World Cup qualification puts Ireland back on the right path

DANNAH O’BRIEN KICKED the ball dead and Belfast erupted. True to form, scrum-half Aoibheann Reilly displayed the sharpest reactions and was first in to embrace her out-half. Behind them, Meabh Deely jumped to her feet. Aoife Wafer pointed to the sky before embracing Eve Higgins, who was soon carrying try-scorer Katie Corrigan around the Kingspan pitch. Cliodhna Moloney threw Reilly over her shoulder as Brittany Hogan, so central to Ireland’s second-half surge, fought back the tears.

It had been an age since Irish women’s rugby saw such scenes.

“I’m just so happy,” Hogan told RTÉ. “We’ve been through so much as a group.”

That could have been referring to last week in Twickenham, where Ireland shipped 14 tries in an 88-10 humbling against England. It could have been referring to last year, where Ireland finished bottom of the table, losing all five games while conceding 31 tries and only scoring three.

Ireland’s Shannon Ikahihifo celebrates with Eve Higgins.

It could even have been referring to 2021. Hogan came off the bench on the infamous day in Parma when defeat to Scotland saw Ireland miss out on qualification for the following year’s World Cup.

That felt like rock bottom, and a few months later a 62-strong group of former and current internationals wrote to the Irish government to express their loss of all trust and confidence in the IRFU.

Whichever way you looked at it, the women’s game was not in a good place.

More difficult days followed. The 2022 Six Nations was, understandably, thoroughly underwhelming – Ireland finishing fourth after picking up wins against Italy and Scotland, but the 69-0 hiding by England and 27-19 home loss to Wales lived longer in the memory.

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In 2023 they lost all five games in what proved the final championship of Greg McWilliams’ challenging time in charge. In came former Harlequins, Leicester and Bath player Scott Bemand, who took over the team at an interesting juncture.

Bemand came on board around nine months after the IRFU had introduced the first full-time professional contracts for women’s 15s players. It perhaps also helped that he was able to get familiar with his new squad during the relatively low-key WXV 3 tournament, where away from the spotlight, Ireland swatted aside Kazakhstan and Colombia before edging Spain to claim some rare silverware.

Head coach Scott Bemand with Dannah O’Brien.

Yet the Six Nations was always going to be a significant step up. There were promising signs in defeat to France on the opening weekend, where Ireland looked more physically robust across an encouraging defensive performance, but any feel-good factor seeped away in round two, where a series of poor errors saw Ireland lose a game they really should have won against Italy.

They were much-improved against Wales in round three, playing some lovely rugby as they stormed to an impressive 36-5 win against Wales in Cork. Then came Twickenham, where the true gap between a professional set-up still in its infancy and one much further down the line was laid bare.

It was the type of loss that produces no positives, and the nature of the defeat was so harrowing it was fair to question if Ireland could pick themselves up within the space of a week.

Their job today couldn’t have been clearer. With Wales beating Italy in the early game, a win of any shape would see Ireland qualify for the 2025 World Cup in England while also earning promotion to the WXV 1 tier – a prize few would have dared dream about before this championship kicked-off.

And for 40 minutes it was hard to see how they would wrestle that third-place spot from Scotland, who came to Belfast chasing the same goal.

Some of Ireland’s first-half problems can perhaps be put down to nerves and the driving Belfast rain, but by any measure Bemand’s team were way off the pace. They saw plenty of ball but their handling was poor (10 errors in the first-half alone) and their lineout disastrous (five lost across the opening 40). More clinical opposition would have ensured Ireland paid a heavier price for such a ragged display.

Yet when half-time rolled around they only trailed 5-0, Scotland pouncing for the sole score with a try from hooker Elis Martin.

In the second half Ireland rose to the challenge. There were still imperfections that will need ironing out, but key players stood up when needed. Brittany Hogan, an Ulsterwoman on home soil, led the charge, while Aoife Wafer and Sam Monaghan also had big games.

Brittany Hogan led the charge against Scotland.

Hogan was central to their first try which arrived shortly after the restart, the number eight carrying hard before sending Katie Corrigan over in the corner.

The excellent Lisa Thomson struck back for the Scots, but Ireland dug in. Aoibheann Reilly drove Emma Wassell back with a huge tackle and moments later Ireland were in the 22 having turned defence into attack.

How fitting that it was Cliodhna Moloney who shoved her way over from a driving maul. The hooker was Women’s Player of the Year back in 2020 but then spent more than two years away from the squad after publicly criticising then-IRFU Director of Women’s Rugby Anthony Eddy in late 2021. Now she was back on the big stage and making it her own.

O’Brien’s conversion levelled the game before the out-half added a nerveless penalty to hand her side the lead. They saw it out impressively, producing some determined defensive sets before Monaghan rose to disrupt a Scotland lineout that proved their last roll of the dice, Niamh O’Dowd following up with an important scramble on the deck.

“I’m speechless. We left it all out there,” said Monaghan, before her pitchside interview was swifty interrupted by loud cheers from the stands.

The co-captain paused for a moment to soak it all up. Days like these have been few and far between.

To jump from bottom to third is a significant improvement on last year, and the gap to Europe’s elite should close as the professional programme continues to embed here.

There’s still much work to do and ground to make up, but for the first time in a long time this team are on the right path again.