THEY’VE COME A long, long way together, and after all the praise that rained down on the Ireland team following their seismic defeat of New Zealand last weekend, Scott Bemand’s side look to do it all again against Canada tonight [KO 11.45pm Irish time, live on RugbyPass TV].
The Ireland women were firm underdogs as they stepped up to WXV1 this year, but in beating New Zealand the group have rapidly raised expectations – at least from the outside – around what they can achieve.
This group want to be mixing it with the best but doing that brings with it it’s own pressures. The New Zealand win was supremely impressive but now they are tasked with backing up that performance against another real heavyweight.
Canada, the 2024 World Rugby Pacific Four Series champions, currently sit above New Zealand in the world rankings, leapfrogging the Blacks Ferns into second spot following their own commanding start to this competition.
The Canadians kick-started their campaign with a commanding 46-24 defeat of France – with nine of the French starting team in the XV that lined out when they put 38 points on Ireland in the Women’s Six Nations earlier this year.
That victory stretched Canada’s current winning run to five games, having already beaten New Zealand, Australia and the USA this year.
Winger Fancy Bermudez stood out with two tries against France while Canada’s all-time most capped player, lock Tyson Beukeboom, hits the 70 cap mark in the second row this weekend.
It’s just the fourth meeting between the teams – Ireland losing heavily at the 2002 World Cup (57-0) before winning a 2006 game (15-8) in Galway and suffering a 48-7 hiding when Canada came to Dublin in 2016. Nicole Fowley is the only member of the current squad who was involved that day.
This feels like a totally new era for women’s rugby in Ireland but those rising expectations may need to be tempered. It’s only a few months since a sloppy Ireland performance saw Italy record a bonus-point win at the RDS, before they shipped a harrowing 88 points away to England.
Yet the past few weeks have been highly encouraging. Ireland played some excellent rugby in putting six tries on Australia in Belfast last month before building on that performance against New Zealand.
After some mixed displays earlier this year, Ireland are settling into familiar patterns of play under Bemand and look a more well-drilled side. To compliment that, they have some outstanding individual talents who are rising to the big occasions.
Aoife Wafer is emerging as a real leader and will be a marked woman after her headline-grabbing display against New Zealand, while Erin King made a big impact in scoring two tries off the bench. King, who made the switch to 15s after representing the Ireland Sevens at the Paris Olympics, is rewarded with promotion to the first team to make her first Test start.
The flanker is one of four changes, with Eve Higgins named at centre, Emily Lane coming in at scrum-half and hooker Clíodhna Moloney starting for the first time since returning to the international fold earlier this year.
The absence of Edel McMahon through injury sees Enya Breen step up to captain the team for the first time. It will be a momentous day for the Munster centre, who has clocked up 23 caps since debuting in 2019.
Ireland’s confidence will be sky-high, although one imagines the result will come secondary to the performance for Bemand here.
Last weekend was evidence Ireland can mix it with the game’s best, so now it’s about doing that consistently. Against New Zealand, Ireland’s breakdown work was excellent, winning nine turnovers, while they were clinical in the opposition 22, scoring five tries from eight entries in the New Zealand 22.
And tellingly, Ireland finished strongly, enjoying 63% of the possession and 95% territory in the closing 10 minutes. It’s not that long since Ireland’s conditioning was a level off the strongest teams, but the introduction of full-time professional contracts is now standing to the players. Days like last Sunday show exactly what such investment can lead to.
If Ireland’s defence can live with a powerful Canada side, and they take their chances when they come, this young team can deliver another performance to be proud of.
IRELAND: Stacey Flood; Eimear Considine, Eve Higgins, Enya Breen (capt), Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe; Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane; Niamh O’Dowd, Clíodhna Moloney, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Erin King, Aoife Wafer, Brittany Hogan.
Replacements: Neve Jones, Siobhán McCarthy, Andrea Stock, Grace Moore, Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, Molly Scuffil-McCabe, Nicole Fowley, Aoife Dalton.
CANADA: Taylor Perry; Fancy Bermudez, Shoshanah Seumanutafa, Alexandra Tessier, Alysha Corrigan; Claire Gallagher, Justine Pelletier; Brittany Kassil, Emily Tuttosi, Alexandria Ellis; Tyson Beukeboom, Courtney Holtkamp; Pamphinette Buisa, Caroline Crossley, Gabrielle Senft.
Replacements: Sara Cline, McKinley Hunt, Rori Wood, Laetitia Royer, Fabiola Forteza, Julia Omokhuale, Olivia Apps, Julia Schell.
