Ireland’s seventh successive defeat against France in their opening game to last year’s Women’s Six Nations mightn’t have seemed like much, but their two late tries in a 38-17 defeat were a marked improvement and offered the first signs that the team were about to turn a corner.
“Even this week we’ve looked at moments from that game and what we could have done better,” said their 25-year-old centre Eve Higgins this week in advance of the two sides kicking off their 2025 campaign against each other at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 1pm).
“And I think everyone didn’t even need a coach to say what we could have fixed because we’ve been together for so long. Even Hugh [Hogan] coming in as defensive coach, straight away we know what we want to do off set-piece and in general play in our game. I think we could have fixed a lot playing last year’s game again.
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“Also, Scott [Bemand, Ireland head coach] only brought up this point recently with us: how it’s been years since we had actually scored tries against France, and we came away from that game with two late tries. That does bring a bit of confidence that we’ve progressed over the last few years.”
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Admittedly, Ireland lost their second game at home to Italy, but since then their graph has been steadily upward, winning five of their last seven games.
The victories over Wales and Scotland secured direct qualification for the World Cup later this year, and last September in Belfast the strong-carrying, playmaking Higgins was one of those who brought her vast post-Olympics Sevens experience to bear as one of seven replacements against Australia, scoring a try within seven minutes, which turned the tide in Ireland’s favour.
Wins in the WXV1 followed against New Zealand and the USA, but Higgins pointed to something else which imbues the team with confidence in advance of Saturday’s game.
“I don’t know how known it was, but we trained against them [France] twice in Vancouver. The week leading into the New Zealand game we had our heaviest session against them and we got to train against their backs then again two weeks later before the USA game.
“So, we’ve not only played against them every year in a Six Nations but now we’ve gotten to train against them and to focus on key areas. I think we gained a lot of confidence coming out of those training days, especially because it put us in a great place going into the New Zealand game to perform again.
[ Scott Bemand names extended Ireland squad ahead of Women’s Six NationsOpens in new window ]
“They have some key star players, [Pauline] Bourdon Sansus is one of the best nines in the competition. They’ve [Gabrielle] Vernier,” said Higgins in reference to her opposition French centre, “they’ve great forwards and its very much a power game.
“We’re going to have great confidence to play in the areas of the pitch we want to play in and to play the game that we want to play,” added Higgins, also citing the much-improved kicking game given to them by Nicole Fowley, Dannah O’Brien and Caitriona Finn.
Having the World Cup to aim for in the autumn, barely a year after the Olympics, is something else to embrace, especially as England are the host country.
“That’s only a short distance for our families and fans to go over,” said Higgins. “It’s huge for us. I remember training in the 2017 camp and then going as a supporter for the girls and that was a home World Cup.
“That buzz was amazing, it will be a huge World Cup and we’re all just excited by it. You grow up relishing these competitions. Every single one of us will put our best foot forward to be on that plane to England.”
