With a losing run, and fires being put out both on and off the field, this is the last game that Greg McWilliams will have wanted.
Just over four weeks ago Ireland were preparing for a Six Nations campaign in high spirits.
Even with an inexperienced squad, and their Sevens stars unavailable, the prevailing emotion was one of hope as they geared up for their first season with a professional XVs setup.
Without being disrespectful, winning this game against England was never realistically on the cards given the contrasting stages of development these two sides are at, but it would have been earmarked as a match in which Ireland's young prospects could take a free shot at the defending champions, ahead of what they hoped would be a chance of a top-half finish in the championship.
But after three defeats from three, and just 15 points scored along the way, this game has suddenly taken on an altogether different narrative.
Twelve months ago Ireland were beaten 69-0 by the Red Roses in Leicester, having put up a valiant first-half performance. This week's build-up has been dominated by talk of a potential championship record scoreline, with England threatening to surpass their 89-0 mark which they set against Scotland in 2011.
Suggestions of a record defeat, or even England breaking the 100-point barrier, haven't gone down well in the Irish camp.
"This stuff about a record score, and not playing the game, it's just very insulting to us as players who go out every day and put everything into this Irish jersey," said flanker Dorothy Wall (below) on Tuesday.
"All the talk of that sort of stuff does nothing for us."
The 22-year-old was in a determined and passionate mood when she spoke to the media, but an ankle injury picked up against Italy has ruled her out of contention for this week's visit of the world No 1-ranked side.
Brittany Hogan comes into the back row to replace Wall, one of three changes made by McWilliams, who has swapped scrum-half Molly Scuffil-McCabe and centre Vicky Irwin in for Ailsa Hughes and Anna McGann respectively.
On top of the suggestions of a record scoreline, others have gone as far as suggesting the gulf between the sides right now is potentially harmful not just to the championship's image, but also to the Irish players.
The case was made by Stephen Jones in The Times, and backed up by RTÉ analyst Bernard Jackman.
"It could be unsafe, to be honest, in some way," he told RTÉ 2fm's Game On on Thursday.
"It's just a deficit of power. This isn't about the women's game.
"When I commented on this year on Ireland Under-20s against Scotland U-20s, I felt that was unsafe, so it's not unique to men's or women's sport."
Responding to their heartbreaking defeat to New Zealand in last year's World Cup final, England have been unforgiving in their three Six Nations games to date, scoring 31 tries and 185 points in wins versus Scotland, Italy and Wales.
And even with head coach Simon Middleton making eight changes to his side from last week's win against Wales, the visitors bring a wealth of Test experience, with 495 caps in their starting side, 300 more than the hosts.
Natasha Jones is the notable selection in the English starting XV, with the 34-year-old scrum half coming in for a first time in this Six Nations, with Lucy Packer dropping to the bench.
Even without Jess Breach, wingers Claudie McDonald and Abby Dow have combined for nine tries in three games, while this week's captain Marlie Packer has scored five from the back row.
It feels patronising to say it, but its difficult to quantify what Ireland's expectations are in terms of a scoreline.
Asked directly if he though his side could win the game, McWilliams responded: "I think we can". However, it would be unfair to hold him to that expectation.
That's not to say this 80 minutes can just be written off. With next week's game against Scotland in Edinburgh looking likely to be a wooden-spoon decider, there are a number of areas of performance for Ireland to hone in on, even against the juggernaut of England.
A week ago in Parma, a game that Ireland should have won was lost by 17 points, and while the IRFU have deservingly come in for criticism about their treatment of women's rugby, those failings in Italy have to be owned by the coaches and players.
The lineout was a major issue, losing five of their own throws, and several in try-scoring positions, with Italy comfortably exposing Ireland's over reliance on Nichola Fryday as their jumping option.
"I think it was just slight inaccuracies," Fryday said, when asked about those lineout issues this week.
"We missed a lift sometimes, little overthrows, but nothing we can't fix. They're areas we can fix for this weekend.
"It's about getting those one-percenters, so that whenever everyone comes into the lineout we're executing the lifts and the throws, and trying to make it a bit more of a weapon."
Analysing this week's performance of the stats sheet alone will prove nothing. There'll be missed tackles and likely a tough afternoon at the scrum where England will have a size advantage, but if Ireland can come away from Musgrave Park showing signs they've addressed the issues of Parma, it will give them hope of signing off the campaign with a win against Scotland.
Ball-carriers running onto the pass at pace, linespeed and organisation in defence and a clear exit strategy from their own 22 would all be an improvement, even if it came against a heavy defeat on the scoreboard.
"As we grow, we grow on and off the field. We've had some good conversations, but we can only control our performance and what we’re looking to get out of this week," McWilliams added, when asked about his expectations.
In normal circumstances when a coach speaks of focusing solely on themselves, it can be taken with a pinch of salt. In this case, you can take it at face value.
Verdict: England
Ireland: Lauren Delany; Aoife Doyle, Aoife Dalton, Vicky Irwin, Natasja Behan; Dannah O'Brien, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Christy Haney; Nichola Fryday (capt), Sam Monaghan; Brittany Hogan, Grace Moore, Deirbhile Nic a Bháird.
Replacements: Clara Nielson, Sadhbh McGrath, Kathryn Buggy, Hannah O'Connor, Jo Brown, Nicole Cronin, Anna McGann, Méabh Deely.
England: Ellie Kildunne; Abby Dow, Lagi Tuima, Tatyana Heard, Claudia MacDonald; Holly Aitchison, Natasha Hunt; Hannah Botterman, Connie Powell, Maud Muir; Zoe Aldcroft, Sarah Beckett; Sadia Kabeya, Marlie Packer (capt), Alex Matthews.
Replacements: Lark Davies, Mackenzie Carson, Sarah Bern, Delaney Burns, Morwenna Talling, Lucy Packer, Amber Reed, Helena Rowland.
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