McMahon ‘relishing challenge’ of facing England
Some Thursday trivia to start. Who was the last Ireland player to score a try against England in the Women’s Six Nations? Answer: Claire Molloy in 2018. She scored a try off a lineout maul in the 71st minute of their 33-11 defeat to England in Coventry.
A year later, Ireland were awarded a penalty try in their 51-7 loss to a newly professional England in Donnybrook, but Dr Molloy is the last to get her name on the scoreboard as an Irish try-scorer against England in the championship. That’s all of six years ago and is one illustration of the gap between the two countries.
Ireland don’t necessarily corner the market in how their relationship with England illustrates the Red Roses superiority more than any other nation, but it’s not far off it.
While England bounded ahead through their professionalism and commitment to women’s rugby, Ireland went backwards. The upshot was three shut-outs in their last three encounters. A recap of recent results – 2023: Ireland 0 England 48; 2022: England 69 Ireland 0; 2020: England 22 Ireland 0 (due to Covid, Ireland didn’t play England in 2021).
England will bring a super-sized element Ireland won’t have experienced so far in this championship when they meet at Twickenham on Saturday.
There will be an attendance of over 45,500, a huge leap from the 15,559 in the Stade Marie-Marvingt for Ireland’s opening game against France or the Irish record of 6,605 at the RDS in round two. And on the pitch? England have scored 140 points in their last three games and only conceded 10 (including keeping Italy and Scotland scoreless).
TheIrelandplayerswon’tpubliclycountenance the idea of damage limitation, but it will be there for those watching on.
When Sophie Ellis-Bextor finishes her half-time sing-a-long at Twickenham, this is when Ireland will need to be at their most alert because the 10 minutes after half-time is when England have done the most damage to opposition.
From the 40th to the 50th minute, England have scored their most points (27) in this Six Nations and their most tries (five). Ireland’s 69-0 hammering at Welford Road two years ago wasn’t far off the record Ireland defeat to England of 79-0 from 20 years previously. But it’s worth highlighting that Ireland held England to 10-0 at half-time.
Scott Bemand’s side will take a feelgood factor into this game after their 36-5 win over Wales.
“There’s definitely been a bit more confidence heading to England, but I think the mood in general has been good week-on-week,” says co-captain Edel McMahon, one of four players in last week’s starting team who plays in the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR).
“I think heading onto England, people are excited to have a crack at them.”
Ireland will need to be at their defensive best against England and McMahon says there’s a similar strand to how they’re preparing for England like they did for France last month.
“I think we’re looking back at how we prepped for the France week and that volume of crowd. We’ve already started raising the volume at training, particularly for those lineouts and set-piece where communication will be key.
“We’ve already started having conversations about key strengths or weaknesses that we can spot in individuals in that team and going after them. In fairness, a lot of the girls are very aware from watching Premiership games. There’s again an element of familiarity, similar to the Welsh game, that we can go after.
“People are actually relishing this challenge.” And what a challenge it’s set to be.