good passages of play in training. I believe we can show that in how we perform and it’s going to be a cracker of a game. There’s no reason in the world why we can’t go out and win. This is a cup final. Anything can happen and it’s up to us to go out and put the best foot forward to come away with a win.”
Naturally, the absence of some key players to the Sevens programme continues to hang over the Ireland team. They have been unavailable to the 15s team throughout the Six Nations and will not feature in the Scotland game either.
When asked about the Sevens dilema, McWilliams said:
“We trained with the Sevens last week and had a brilliant session. There’s engagement there but the Sevens have their own battles at the moment.
“They are going to be in Toulouse in two weeks’ time.
“They want to go to an Olympics. They want to be Olympians and our job is to allow them to do that.
“After the Six Nations and after the Toulouse event I’m sure we’ll sit down and have a chat about how we can be more aligned but, trust me, we want what’s best for Irish rugby.
“We want the Irish 15s side to be as strong as they are and that doesn’t change. We need to continuously get better.”
The Ireland head coach also reiterated the importance of ownership when it comes to his side’s final standing in the tournament. That’s a phrase that McWilliams has returned to at various stages of the Six Nations, and the final judgement is on the way this evening.
Scotland v Ireland kick-off 7.30pm, live on Virgin Media Two and BBC iPlayer
Ireland
- 15. Lauren Delany
- 14. Aoife Doyle
- 13. Aoife Dalton
- 12. Vicky Irwin
- 11. Natasja Behan
- 10. Dannah O’Brien
- 9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe
- 1. Linda Djougang
- 2. Neve Jones
- 3. Christy Haney
- 4. Nichola Fryday (capt)
- 5. Sam Monaghan
- 6. Brittany Hogan
- 7. Grace Moore
- 8. Deirbhile Nic a Bháird
Scotland
- 15. Chloe Rollie
- 14. Coreen Grant
- 13. Emma Orr
- 12. Meryl Smith
- 11. Francesca McGhie
- 10. Helen Nelson
- 9. Mairi McDonald
- 1. Leah Bartlett
- 2. Lana Skeldon
- 3. Christine Belisle
- 4. Jade Konkel-Roberts,
- 5. Louise McMillan
- 6. Rachel Malcolm
- 7. Rachel McLachlan
- 8. Evie Gallagher
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