4 days ago
9
ARTICLE AD BOX
Ireland coach Scott Bemand says the "wheels are moving in the right direction" for women's rugby in the country after his team concluded their WXV1 campaign in Vancouver with a hard-earned 26-14 win over USA.
The Irish trailed 14-7 at half-time but punished three final-quarter USA yellow cards by scoring two late tries to clinch victory.
Ireland shocked New Zealand in their opening game in the tournament and - while they lost their second contest against the highly-rated hosts - Friday's victory concluded a successful trip for Bemand's side.
"People in Ireland are starting to talk about it and that's not just from the women's game community," said the Ireland coach.
"The whole of Ireland is starting to get behind it. With that comes more expectation. We've got to get used to playing in these bigger dances."
Bemand joked that he was "looking forward" to not having to deliver another half-time team talk for a while after his side struggled somewhat in the opening 40 minutes for the second successive match.
"They made three line breaks and scored off two of them. Fair play to them, they are a really tough team to play against," he added.
"They made it very, very physical and we had to look hard at ourselves [at half-time] and make sure we got our game out there."
Bemand was delighted with the response of his players in the second half as Irish pressure forced a penalty try before late touchdowns from Cliodhna Moloney and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe sealed victory amid the trio of USA yellow cards.
"The resilience in the group is outstanding. I think there are more layers to come yet," added the Ireland coach.
The former England attack coach says Ireland's next task is to "step up to the next challenge" in the Six Nations Championship in 2025.
"We're going to get our heads down, work hard and hopefully be some levels up from where we have been in this competition."
After scoring two tries as a replacement in the win over New Zealand, back row Erin King's first-half touchdown contributed to her being named player of the match.
Sevens player King has been one of the big successes of the tournament from an Ireland point of view.
"Coming into this environment, it's been amazing. The girls have helped me so much. It's such a nice place to be and such a nice culture to be around," said King.
"We talk about our green wave a lot. The green wave is the strongest wave in the ocean and that's what we are."
The flanker said Ireland's belief had not wavered despite things not going their way in the opening half.
"We were down most of that game but it just shows the resilience in this squad and the people we have coming on and the energy and how badly we want it."
With Ireland also having beaten Australia in Belfast prior to the Vancouver trip, captain Enya Breen said the players could look back on a successful four weeks.
"It's great to come out of this block with three wins out of four against tier-one nations - so we're delighted," said Breen, who was skippering the side for the second successive week because of Edel McMahon's injury-enforced absence.
"It's a massive step for us as a group,"
English (US)