Guinness Women’s Six Nations Round 1 Review
The build-up to round 2 of the Women’s Six Nations could leave you sort of stuck between looking back and looking forward. And so it was a few days after Ireland’s 15-27 defeat to France in Belfast on Saturday and ahead of a trip to Parma for Ireland’s next game against Italy this Sunday. If I was a player, I think I would find it hard to bin ‘what could have been’ against France and solely focus on a game Ireland need to win to frank their progress. Just as well I’m not a player then!
It says everything about how far Ireland have come that there was disappointment all over players’ faces in Kingspan Stadium after last weekend’s defeat. Before the game, head coach Scott Bemand talked about closing the gap on France and England this season. Ireland did that with France. Their 12-point losing margin was the closest since they last beat France in 2017. In Cork two years ago, they lost by 50 points to France. In Le Mans last year, they lost by 21 points. Maybe patience is indeed required in a team’s development even if they’re improving at an unexpected rate.
When Ireland came from behind to bring the scoreline back to 15-17 with 13 minutes to go against France, the game looked set for a grandstand finish. There was one, but it was France who provided it. After overcoming the 20 minute red card to Gabrielle Vernier, the visitors showed the greater composure and game management in the final stretch with Emilie Boulard scoring their third try and Morgane Bourgeois – dependable with the kicking all day – scoring the conversion.
The reason Ireland will be kicking themselves was because even though they made more mistakes in this game then they did in the win over New Zealand last September, they still had a chance to win. Ireland made 31 handling errors which was also down to France pressure and maybe also the pressure of a Six Nations with live TV coverage and just under 7,000 watching at Kingspan Stadium which was a lot different to the public expectation when they went to the WXV1 competition in Vancouver.
Ireland have so many highlights to take from Saturday’s opener. How good was Aoife Wafer? Again. They talk about second season syndrome for players but Wafer played like she was freed of any pressure or expectation despite her growing reputation not least among opposition teams who will be doing their best to contain her. Wafer is already growing into one of the best female players we’ve ever seen play the game in this country – and she only turned 22 this week. I interviewed Aoife as part of her role as an Energia Ambassador for our Indo Rugby podcast on Monday. Her maturity beyond her young years is so impressive and I firmly believe she’s a future Ireland captain.
Aoife spoke about how ambitious this Ireland team is and they want to be the best. Bemand reiterated last week that Ireland want to become World Cup contenders and players like Wafer are more than on board with that. Aoife also mentioned during the interview on Monday how she had three timers on her phone, one counting down to the next Ireland game, the second counting down to Ireland’s first World Cup pool game in August and the third counting down to the start of the first ever Women’s Lions Tour in New Zealand in two years’ time. This is the standard of ambition that a player like Wafer has.
She opened her second Women’s Six Nations campaign with two tries against France and all three of Ireland’s tries stemmed from the line-out which has undergone a complete transformation. Under the expertise of forwards coach Alex Codling who joined the set-up last August, the line-out has gone from the worst in the competition two years ago to a strength that Ireland can score off.
Ireland travel to Italy knowing that nothing but a win counts. Italy will take confidence from the fact that they scored a try (they had another disallowed) and limited England to a 38-5 scoreline in York which is a bit better than the 0-48 loss they suffered in Parma last year.
The game that frustrated Ireland the most in last year’s Women’s Six Nations was the 21-27 defeat they suffered to Italy at the RDS. They targeted their home games and while they won the ones against Wales and Scotland, the game against Italy was the one that got away. Ireland had 56 per cent of possession and 69 per cent of territory but their intent was largely undone due to 28 handling errors. Ireland got a penalty try after 6 minutes but the Italians scored three tries while the home-side didn’t get their first try from open play until the 60th minute thanks to Neve Jones with Katie Corrigan adding another late on.
Ireland haven’t won an away game in the Women’s Six Nations since they beat Wales in Cardiff in 2021 and they haven’t beaten Italy in the championship since the day Wafer made her debut off the bench in their 29-8 win over the Azzurri in Cork in 2022. Getting their first win is vital on Sunday in what would be another big step for Ireland in this World Cup year.