For me last weekend's game was make or break for progress for the women's national team. We had to beat Wales to show that those little bright sparks we had seen against both France and Italy weren't just one offs. We needed to finish this year's championship with at least one win, even if it is just purely for a confidence boost.
Thankfully my wishes and the wishes of every women's rugby fan in Ireland came through at 6:45pm last Saturday as referee Sara Cox blew the full time whistle, solidifying our first home win in two years.
And what a performance from the girls. They took charge of that game from the very get go. It was fantastic to see and even I suppose a little bit unexpected with a scoreline that high.
They put everyone back in their box; the doubters, I suppose myself included, knew they would be better than they were against Italy but a lot of people didn't expect how good they were going to be against Wales.
They didn’t allow Wales to play. They smothered them when they had the ball and they moved them from left to right along the pitch and Dannah O'Brien took absolute control with her kicking game to pin Wales back and to force them into mistakes.
It was just a complete performance from start to finish.
Looking at who were some of the stand out performances of the day.
Look at Edel McMahon. What a way to come back!!!
What a way to rectify the wrongs of Round 1 and to prove that she is a starter there. It just shows her leadership in the way she responded to that and then it was great to have two leaders on the field with herself and Sam Monaghan.
The work that Dorothy Wall got through was phenomenal and great to see their soft skills developing. You know it’s not just the backs that are passing that ball out. The forwards are more than capable to show off their skills and with them doing that they are creating chances for the wingers and the backs out wide.
🤩 She's done the double 😎
This week's winner of the Try of the Round is @IrishRugby's Aoife Wafer 💪#GuinnessW6N pic.twitter.com/VsE0XokoOS— Guinness Women's Six Nations (@Womens6Nations) April 17, 2024
The back line was much better. They finished and they capitalised on the opportunities that they had. It was great to see both Katie Corrigan and Beibhinn Parsons get their names on the scoreboard. Especially Katie Corrigan's try: it came from a massive work rate from the team, the behind angle of that try you can see the rest of the Irish line chasing up so if it wasn’t Katie going to block that ball down. It was going to be someone else because they attacked that ball with such intent and that was late in the game, you know, so to have that intent in defence was super.
It was obviously great to see the impact that the bench had in the closing stages of the game. Cliodhna Moloney got a good go at it. She made 6 tackles in the first 20 minutes she was on the field which is a massive boost when coming on at a late stage.
It was good to see Nicole Fowley come on and control things at 10 and Aoife Dalton come on as well who always steadies the ship.
The one thing that I would be worried about is when Sam Monaghan went off, the lineout didn’t work as effectively as it did when she was on the field. And that is a massive part of Ireland's game in that Sam is one of our main lineout leaders.
And obviously this weekend going into England we can see that Hannah O’ Connor has moved into that spot. Hannah has plenty of experience and will absolutely add to that lineout and will take charge in it. But indeed we will miss the presence of our co-captain as well against a team like England who have so many physical and dominant players especially, in that forward pack.
Measuring success in Twickenham
England are at home in Twickenham in front of what is stacking up to being a record crowd. They have so many threats around the park that analysis beforehand will be difficult. It is not one area like we saw with Wales, in that they are such a maul orientated team.
They’ve tried a lot of combinations around the centres and the back row and they’ve had a lot of time to try everyone out in different positions. For example they started Marlie Packer, their captain, on the bench last week. They’ve had different second rows and I imagine this week will be another one of experimentation to try and figure out who is their best 15. They'll also be keeping people fresh and minding injuries and niggles, because ultimately they will be looking at that French game as their final in their eyes.
Here’s your Red Roses squad to face Ireland at @Twickenhamstad on Saturday in the #GuinnessW6N 🌹
Join us for an unforgettable day at the home of @EnglandRugby 🏟️ Get your tickets via https://t.co/QWfd3wiUiu 🎟️@O2 | #WearTheRose— Red Roses (@RedRosesRugby) April 18, 2024
A measure of success in Twickenham will be keeping our standards high in relation to what we worked on to this point and to ensure that they have double hits, one low, one high. One to chop the feet, the other to stop the off load. They need to ensure that there is two making that tackle because they need to get that ball back while also getting out and keeping everyone out on their feet because they’ll need everyone to diminish those threats that they have out wide.
What England do so well is that they suck players in with their carries and it takes two, three or even four girls in to each ruck which then leaves the defence as skinny. So if Ireland can maintain a tackler plus one and keep people on their feet, not to allow England to have the gaps and exploit those gaps out wide that should ensure an easier game.
What is a good outcome here?
A good outcome is a performance and to ensure that Ireland when they have the ball that they create opportunities.
When Ireland have the ball that they make the right decisions. That in defence they keep their structures and their systems. They work as a team and not do any shooting out of the line or going for a ball on their own or going for a poach that could ultimately be lost.
Captain's Run ✅
The finishing touches applied at Twickenham today as we prepare for Round 4 of the #GuinnessW6N
Click through for the full gallery.— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) April 19, 2024
They need to keep their penalty count down. We know how threatening England are when get a penalty. They kick to touch, they will maul it and it will be a simple try. Even though they tend not to do that as much they are more than capable of scoring off it.
They can score off set piece, they can score off scrums, they can score out of kick chase receipts and Dannah will have to be very careful of that and make sure there is a chase there to defend any kicks that she sends into the back field because we have seen from last week and weeks before just how dangerous that England back three can be once they get an inch of space on the counter attack.
Overall, it will be an exciting occasion and I think the girls should relish in that. It is not often you get the chance to play in front of over 45,000 people. But in terms of what fans and pundits alike want out of it, all we want is them to put on a performance that they would be proud of and so that they come away from it with another boost to take them forward into their final game against Scotland Saturday week.
