IRELAND WOMEN’S head coach Scott Bemand expressed his delight with the impact made by the Sevens contingent in his squad during their accomplished 36-10 triumph over Australia at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast on Saturday.
In total, six of the players that Bemand named in his match day 23 for the visit of the Wallaroos to Ravenhill had featured for Ireland in the Rugby Sevens at the Paris Olympics earlier this year.
Whereas Vicky Elmes Kinlan was making her debut as a 15s international after donning the green jersey in the French capital, her fellow winger Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe was back in this particular code of rugby for the first time since the 2022 Six Nations.
Although Eve Higgins was a regular starter for the team in this year’s Championship, Stacey Flood and Emily Lane were also returning to the 15s fold after significant absences.
This triumvirate appeared off the bench along with fellow Sevens star Erin King — who was also making her Ireland 15s bow — and all four players made sizeable contributions in the Belfast venue.
As well as Higgins scoring a second half try of her own, Flood and Lane were heavily involved in moves that led to other five-pointers, while King made her presence felt in the Irish back-row upon replacing team captain Edel McMahon.
“You almost can’t single any one of them out,” Bemand said. “You look at how many touches Leigh got. Vicky just before she came off got a turnover when we were on the back-foot just outside our ‘22’. Erin comes on and just runs like she wants to score every time she touches the ball. It’s unbelievable.
“Emily Lane took the tempo up. Eve starts freeing up space on the edges. Stacey is beating people on kick-return and putting Leigh away. It’s just fantastic to have that firepower. We’ve had two weeks together. It’s not a lot of time.
“We think there’s still more to come from this group. We’ve left points out there. So for us and where we want to keep going, we’ll keep going after our own green wave of performance. We want it to be up there, but we know there’s still a bit to come.”
A game that marked the start of Irish Rugby’s 150th year celebrations, this encounter also proved to be a useful exercise for Bemand’s charges ahead of their upcoming visit to Vancouver for the WXV 1 tournament.
While it is anticipated that New Zealand, host nation Canada and the United States will offer a sterner test of Ireland’s resolve in the coming weeks, the USA are currently two spots below Australia in the current women’s rugby world rankings in seventh.
Though they ultimately finished 26 points adrift of the hosts, Bemand believes the Wallaroos are a side with a strong pedigree and this ensured he was thrilled with his side’s work over the course of the 80 minutes in Ravenhill.
“It’s great to bring another winning performance back to Ireland. We said we wanted to take people along with us. To come up here, play fifth in the world, they are a good team. Australia are a Tier One nation,” Bemand added.
“Being able to bring them to Ireland and put a performance there that gives the crowd something to get behind. Give the Irish public something, that they can see that we are moving forward and [have] something to cheer for.
“It felt like an exciting game and I’m delighted for the girls that some of the things we are starting to work on, and want to implement, are starting to see a bit of fruit.”