Five-star win provides lift for Twickenham test

Put the spectre of Ireland playing England at Twickenham next Saturday on hold for a moment. Because we must take time to appreciate the way Ireland played against Wales at Musgrave Park before moving on to the next big thing, because we know how big that will be.

Who saw that performance from Ireland coming on Saturday? If you had imagined how they would win their first game in the Women’s Six Nations since April 2022, did you see it coming in the guise of a five-try, 36-5 bonus-point victory of the dominant kind?

Did you foresee the extent to which Ireland would improve? Their attack, their decision-making, their cohesion, their defending, their speed, their carries, their clearing? Did you think it would come against Wales, a team who finished third for the past two years and who played in Tier 1 of the WXV last October?

The upshot is Ireland go into the fourth round of the championship third in the table on six points. They’re back in the conversation for that automatic World Cup qualifying spot and are a hell of a long way from last year when they failed to register a single point in the table.

Ireland’s performance against Wales was the best of the ‘professional’ era – i.e. since the IRFU introduced contracts for female 15s players in November 2022. Albeit not all the players are on central contracts, including the UKbased players.

Prism

This display needs to be viewed through the prism of where they’ve come from; a picture of frustration, missed chances, unforced errors – and that was just against Italy two weeks ago.

The green shoots that were evident in their opening performance against France last month have had a growth spurt and, over the last few weeks, whatever they did has worked – and that included a training session with the Barnhall U-20 men’s team two weekends ago.

Of course, Ireland have areas they must improve and if any team has a cut-throat proclivity to put a team back in their box it’s England. Latest exhibit: England’s 46-0 win over Scotland last Saturday. And then there was Wales.

As much as Ireland did a reverse on last year when it was Wales who scored five tries in a 31-5 win in Cardiff, Wales were poor on Saturday.

Poor in the way that even a Welsh journalist asked head coach Ioan Cunningham in the post-match press conference if he thought he was still the right man to lead the team. He believes he is.

The thing about Saturday was that every player was on it. It was the best game from the dual sevens players who obviously needed time to bed in.

The co-captains? Sam Monaghan doesn’t have an off button and if there’s a moment that sums up the heart of this team, and there were plenty to choose from, it was the way Edel McMahon – dropped from the squad for the Italy game – bulldozed her way into the air to steal that Welsh lineout that eventually led to Eve Higgins’ first-half try.

It doesn’t feel apt to use the cliche that this was a coming-of-age performance because players are playing like age is irrelevant.

Take the mature display of 20-year-old out-half Dannah O’Brien and her game management. Or the opportunism of 18-year-old winger Katie Corrigan to score a try for the second consecutive Six Nations game.

And then there’s 21-year-old Aoife Wafer who deservedly got player of the match. You can look at the stats; most line breaks (2) with Aoibheann Reilly, most carrying metres (150), most carrying metres gained (105), most post-tackle metres (84). Or just look at how she broke through the attempted tackles of three Wales players to score the first try.

Not only has she the potential to become a future Ireland captain but, now that it’s relevant to the women’s game, the talent to become a future Lion. Head coach Scott Bemand thinks so.

“She’s got to be, hasn’t she? It’s still a long way out but along with Dannah, these girls are relatively inexperienced, still young,” Bemand said. “They’re mopping up everything in training in terms of information and how to play. Look, the world’s her oyster.”

It was the kind of day that felt like a new beginning. After taking photos with young fans after the game like the rest of the players, Cliodhna Moloney had a few quiet moments with her loved ones in the main stand. She got 30 minutes of game-time in her first Ireland cap since November 2021. Now she can get on with the art of playing.

“She’s earned her right this week,” Bemand said about the Galway hooker. “She’s come in, got her head down and trained hard. She’s done some bits really well today, some bits that look like she’s been out of the international environment for a while. So we’ll just keep going after improved performances from her perspective as well.”

When it was announced last month that Sophie Ellis-Bextor would be providing the half-time entertainment between England and Ireland at Twickenham the idea of her singing Murder on the Dancefloor almost grated.

But Ireland go there now with an invaluable win secured.

“I’m just really looking forward to going to Twickenham with these girls in front of a noisy crowd,” Bemand smiles. “And firing our own shots.”

And last Saturday showed they can certainly do that.