Ireland fullback Stacey Flood is greeted by young fans as she takes to the pitch for training at Kingspan on Friday (Photo by Ben Brady/Inpho)
BY RICHARD BULLICK
IRELAND face France at Kingspan Stadium in Saturday’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener (1pm, BBC) aiming to claim another massive scalp five months to the day before the start of the World Cup.
External expectations of Scott Bemand’s side have risen significantly on the back of a transformative 2024, which saw Ireland claim third place in the Six Nations table by beating Scotland at this weekend’s venue, clinching World Cup qualification in the process.
On their most recent Ravenhill visit, the girls in green hammered Australia, ranked fifth in the world, 36-10 in last September’s one-off Test which officially launched the IRFU’s 150th anniversary celebrations ahead of Ireland’s inaugural WXV1 campaign in Vancouver.
Unfancied Ireland produced a stunning upset of world champions New Zealand before bouncing back from a defeat against hosts Canada by beating USA – both nations are much stronger in women’s rugby – to claim a superb runners-up place in the top tier tournament.
So hopes are high coming into this Six Nations, with ambitious Ireland targeting an upset of France followed by away wins against Italy in Parma on Sunday week and then the Welsh and Scottish six days apart towards the end of next month.
But there is also significant jeopardy given that both Wales – walloped 36-5 in Cork last April – and Scotland will be smarting for revenge victories, while Italy left Dublin with a bonus-point win on Easter Sunday and will have home advantage against Ireland this time.
Anything less than emulating last spring’s third-place finish would probably be seen as a disappointment, yet Ireland may need a hat-trick of away wins to achieve what was secured courtesy of just two home victories in the 2024 Six Nations.
So coming third again, this time with three wins and all of them secured without home comforts, would actually represent progress, particularly if accompanied by giving the French an almighty rattle and getting appreciably closer to currently untouchable England.
Of course, Ireland have set their sights high and, after the heroics of Vancouver, they appear better equipped to conquer the French than on any occasion since Les Bleus were defeated in Donnybrook in the Six Nations ahead of the 2017 World Cup.
Late tries by 20-year-old namesakes Aoife Wafer and Aoife Dalton helped Ireland achieve a respectable scoreline of 38-17 in a spirited defeat at the hands of the French in Le Mans last season so this will be a fascinating test of the team’s impressive progress since then.
There is one school of thought that having this French fixture first up may not be ideal for Ireland, most of whose players haven’t had much high-intensity rugby recently, with Wolfhounds and Clovers dominating a relatively uncompetitive Celtic Challenge.
However, we readily recall how Ireland hit the ground running in such stunning style against Australia in Belfast last autumn despite a significantly shorter preparation period and with a much-changed coaching ticket since the Six Nations.
Forwards coach Alex Codling, defence specialist Hugh Hogan and kicking coach Gareth Steenson were all brand new to the set-up at that stage as the squad assembled for the first time just the Monday week before facing the Wallaroos.
Bemand also had the challenge then of blending distinct groups of players, those who had just come off four weekends of interpros with a large sevens contingent who had been on their brief off-season since the Paris Olympics concluded at the start of August.
Players like Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe, Stacey Flood and Emily Lane had been out of XVs for a prolonged period while the explosive Erin King had barely played anything other than the abbreviated form of the sport as an adult.
Fast forward to this window and Murphy-Crowe, now under her married name of Costigan, will lead Ireland out as matchday captain against France and King makes her Six Nations debut with World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year award in her locker.
Lane has been preferred at the base of the scrum to experienced campaigner Molly Scuffil-McCabe and a fit-again Aoibheann Reilly while the importance of Flood as first choice fullback is underlined by the sense of relief that she has got back from injury in time.
The Dubliner needed surgery after injuring her ankle for Wolfhounds at the start of February but is good to go despite sporting a black eye at Friday’s captain’s run and Bemand hinted she will have a key role in Ireland’s expanding gameplan.
Yet until Flood came off the bench at fullback against Australia just over six months ago, with the since-retired Eimear Considine switching to her old position of wing, we saw her primarily as an outhalf or inside centre with a decent kicking game.
There are actually FIVE recognised centres among the nine backs in an Ireland matchday squad with a 6:2 split on the bench for the first time under Bemand, including Flood at fullback, the rangy Anna McGann on the wing and Enya Breen in the No 23 jersey.
The actual centre combo of Eve Higgins and Dalton have swapped around compared to the five previous occasions on which they have started together in midfield for Ireland, though the new permutation had half a dozen outings for Wolfhounds over recent months.
The ability of Breen and indeed Flood to slot in at outhalf means specialist cover in the form of Connacht captain Nicole Fowley – who started against France in the corresponding game last March and the final match at WXV1 – is deemed surplus to requirements here.
In a backline featuring five sevens players, the two exceptions are a pair of 21-year-olds who are togging out for their 20th Test match in a row since debuting in Japan as teenagers in the summer of 2022 in Dannah O’Brien and Dalton.
Outhalf O’Brien, who will be making her 17th start in the green jersey, is increasingly finding her voice according to Bemand, who has also spoken previously of the valuable leadership provided by Dalton, for whom this will be a 16th time to be on the field from the off.
The Old Belvedere duo have fairly strategic roles at No 10 and outside centre respectively but are quite experienced campaigners now despite their tender age and are part of a maturing Ireland team with real leadership depth.
When Ireland were emphatically whitewashed in the 2023 Six Nations, it was an exceptionally callow ground with an almost frighteningly low average number of caps, compounded by captain Nichola Fryday’s premature retirement afterwards.
It is a stark contrast now, whereby one of the squad’s joint-captains Sam Monaghan is still sidelined by long-term injury and the other, Edel McMahon, starts on the bench against France along with last autumn’s stand-in skipper Enya Breen, but that isn’t cause for alarm.
Greatly respected Ireland sevens skipper Costigan (Murphy-Crowe) will step up as matchday captain until McMahon comes on while Neve Jones has been designated vice-captain to give her authority to liaise with the referee from closer range than the wing.
Both Higgins and Ulster powerhouse Brittany Hogan have served as Ireland vice-captain, throughout last season’s Six Nations and the final two fixtures at WXV1 respectively, the latter as deputy to Breen who was skipper in the injured McMahon’s absence.
Former Munster and Clovers captain Dorothy Wall, whose contract extension with Exeter Chiefs was announced on the eve of the Six Nations, has plenty of formal leadership experience while Dalton is vice-captain for both Leinster and Wolfhounds.
Hugely experienced campaigner Cliodhna Moloney and former Leinster co-captain Christy Haney will bring ballast off the bench along with McMahon and Breen for the crucial closing stages when Bemand hopes the outcome will still be in the melting pot.
That average number of caps has risen reassuringly over the past couple of years, with former French-based prop Linda Djougang – like Hogan an ever-present starter under Bemand – leading the way as she makes her 42nd Test appearance in green.
The adaptable Djougang has switched seamlessly back from loosehead to tighthead thanks to the incredibly dynamic Niamh O’Dowd usurping Haney as Ireland’s other starting prop, while Bemand has rejigged his back row.
Hogan had worn the No 8 jersey in all of Bemand’s dozen matches at the helm up until now, but Wafer typically packs down in the middle of the back row on Ireland’s put-in while phenomenal athlete King could play any of the three positions.
That trio are an exceptionally exciting combination with the relentless workhorse Hogan as Bemand’s ‘glue’ alongside that pair of 21-year-old rock stars in World XV inclusion Wafer – who won three Player of the Match awards for Ireland in 2024 – and rookie King.
The Celtic Challenge has its flaws but, while King was remarkable for Ireland last autumn, her nine starts since for Wolfhounds have been valuable in allowing her to embed a feel for the nuts and bolts of the XVs game.
Even with dynamic Munsterwoman Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird not making the matchday squad, perhaps surprisingly, after returning to full fitness following a cruciate rupture, Ireland are well stocked with loose forwards for this Belfast battle.
In addition to the starting trio of Hogan, King and Wafer, McMahon is joined on the bench by the imposing Grace Moore – an unsung stalwart of this squad – while Wall has been a flanker for most of her career and has played there some in the PWR this season.
O’Dowd made her Leinster debut two seasons ago as a wing forward, Jones has lined out at openside for Gloucester Hartpury in the PWR and the sturdy Dalton went into the back row as an emergency flanker in the closing stages against Wales last season.
Both hooker Jones and equally compact centre Dalton are additional threats for Ireland at the breakdown while the latter and O’Dowd are key to the hosts getting in France’s faces quickly in different facets of play.
Ireland’s kicking game, first utilised at WXV3 in Dubai despite the comparatively poor opposition, and heavily relied upon against France last season, has become an effective part of their armoury, gaining them most metres of any team in the 2024 Six Nations.
Fiona Hayes, head coach of AIL champions UL Bohs and a Virgin Media pundit, has highlighted too how Ireland topped the ‘dominant tackle’ chart in last season’s Six Nations with their 95 being a staggering 25 more than anyone else.
Ireland have a good recent record at Ravenhill, with victories in their last three outings there – against Scotland on their last two visits in the Six Nations followed by that exhilarating thrashing of Australia in the team’s most recent home match.
The more compact Musgrave Park, which will host the England game next month, might lend itself to a better atmosphere but Kingspan Stadium did attract a record attendance for the Scotland clash last April and a vocal crowd can help pull Ireland through.
The nice weather of the past couple of weeks has broken, with rain forecast to coincide with this lunchtime match, so conditions may differ from what Ireland have been training in but that will also be a factor for the French, who are more used to it being dry.
France are known for their flair and improvisation but Ireland came up with wonderfully innovative variations off their set-pieces at WXV1 and it will be exciting to see what the coaches have cooked up for this opening game and Six Nations as a whole.
The home eight, and the six replacements, will have to front up to a strong French pack in the absence of Monaghan and a backline lacking the injured Beibhinn Parsons. but possessing a lethal finisher in Costigan, show its cutting edge in attack.
The French will have a point to prove after being eclipsed by Ireland in Vancouver – where the squads trained together twice – in terms of results against other teams, with Les Bleus being beaten by New Zealand and also losing more heavily to Canada than Bemand’s team.
Ireland could face France in the knockout stages of the World Cup come September and Bemand made the point on Thursday that his side want to come out of the Belfast face-off knowing Les Bleus are beatable, whether or not they have got over the line this time.
It was a typically impressive performance by Bemand on his press conference call – chipper, positive and ambitious but also acknowledging France’s quality, the fact Ireland are no longer a surprise package and the tougher fixture schedule compared to last Six Nations.
An experienced, confident operator, Bemand has done an outstanding job over the past 18 months, harnessing greater buy-in from the IRFU and developing a cohesive set-up with excellent coaching and fantastic culture led by his well-chosen co-captains.
There is a nice blend between experienced campaigners and youthful fearlessness, with the likes of King bringing great energy to a playing group with ambition, belief and a hard-nosed determination to keep progressing, backed by Performance Director David Humphreys.
These are exciting times for revitalised Ireland, who have made massive strides since that traumatic whitewash under Bemand’s predecessor Greg McWilliams two years ago and we can have confidence their ‘green wave’ will keep rising, whatever the outcome this weekend.
But, inspired by Kate O’Connor’s wonderful silver medal success at the World Indoor Athletics, Ireland will take to the field in Belfast hours after the sad news of boxing great George Foreman’s passing with, at the very least, a puncher’s chance against France.
IRELAND: Stacey Flood; Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan (capt); Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane; Niamh O’Dowd, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang; Ruth Campbell, Dorothy Wall; Brittany Hogan, Erin King, Aoife Wafer. Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney, Siobhán McCarthy, Christy Haney, Grace Moore, Fiona Tuite, Edel McMahon, Aoibheann Reilly, Enya Breen.
FRANCE: Morgane Bourgeois; Melissande Llorens, Nassira Konde, Gabrielle Vernier, Marine Menager (co-capt); Carla Arbez, Pauline Bourdon Sansus; Yllana Brosseau, Agathe Sochat, Rose Bernadou; Manae Feleu (co-capt), Madoussou Fall-Raclot; Charlotte Escudero, Stephanie Okemba, Teani Feleu. Replacements: Manon Bigot, Ambre Mwayembe, Clara Joyeux, Axelle Berthoumieu, Lea Champon, Alexandra Chambon, Lina Queyroi, Emilie Boulard.
