While the Irish players refueled and recovered on Saturday evening after their defeat to England, the task ahead of them next week grew that little bit greater.
Scotland's 29-21 win against Italy came as a surprise, and also at a cost to Ireland.
With their victory, Scotland have climbed up to fourth in the table ahead of Ireland and Italy, and it now means that in order for Greg McWilliams' side to avoid the wooden spoon, they'll not only have to beat the Scots, but do so with a bonus-point.
A four-try victory might not even be enough. If Italy are able to muster a win, or even a losing bonus at home to Wales earlier on Saturday afternoon, then Ireland will have to win by at least 16 points on top of it.
Scoring four tries and winning by at least 16 points on the road is a tough ask at the best of times, but it looks mountainous for an Irish side who have managed just two tries and 15 points across four games so far.
"We'll treat it the same as any other week," said captain Nichola Fryday following Ireland's 48-0 defeat to England at Musgrave Park.
It was a fourth defeat from four and a scoreless outing, but in reality it was the most rounded performance of the championship so far.
The captain led by example in a forward pack that got through a ferocious amount of work. Neve Jones stood out front with a relentless 28 tackles in just 65 minutes, while Fryday was third on the tackle chart with 15, while bringing some variety to the attack with six carries and five passes.
"We’ve had a point to prove in every game that we’ve played, and we haven’t had the results that we wanted, so we want to make sure that we approach [Scotland] similar to this week and we come out fighting, and that we give absolutely everything to the game," she added.
"I do think that we’ll just have to approach it the same way as every match we have and do our analysis and making sure that bodies are right coming into the week because we have a point to prove and that’s how we’re looking at it."
And the Exeter lock admits that while Ireland have made incremental gains across the campaign, they're facing into the "reality" of a wooden spoon, which would see them having to play in the third tier of the inaugural WXV competition later this year.
"We've learned loads over the tournament and it may be small margins but we have built as a group and definitely think we’re stronger and more cohesive than we’ve ever been before because it takes time to build that in a new squad.
"But at the same time it is a reality that if we don't perform next weekend that it will happen for us. We’ll be doing absolutely everything that we can to make sure that we’re not in that position but it's going to be a tough match, we’re under no illusion."
Head coach Greg McWilliams (below) was quick to praise his side's improved defence on Saturday. While the stats book will show more than 50 missed tackles out of 308 attempts, there was a more obvious aggression in the way the hosts defended, particularly against a far more powerful English side.
Issues at the lineout continued to hamper Ireland's attack though. There was a far greater variety to where Ireland threw, with Sam Monaghan used regularly in the first half, but the execution remains a weakness.
"Still not quite ticking," McWilliams said of their lineout.
"They're doing a lot of work. There’s lot of good work being done but again its not quite ticking at the moment and I think in this game you’re always looking for contact being really important, set-piece being really important."
And the Irish boss admits that next week's trip to Edinburgh will be like a cup final for his players, albeit one they would prefer not to be in.
"I said at the very start of this competition, we’ll know at the end of this Six Nations where we stand and we own it, we have to own our performances, it’s on us as a group.
"Not having the Sevens players, I think that’s good in one sense because we’ve got a group of players that have been with us throughout the Six Nations, and it will be a true reflection of where we are, no matter where we finish. And that’s really important because to improve you need to know where you’ve come from and where you are and where you want to get to.
"We want to play at the top table. We want to be winning Six Nations, we want to be competitive in the Six Nations.
"We’ve a long way to go, we know that but if you said to me now we can get a win next week and be in a play-off against Spain to get into Tier 2 [of the WXV] I’d bite your hand off," he added.
