IN THE BUILD-UP to Sunday’s WXV Global Series opener against the USA, Ireland head coach Scott Bemand had identified his team’s past struggles dealing with the favourites tag as a key work-on for the group.
For much of Sunday’s game at a sunny Tallaght Stadium, his team appeared to have nailed it. Bemand’s side, ranked fifth in the world, flew out the traps against a team ranked three places below them, and who arrived in Dublin with a handful of young starters still taking their first steps in their international rugby careers.
Ireland led 17-0 inside the opening 20 minutes and took a 12-point cushion into half-time after a confident, clinical display. By the 45th minute they were 31-12 up, delivering a performance to back up all the talk of closing the gap on the world’s top four.
Then it all unravelled, Ireland outscored 28-5 in the closing half hour while their discipline slipped and the US bullied their way back into the contest through a bruising power game, winning 40-36.
Ireland's Anna McGann makes a break. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
If it wasn’t quite failing to handle the favourites tag, it certainly had the look and feel of another frustratingly familiar Ireland trait, as Bemand’s team somehow managed to lose a game they should have won – even allowing for the USA’s impressive showing on the home stretch.
“I think we played like the favourites to start with,” Bemand said.
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“We talked about getting a fast start, I thought we did that.
“I think there’s a relentless piece… If you look at our last game before this at the Aviva, we go into a lead. Second half, we finished at 5-5 when we were nearly 50 points up. There’s a piece around how we keep momentum going and don’t breathe out.
“Think about where we are in terms of the story that we’re writing. Three years ago, we weren’t talking about tries. It’s not to keep going back to that. There’s a piece that says we’re scoring tries now. We’ve put points on the board.
“What we’ve got to do is keep learning how to be that ruthless mindset so that when you get close to the line, you take more points. Understanding that when you’ve got your foot on the throat of an opponent, that you can keep them there and how you do that. Out of the game today, we’ll take more learnings than the USA, I would have thought.
Ireland head coach Scott Bemand. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“That’s our challenge. This is the first blip. I genuinely think this is the first blip that we’ve had, but it’s not going to be a problem. The group and the capability to learn and willingness to learn is in a really strong place. We want to keep getting good performances out there. We want to get results.”
In their best moments, Ireland brought real quality. Aoife Wafer and Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald stood out in the pack, while Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Stacey Flood and replacement Anna McGann all had excellent moments with ball in hand.
Yet even as Ireland built that strong lead, the warning signs were there, as the US made gains from their powerful maul and ball-carrying. In the second half that proved the difference, Ireland growing increasingly frustrated as they struggled to deal with the US physicality.
“I don’t know if it’s a concern, but we see this across the game at the moment,” Bemand said.
The USA team celebrate after the final whistle. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“You look at how South Africa men’s play the game, so there are certain ways you need to defend line-out mauls and against big humans, we’re going to have to be smart and clever and efficient and maybe even innovative with it.
“It’s a good lesson today. It’s not solely down to the maul. Remember, they got in there because they’ve got big humans, powerful humans, coming around the corner and were able to get momentum.
“It gives us a clear direction of travel. We’ve got the next two weeks where we go against Japan and then we’re going to go and face some big humans again in South Africa. It’ll be an ideal opportunity in terms of where we are in terms of this World Cup cycle to add those layers to the game.
“Some parts of it, I’m genuinely delighted with. You look at how the ball kept moving. You would say today Ireland haven’t solely relied on a kicking game. We’ve played our way into some opportunities, so that will give us more layers to our game, more attacking prowess.”
Ireland’s Test window continues in Galway against Japan on Sunday, before a further meeting with the Japanese outside the WXV window (in Cork), followed by a two-Test tour to South Africa.
If Ireland don’t have the bulk to handle the difficult moments against ‘big humans’ in those games, they’ll need to find a way to limit the damage.
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Ireland's attack flows before US physicality makes the difference in WXV opener
IN THE BUILD-UP to Sunday’s WXV Global Series opener against the USA, Ireland head coach Scott Bemand had identified his team’s past struggles dealing with the favourites tag as a key work-on for the group.
For much of Sunday’s game at a sunny Tallaght Stadium, his team appeared to have nailed it. Bemand’s side, ranked fifth in the world, flew out the traps against a team ranked three places below them, and who arrived in Dublin with a handful of young starters still taking their first steps in their international rugby careers.
Ireland led 17-0 inside the opening 20 minutes and took a 12-point cushion into half-time after a confident, clinical display. By the 45th minute they were 31-12 up, delivering a performance to back up all the talk of closing the gap on the world’s top four.
Then it all unravelled, Ireland outscored 28-5 in the closing half hour while their discipline slipped and the US bullied their way back into the contest through a bruising power game, winning 40-36.
If it wasn’t quite failing to handle the favourites tag, it certainly had the look and feel of another frustratingly familiar Ireland trait, as Bemand’s team somehow managed to lose a game they should have won – even allowing for the USA’s impressive showing on the home stretch.
“I think we played like the favourites to start with,” Bemand said.
“We talked about getting a fast start, I thought we did that.
“I think there’s a relentless piece… If you look at our last game before this at the Aviva, we go into a lead. Second half, we finished at 5-5 when we were nearly 50 points up. There’s a piece around how we keep momentum going and don’t breathe out.
“Think about where we are in terms of the story that we’re writing. Three years ago, we weren’t talking about tries. It’s not to keep going back to that. There’s a piece that says we’re scoring tries now. We’ve put points on the board.
“What we’ve got to do is keep learning how to be that ruthless mindset so that when you get close to the line, you take more points. Understanding that when you’ve got your foot on the throat of an opponent, that you can keep them there and how you do that. Out of the game today, we’ll take more learnings than the USA, I would have thought.
“That’s our challenge. This is the first blip. I genuinely think this is the first blip that we’ve had, but it’s not going to be a problem. The group and the capability to learn and willingness to learn is in a really strong place. We want to keep getting good performances out there. We want to get results.”
In their best moments, Ireland brought real quality. Aoife Wafer and Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald stood out in the pack, while Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Stacey Flood and replacement Anna McGann all had excellent moments with ball in hand.
Yet even as Ireland built that strong lead, the warning signs were there, as the US made gains from their powerful maul and ball-carrying. In the second half that proved the difference, Ireland growing increasingly frustrated as they struggled to deal with the US physicality.
“I don’t know if it’s a concern, but we see this across the game at the moment,” Bemand said.
“You look at how South Africa men’s play the game, so there are certain ways you need to defend line-out mauls and against big humans, we’re going to have to be smart and clever and efficient and maybe even innovative with it.
“It’s a good lesson today. It’s not solely down to the maul. Remember, they got in there because they’ve got big humans, powerful humans, coming around the corner and were able to get momentum.
“It gives us a clear direction of travel. We’ve got the next two weeks where we go against Japan and then we’re going to go and face some big humans again in South Africa. It’ll be an ideal opportunity in terms of where we are in terms of this World Cup cycle to add those layers to the game.
“Some parts of it, I’m genuinely delighted with. You look at how the ball kept moving. You would say today Ireland haven’t solely relied on a kicking game. We’ve played our way into some opportunities, so that will give us more layers to our game, more attacking prowess.”
Ireland’s Test window continues in Galway against Japan on Sunday, before a further meeting with the Japanese outside the WXV window (in Cork), followed by a two-Test tour to South Africa.
If Ireland don’t have the bulk to handle the difficult moments against ‘big humans’ in those games, they’ll need to find a way to limit the damage.
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ireland womens rugby losing start Rugby Scott Bemand