Ireland assistant coach Niamh Briggs has said there needs to be a greater focus on the future of women's rugby in Ireland, rather than "dredging up" the past.
It's been another difficult week for the Irish women's side, losing 24-7 away to Italy in the TikTok Women's Six Nations last Saturday, leaving them winless through three games.
That result came in the shadow of a report in the Telegraph last Thursday, detailing reported failings of the IRFU around their women's rugby programme, with head coach Greg McWilliams having to deny that the union was a "sexist" organisation.
"The outside noise is draining, I won't tell you a word of a lie, it's very frustrating," said the Ireland attack and backs coach.
"For someone who's been in the game for so long, we're dredging things up a lot. It's draining. I can't imagine for a player what it's like."
Those thoughts were echoed by captain Nichola Fryday (below), who said while they controversy wasn't necessarily a "distraction", it did take some wind out of their sails.
"It definitely didn't feel nice for us as players to read on a Thursday morning," the second row said.
"It was squad announcement day, they're exciting days for girls. You're going to represent your country, and building ourselves up for a captain's run on Friday. To wake up and read that, it wasn't how you'd want your prep to go for a week, to be honest.
"For me, a lot of the stuff we've had to look over the last few weeks, is that if girls want to read it they can read it, but you have to be able to park it and focus on the job at hand.
"There's some girls who are making the choice to come off social media, because it's too much of a strain but it's something you just have to park. We know what's going on inside our group, and what we're doing on and off the pitch.
"I'm still on social media, but not really taking heed of anything to be honest. It's outside noise to me. Everyone has a right to an opinion of what's going on here and what's not going on here, but for us, we know as a group what we're putting into it, and how much effort we're putting in."
To compound the situation Ireland have found themselves in, they welcome England to Cork this Saturday afternoon (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player), with the World Cup finalists rampaging their way to another Grand Slam, having scored 31 tries and 185 points across their three games to date.
Given the gulf between the sides in recent seasons, Briggs is realistic about what Ireland can expect to get from the Saturday's game.
And she says it's important the players embrace the occasion of taking on one of the best sides in the world.
"That's what international rugby is, it's pressure. It's not just because you're 18 or 19, if you're 38 or 39 it's the same thing, pressure because you're on the international stage and you're trying to compete at the highest level.
"The big thing here is we're learning at the highest level because of reasons beyond our control. We have 18 and 19 years olds that are good now, but in two or three years time will be really, really good, and I've no doubt in my mind a few of them will be world class.
"We've got to relish that pressure, thrive in it, we can't let it hinder us, we can't let that kind of pressure drag us down. We just have to continue to build on it, and see it as a privilege.
"We're very realistic in terms of where England are. We haven't spoken about expectations in terms of results. We speak about performances, we speak about getting better.
"What better way to test yourself than the champions? I know that they're hurting from that World Cup final, but they're still one of the best sides in the world, but I think when you've got nothing to lose, why would you put an expectation on it? Why don't you just go out and play, and enjoy the occasion?
"We love to play in Cork, the girls really enjoy, it's great for a Munster person to be able to bring an international team down there, the crowd get behind them hugely and if you can't enjoy an occasion like that, then international rugby's not for you."
Watch Ireland v England in the TikTok Women's Six Nations on Saturday from 2.15pm, follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app or RTÉ.ie/Sport with live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
