IRELAND HAVE NEVER won away to France in the Women’s Six Nations and assistant coach Niamh Briggs has gotten about as close as anybody to bucking that trend, playing in Ireland sides who ran the French close on their own soil in both 2012 and 2014.

The prospect awaiting Greg McWilliams’ new-look side at Toulouse’s Stade Ernest-Wallon this Saturday is, on paper, altogether more daunting, the gap between the two sides never wider.

McWilliams’ and Briggs’ vision is a longer-term one, though, their mission being to incrementally lift Ireland to a level at which they can compete for and even win championships, just as they did during the duo’s past involvement as assistant coach and skipper in the early to mid 2010s.

There will unequivocally be pain in the interim, just as there was in the final quarter against Wales last weekend. But equally, the bigger-picture gain was plain to see on Saturday, and the overridingly positive outlook in spite of an opening-day defeat hasn’t changed in the “15 times” that Briggs has re-watched the game.

“There are definitely areas to improve on,” says the former Ireland skipper. “The penalty count of 14-5 is something we can’t have going forward. And also our ability to manage the game a bit more: that was a big task for so many of those players.

“We know they aren’t experienced and even [many of] those who have been capped before, it was the first time they’d played for Ireland in front of a crowd. That was a really big thing for them.”

Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams and assistant coach Niamh Briggs. Evan Treacy / INPHO Evan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Briggs says that “the girls really got a huge lift from seeing the fans,” and that “when you see a crowd like that, the noise, but also how many young girls were out, you can’t help but lift yourself because it was so, so good.

“I hope going into the Italy and Scotland games in Cork and Belfast, we get something similar,” she says. Intriguing, though, is the Waterford woman’s determination that the noise of the crowd probably added an unnecessarily frantic feeling to proceedings for the several players on the pitch who simply aren’t accustomed to playing in that kind of atmosphere.

Performing in front of the record-breaking 6,113-strong RDS crowd, then, was probably as much a learning curve for this young squad as it gave a lift, and as Briggs explains, “The only way you can work on that is gaining experience in it.

“The more they are in it, the better they will get,” she continues. “Playing international rugby in an empty stadium is so much different than playing in front of lots of people. I don’t think it’s something we can actively work on. We’re now understanding that sometimes you can’t talk to the person beside you, you have to shout because of the noise.”

It’s an indication of the extent to which Ireland’s new coaching ticket are starting from scratch with this group, and Briggs accentuates as much as she further defines her role as ‘assistant coach’, which can mean different things in different setups.

“I’m looking after the backs and part of our attack with Greg,” she says.

We have a huge focal point on being better passers — but in order for us to be better passers, we have to be better catchers. I think when you look at a skill like passing, you kind of forget that if we catch the ball right, then it affects the pass. That’s been a huge focal point for me over the last few weeks, is getting that catch-pass right and understanding that at Test level, a split second can make a huge difference.

Wales celebrate a try by Carys Phillips. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

That few weeks’ work was clearly evident in Dublin last Saturday when Ireland’s ball skills — a conspicuous weakness even as recently as their failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup back in September — were for the most part unrecognisably strong.

And the coaches’ philosophy was also glaringly apparent in their ambitious selection in the backline: UL Bohs’ Nicole Cronin shifted to out-half for the first time in green and the previously incumbent 10 Stacey Flood of Railway Union moving to second receiver, from where her elite-level passing range was on full display for Amée-Leigh Murphy Crowe’s opening score.

“Obviously I am pernickety and I’d like things to have been a little bit better in terms of how sharp we were”, Briggs says, “but in terms of our phase-play attack, I was so, so pleased.

“Nicole is still bedding into that out-half role, especially at international level.

“I thought it was a really solid days’ work for her first game playing there. The big difference is in the space and intensity, which she probably wouldn’t have experienced before with the AIL and interpros. She is only going to get better and I thought she kicked exceptionally well and managed that group of forwards.

“It also just frees up someone like Stacey, who has got an incredible array of skills. And when you have players like that on both sides of the ruck, it can open up a mine of possibilities for us.”

Stacey Flood (12) celebrates a try. Dan Sheridan / INPHO Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO

Briggs admits that when she began coaching with Munster this season, former club and country team-mate Cronin’s prospective switch to 10 “was definitely something that I had in the back of my mind.”

Even when I was playing, her rugby intelligence was phenomenal. Not only that, her ability to play off the cuff is probably one of the best I’ve seen. When I got an opportunity to go in with Munster this year, I spoke to Matt Browne about, ‘Let’s get her playing towards the try-line as opposed to the touchline and see how we get on.’ I’m not sure she was too happy about it at the start! But she has definitely taken to it like a duck to water. She’s learning and improving all the time. Incredibly astute off the pitch in terms of wanting to get better. Forever asking questions and trying to make sure that she’s continuing to develop.

“That was definitely a huge step in her development last weekend. She did some really, really good stuff and stuff that we’re working on this week.

In terms of her natural rugby ability, she’s probably one of the best players I’ve ever played with or coached, in terms of her ability to go off the cuff. I loved that and I’m really continuing to encourage it.

Niamh Briggs and Nicole Cronin pictured in 2018. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

Cronin also nailed a touchline conversion of Murphy Crowe’s try. “She said to me she was laughing as she was running back from the tee because she couldn’t believe she kicked it over,” Briggs beams. “That’s another part of her game that she’s working hard on. It’s about trying to change her mindset in terms of being able to understand that if a kick goes wrong, why it has gone wrong so she can rectify it herself on the pitch. The more information and knowledge you can impart on her in relation to that… I think she is only going to get better and better, and that’s really exciting.”

The assistant coach, meanwhile, is not remotely daunted but rather palpably excited about the prospect of guiding this developing Ireland side through what will be a first competitive visit to France for most.

“I think they’re obviously further along the road in their development than we are, that’s for sure,” Briggs says of Saturday’s formidable opponents. “Their club system is very strong. Linda [Djougang] is playing down in Clermont. I’ve been trying to pick her brain over the few weeks that we were in camp!

“You’re talking about numbers, though: France is a huge country. They have a huge amount of numbers compared to Ireland. When you have teams that are competing at a high level with huge amounts of numbers, you’re always going to be up against it.

That’s a big focal point for us: I think Greg is very much driving that AIL club game and I think that’s going to be really important for us. We’ll continue to get better and develop over the next two, three years, and then we’ll continue to have more players filtering into the national side.

Pauline Bourdon on the march for France in Dublin last year. Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

Annick Hayraud’s French outfit of the present day, however, are “definitely up there with England” in Briggs’ mind.

“They were incredibly good in the autumn against New Zealand; just a very big, powerful team that can play. They have a huge amount of players like [Pauline] Bourdon and [Caroline] Boujard (injured for this weekend) who can literally turn nothing into something.

“I think when you have players like that, you’ve got to be really aware that, if we kick poorly to them, that they’re going to be able to open us up. But we’ve also got to make sure we’ve got our defensive policies right, similar to where we were last week in terms of how we defended. I thought we defended so, so well in huge chunks of that game. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re on it for every period and I think that’s probably more mentally taxing than physical.

They’ve always been a really good team. I’ve never been in a position to beat them over there and I think that’s going to be a huge task for us, but I think we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves. Understand where we are as a group, where we’re going and then continue to grow and develop from our side as opposed to looking at them.

This week on the Front Row – The42’s new rugby podcast in partnership with Guinness – panellist Eimear Considine makes a welcome return… and she’s brought her Ireland roommate, Hannah O’Connor, along too. They chat about broken noses, tanning routines, initiation songs and balancing the Women’s Six Nations with teaching, plus how one fan named her child after Ireland winger Beibhinn Parsons! Click here to subscribe or listen below:

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