ULTIMATE CHALLENGE
Ireland face daunting Twickenham test of progress
IT was at Twickenham last year that a world record attendance for a women’s game of 58,498 showed up to see England defeat the French 38-33 in a rip-roaring contest.
It was a brilliant reminder of the quality of the top teams in the Six Nations and also of how far ahead these sides are from the rest of the competition.
That record is not expected to be surpassed at Twickenham today for the visit of Ireland but at least 45,000 are due to attend in anticipation of another English victory. This generation of England players and supporters know practically nothing else – in the Six Nations, at least.
They last lost a match in the championship on March 10, 2018, when France squeaked home with a point to spare in Grenoble.
Since then, England have been unbeatable and, after thumping wins over Italy, Wales and Scotland, anything other than a home triumph this afternoon is unimaginable – despite Ireland’s improving performances.
England are out on their own, breaking clear of the French in the last half-decade, and poised to continue streaking ahead under the expert guidance of the veteran former All Blacks coach John Mitchell.
That is the stark contrast in which Ireland’s undoubted progress under Scott Bemand needs to be seen.
No Ireland team has ever won away to England in the women’s Six Nations. Of the 21 meetings between the sides in the tournament so far, England have only lost to Ireland twice.
Those Irish victories came, unsurprisingly, in the glory years in the 2010s, with wins in Ashbourne
in 2013 and 2015 helping Ireland to a Grand Slam on the first occasion, and a championship on the second.
Those days are long distant, and at times over the past two years it has felt like Ireland were not only in danger of falling further behind England, but disappearing as a meaningful force in the game at all.
The sense of decline was already challenged by the impressive performance in defeat away to France in round one of this year’s competition, and even the squandered opportunities in losing to Italy in the RDS in the second round couldn’t mask the impressive aspects of Ireland’s play, especially the continuity in attack.
But it was the display in hammering Wales in Musgrave Park a week ago that saw Ireland’s performance cohere: again, there was fluency in attacking play, but as heartening was the brilliant ruck work, and a line-out that was an attacking weapon.
That’s part of the reason why the loss of Sam Monaghan for this game is significant. She was terrific in Cork, part of a highfunctioning pack performance where the outstanding Aoife
Wafer led a ravenous back row.
Monaghan is replaced by Hannah O’Connor, with Aoife Dalton in for Enya Breen in the centre.
But this is going to be a day for Ireland’s defence, and for limiting opportunities for an English attack that scored 48 points against Italy, 46 against Wales, and 46 again last week against the Scots.
The only one of those matches in which they conceded points was against the Welsh, when they leaked 10.
The challenge for Ireland is vast, but reducing it to the basics will be Bemand’s message: discipline, compete at the breakdown as they did against Wales, and Dannah O’Brien is sure to be charged with kicking as much as possible.
Her improvement is another aspect of Ireland’s evolution, and she was insistent in recent days that facing a large, partisan crowd is something the Irish team want.
‘Rather than seeing more eyes on us as pressure, we try to use it to our advantage and it is so good to know that so many people are following us now,’ she said.
‘They give us confidence to move forward as a team. It is great to see all of the women’s teams getting more followers game on game, and this weekend will take that to another level yet again.
‘It’s going to be really exciting, I don’t think many players in our team will have ever experienced a crowd like what will be at Twickenham before so we just have to embrace it.’
That’s the spirit, and it will be required.
It’s highly unlikely to be enough, but a competent performance where fitness and technique stands up to pressure for as long as possible would constitute another step forward.