Bemand: We Want To Back Up What We’ve Done So Far

Head coach Scott Bemand says ‘the bodies are fresh and the minds are eager’ as the Ireland Women (sponsored by Aon) target a winning finish to their inaugural WXV1 campaign.

Back at BC Place, the scene of their stirring win over New Zealand at the start of the tournament, Ireland face the USA in the final round later today (kick-off 12.30pm local time/8.30pm Irish time – live on RugbyPass TV/BBC iPlayer).

With the USA eager to bounce back from defeats to England (61-21) and France (22-14), a close game is anticipated. Ireland’s 20-10 victory over the Eagles at the RDS in November 2021 has been the biggest winning margin in the last three meetings.

“Focusing on this week, the USA have been in the game against England and France at 30 minutes,” said Bemand, who brings Aoife Dalton, Nicole Fowley, and Neve Jones back into the starting XV.

“England hit them with two quick scores, which at half-time is a two-score lead, but we’re coming up against teams with athletic capability now. We’re going to have to work hard to break teams down.

“In the same way that we’re earning respect from tier 1 nations, they know they will have to produce performances to wear us down.

“We’ve not sat back and gone, ‘we’re alright with this’. We’re sitting back and going, ‘what’s the next step, what’s the next layer?’

“We’ve got to bring a little bit of the shape of the game we try to play. We said we want to be hard to beat, now we want to get more and more shots out there.

“Where and how we do that may vary between who we play against, but we’re certainly in a position where I feel we have the tools to do that now.”

A second win in Vancouver would certainly cement Ireland’s progress, given a top three finish in WXV1 is there for the taking. It would offer another timely boost as the draw for next year’s Rugby World Cup takes place in London next Thursday.

Canada restricted Ireland to a single try and just eight points the last day, so Bemand’s charges are hoping to get their attack firing on all cylinders again, regaining the form which saw them score six tries against Australia in Belfast, and five in their clash with the Black Ferns.

Canada’s robust defence, coupled with some frustrating Irish errors, meant that Eimear Considine’s try – via a pinpoint cross-field kick from Dannah O’Brien – was the only one the girls in green managed from seven visits to the opposition 22.

Coached by Sione Fukofuka and captained by flanker Kate Zackary, the USA have some quality operators in their selection, including prop Hope Rogers, who wins her 50th cap, and Sevens stars Alev Kelter and Cheta Emba in the back-line.

They played Ireland’s three most recent opponents at this year’s World Rugby Pacific Four Series, losing to both Canada (50-7) and New Zealand (57-5) before emerging as 32-25 winners over the Wallaroos in Melbourne.

Bemand commented: “We’ve been pretty consistent in talking about winning performances. It’ll be the performance that produces the result. We’ve been able to bring our training ID over here, we’ve been able to compete really hard within training.

“There are some girls that are ecstatic to get a look in, and there are some girls who have missed out just. There is a big opportunity in this game. We want to put our best performance out there.

We want to be coming home having picked up wins. If we get to the end of this competition and we leave this autumn block, if you include the Australia game in that, if we go home winning three and losing one, we’d have been moving momentum in the right direction.

“Enya (Breen) mentioned about us wanting to leave these shores feeling respected. I think we’re earning that. Even the game against Canada, the Canadians were complimenting our players afterwards, saying how physical it was.

“We’ve got to keep backing that up. It’s not about winning and going to sleep. We want to back up what we’ve done thus far in this series.

“We’re in a good position to do it. We’ve got the bodies fresh, the minds are eager, and we’ve just got to produce that performance on Friday.”

Fowley dons the number 10 jersey for her first start since last March’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener against France. The Connacht co-captain boasts a classy right boot, and Bemand also has the fast-developing Caitriona Finn providing increasing levels of competition at out-half.

“We’ve got some good tens in the group. Two tens with a little bit more experience in Nicole and Dannah, and we’ve got young Caitriona Finn who’s coming along nicely as well, developing inside the group.

“We just felt there’s some potential opportunities around how we play and where we play our rugby this week. Nicole gets a chance to put her forward with Dannah coming off the bench.

“Dannah’s had some big game-changing moments. She’ll take a step back away from pressure, see the picture, come on and have a big impact in the game.

“This isn’t just about Nicole and Dannah. Caitriona Finn’s rate of development is super fast. There are three in the mix at the moment.

“Caitriona is disappointed not to get a run-out in this competition, but she’ll keep the other two on their toes, keep pushing them forward.

“By the time we get to the Six Nations (next year), if we’ve got three out halves out there competing, we’re going to be in a good position with the squad.”

The Ireland coaches are also eager to see more of Erin King in a starting shirt. Following her first Test start against Canada, she retains her place in a dynamic back row, alongside the equally in-form Aoife Wafer and Brittany Hogan.

Thanks to her brace against New Zealand, King is Ireland’s joint-top try scorer in Vancouver, and has also contributed 22 successful tackles, two breakdown steals, 34 attacking ruck arrivals, a tournament-leading 18 defensive ruck arrivals, and five lineout takes and one steal.

Praising the impact of the 20-year-old who had little 15s experience heading into WXV1, Bemand described King as a ‘firecracker’, saying: “Erin brings loads of energy to everything she does, whether that’s on the pitch, off the pitch. She’s superb.

“She’s still pretty raw around how much 15s she’d played coming into this, but she’s growing every session that we do.

“Every single session that we do, there’s another layer of detail that she’s able to add to her game without it taking from her instinctive best.

“We’ve said we’re going to be a ‘Team of Us’, we’re going to be an Irish Women’s group, Sevens and 15s. We’re going to be able to pick the best players out there, and she’s added an immense amount.”