Ireland v England
Musgrave Park (4.45pm, live on RTÉ)
This afternoon in Cork, Ireland will discover if there is any lingering scar tissue from last year’s 88-10 shellacking at Twickenham. Scott Bemand’s Ireland team have made significant progress in the interim, including a brilliant victory over New Zealand in Canada last November.
England, chasing a 32nd successive Six Nations victory dating back to when Ireland were the last side to beat them in 2018, remain the benchmark by which all teams are weighed and measured. John Mitchell’s side show no signs of growing bored or tired of their dominance and will be keen to continue to crush all comers ahead of a home World Cup later in the year.
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Under Bemand and his coaching team, the influx and influence of the Sevens cohort has helped to produce a more blended style in attack and defence l and there has been an improvement at set-piece and breakdown. England are about to test that warranty.
Ireland’s reserve hooker Clíodhna Moloney has first-hand knowledge of the basement level issues that undermined Irish women’s rugby over the years and also the current trajectory that has seen the national side climb steadily in performance and ranking.
Her appraisal is worth noting. “A lot has changed in terms of our experiences as a group, our playing group has changed, new people have come in. You’ve got the likes of Erin King coming in and performing really well in Vancouver.
“A lot of other players have come in and come through the Celtic Challenge and other pathways. I think it’s just growing all the time. We’ve obviously got a new coaching staff. Areas of our game continue to develop like lineout, set-piece, Hugh Hogan has been brilliant on defence.
“Our set-piece has grown from a coaching perspective but also from a player’s expectation. When we train (in) units, the detail that the girls are operating at weekly, it’s advancing all the time. And that expectation is very high in the group.
“The physicality is going up a lot. The ball in play, we’re trying to push that. We’re trying to play quickly, trying to play on top of teams. And you feel it in your body, and you feel it in the intensity after sessions.
“We’re trying to diversify our attack as well. It’s a multifaceted piece. I think a lot has changed and people have learned a lot, that [the England game last year] was probably the biggest game they’d experienced ever for this group. That will never happen again, I think we’d all say that.
“People are happy and excited after it rather than worrying or looking back. They want more. That’s probably the biggest thing with this group is that you’ve got girls being like, ‘okay what’s the next thing’?”
Moloney’s time in England with the Exeter Chiefs gives her an obvious insight into England’s depth of quality in terms of the playing roster but she doesn’t feel the need to tell any ghost stories. Her team-mates know what’s coming and are keen to embrace the challenge.
“I don’t think you need to tell them. It’s more of a feeling of knowing that we’ve done the work, experiencing how training feels when we’re under really high-pressure scenarios. It’s that that gives them confidence more than me telling them this or that about whatever player I might know.
“The have confidence from the pressure we’ve experienced here. I think they’re just really excited to be honest with you. There’s no fear in there.” And the truth in that statement will be borne out by what happens this afternoon during the 80-minutes. Ireland must have the courage and belief to play and let that take them where it will on the scoreboard.
IRELAND: S Flood (Railway Union); A McGann (Railway Union), A Dalton (Old Belvedere), E Higgins (Railway Union); A-L Costigan Railway Union, capt); D O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster), E Lane (Blackrock College); N O’Dowd (Old Belvedere/Leinster), N Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), L Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster); F Tuite (Old Belvedere), D Wall (Exeter Chiefs/Munster); B Hogan (Old Belvedere/Ulster), E King (Old Belvedere), A Wafer (Blackrock College/Leinster). Replacements: C Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), S McCarthy (Railway Union/Munster), C Haney (Blackrock College /Leinster), R Campbell (Old Belvedere/Leinster), G Moore (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby), A Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht), N Fowley (Galwegians/Connacht), V Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow).
ENGLAND: E Kildunne; A Dow, M Jones, T Heard, J Breach; Z Harrison, N Hunt; H Botterman, L Atkin-Davies, M Muir; M Tallinn, A Ward; Z Aldcroft, S Kabeya, A Matthews. Replacements: A Cokayne, K Clifford, S Bern, R Galligan, M Feaunati, L Packer, H Aitchson, H Rowland.
