Fiona Coghlan says she saw more "fight" in the Irish side that fell to a record defeat to France but talk of an improvement on their defeat to Wales is "a bit patronising".
The former Ireland captain, who led the team to a Grand Slam in 2013, poured cold water on attempts to draw too many positives from the 53-3 defeat, during which France played for 60 minutes a woman down. Ireland lost 31-5 away to Wales in the previous round.
"It’s a bit patronising to say it’s an improved performance," the ex-prop told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"There was a bit more fight in the players.
"It’s hard to say whether their scrum improved, there were two scrums that were eight on eight and then France got the red card.
"In those scrums they seem to have got it sorted. I don’t know whether that’s a selection thing, they selected more experienced props.
"Ireland had lots of ball, they looked to put together some attacking phases but never got over the tryline.
"But 43 missed tackles, that’s just scandalous, a lot of them were just individual errors."
Ten members of Ireland’s original 32-woman squad play in England’s Premier 15s, while the rest built up for the TikTok Women’s Six Nations via the All-Ireland League, the interprovincial series and the Celtic Challenge Cup, while training at the IRFU high performance centre in Dublin.
Contracted players involved in Ireland sevens bid to qualify for next year's Olympic Games are not involved in the Six Nations this season.
"I was a bit disappointed with our Premiership players that came back that didn’t front up," said Coghlan.
"I would have expected more of them because they are at a higher level week in, week out.
"From the interpros, when I was playing, I didn’t see its value.
"They are coming together for three games, there’s no succession planning year on year, there’s no pathways of players, there’s no one tracking those players and the AIL can sometimes be a step up.
"I thought the AIL final, Blackrock and Railway, was better than some of the interpro games.
"They then went to that Celtic Challenge, which probably deluded Ireland where they were.
"They won that, they beat the Wales development and Scottish twice but that probably deluded Ireland to think they were better than they actually were. Very few of the Welsh and Scottish players played consistently in that."
Hopes were high, in and out of the Irish camp, prior to the tournament, that a top-three place behind England and France, and a spot in the top tier of the upcoming Women's XV worldwide tournament was attainable, but Coghlan now believes avoiding a first wooden spoon since 2004 is the priority. Such a finish would result in Ireland starting off in the third tier of the new competition.
Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams reflects on his side's @Womens6Nations defeat to France #IREvFRA #RTERugby pic.twitter.com/rILDCsdKuE
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She added: "At the start of the year I was like, we have to make top three to make the WXV, now I’m like, we just have to avoid the wooden spoon so we we’re not in tier three, that we at least get into tier two.
"There has to be a huge amount of work as to where the IRFU are going next. Are they focusing on the AIL or the interpros as that pathway of development?
"In fairness to them, they’ve put money in, they’ve two strength and conditioning and skills coaches in each of the provinces to ID these younger players and get them into a higher standard.
"There is a lot of money going in and there is a lot of pathways put in place but it’s going to take time. It could take three or four years."
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