Irish rugby star Dorothy Wall is determined for a better Guinness Six Nations campaign for her team in the coming weeks after their devastating losses last year.
The Irish women's rugby team will begin their 2024 Six Nations campaign on Saturday against France. The championship comes after the team's resounding success at the WXV3 in 2023, after claiming their title in an intense fixture against Spain. However, remnants of last year's Six Nations championship which saw the Ireland team finish at the foot of the table remain in this year's pressure for Bemand's side.
Announced today as an Aer Lingus ambassador, Wall spoke on the importance of embracing the added pressure in the game as the championship is anticipated to be a daunting one for the Irish team after their defeat last year :
I suppose there’s pressure in playing international rugby whatever way you look at it, if you’ve won a Six Nations or lost a Six Nations, there’s pressure either way- to stay on top or to improve and get closer to the top. I think pressure is an integral thing to this position and we have to embrace it to go forward. We definitely want to compete and I suppose pressure is part of that.
After last year's loss, Wall expressed the importance of the team's focus on positivity going forward. She admitted that the loss took a toll on her own mentality along with her teammates:
You definitely need a grieving period after something like that, and to be able to centre yourself with friends and family, do things like a normal person would and allow yourself to be. With college, I had to check into that straight after the tournament. It was really hard and picking yourself back up and what you know about the team, it’s definitely a process. I suppose when you’re at those lows of lows the only way is up, really. We saw that in WXV and I have trust in the work we’re doing on the pitch in terms of the mental game, and I’m hoping it will be an upwards trajectory going forward.
We needed to remember what it feels like to win, and with Spain we kind of had to grump that out because they were definitely the hardest of the three teams to play. It was really good, it was a month away, the whole squad together. We learned a lot, we trained really hard. It was something like 42 degrees over there, people passing out, ice baths everywhere, you’re just trying to survive the conditions and it was really tough.
It was so rewarding. It was a really great trip for us. Look, we’re under no illusion that the Six Nations is a very different thing from WXV but it was still really important for us as a squad to get those wins.
A top three finish in the Six Nations this year would see the team qualify for the Rugby World Cup, a concept that Wall confirmed to be the team's focus going in to this championship. The campaign will take place with coach Scott Bemand training the team, after his appointment in July 2023. Wall praised Bemand's innovative coaching methods and his passion for the sport:
Scott’s definitely made me realise that there are a lot more dimensions to rugby that I was even aware of. He’s constantly expanding our rugby IQ and asking questions, analysing certain parts of the game that maybe we weren’t aware were so important in terms of beating other teams. It’s definitely a more rounded, overall knowledge that he’s bringing to the game and it’s been really important. It’s definitely eye opening for a lot of us.
We’re just continuously trying to take on board that information and bring it out in training, then executing it in matches.
Aer Lingus will proudly support the Irish Women’s rugby team as they prepare for, and compete in, this year’s Guinness Women's Six Nations, bringing #HomeAdvantage to all the games throughout the championship. The team will fly with Aer Lingus to France the 20th March for their opening Guinness Women’s Six Nations game in Le Mans at 2:15pm. The game will take place in Stade Marie-Marvingt.
