Prior to their opening TikTok Women's Six Nations game, Ireland had targetted a top-three finish in the table.
"If we’re to get three wins, we get to the WXV, we’re in the top tier," head coach Greg McWilliams said before the dispiriting 31-5 defeat to Wales after which goals were quickly reassessed.
The round-three defeat to Italy meant a fight to land in tier two for the new WXV tournament, while Scotland’s win over the same opponents last weekend means that, barring a big win tomorrow in Edinburgh, Ireland will be in tier three.
That six-team group will contain Brazil or Colombia, the runner-up from the Africa Cup, which features Cameroon, Kenya, hosts Madagascar and South Africa, the runners-up from the Asia championship, featuring Japan, China, Hong Kong China and Kazakhstan, and the second-placed Oceania team, which will be one of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tonga.
The fifth-placed team from the Six Nations, likely to be Scotland or Italy, will face a play-off against Spain with the loser going into the bottom tier.
It’s worth noting that while tier one is boxed off for the first cycle, the team that finishes top in group three wins promotion to group two.
Given the consequences of losing, or winning without a bonus point tomorrow, the question of whether any thought was given to bringing in members of the Sevens squad, who have been training at the high performance centre since their last World Series event at the start of April (their final outing is in France in two weeks’ time), was put to the head coach.
They are currently fifth in the standings but and would qualify as hosts France have automatic Olympic qualification and sit fourth.
Adding in the likes of Beibhinn Parsons, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Stacey Flood and Eve Higgins would have strengthened the hand of McWilliams in a must-win game to the tune of 43 caps.
"Group-awareness is a really important thing and after the Six Nations we have to own where we are," McWilliams, who has carried the same message from the outset of this campaign, told RTÉ Sport after naming an unchanged side to take on Scotland (7.30pm).
"Where we finish at the end of the Six Nations, that’s where we finish. We want to beat Scotland, we want to get into tier 2. That’s our goal.
"We are happy with the players that we have, they deserve an opportunity to go out in the last game.
"They’ve fought, they’ve battled, and they’ve clung on and they’ve dealt with external noise and they’ve got through that.
"These are our foundations. At the end of the Six Nations... we’ll come up with a really good plan where we meet up with the players during the summer and continue to work hard and get better, that’s all we can do.
"We trained with the Sevens last week. We had a brilliant session with the Sevens and that was important.
"Particularly our backs being able to do some launch plays against them.
"There was some engagement, but the Sevens have their own battles at the moment.
"They are going to be in Toulouse in two weeks’ time.
"They want to go to an Olympics. They want to be Olympians and our job is to allow them to do that.
"After the Six Nations and after the Toulouse event I’m sure we’ll sit down and have a chat about how we can be more aligned but, trust me, we want what’s best for Irish rugby.
"We want the 15s to be as strong as they are and that doesn’t change."
McWilliams was also asked if he feared that some of the players in his squad might walk away if they found themselves in the bottom group.
"No, they're tight," said the former Rugby United New York coach.
"My concern and the players’ concern at the moment is that we make sure we put in our best performance at the weekend. It has to be."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Listen to live commentary of Scotland v Ireland (Saturday, 7.30pm) in the TikTok Women's Six Nations on RTÉ Radio 1, or watch England v France (1pm) and Italy v Wales (3.30pm) on RTÉ Player.
Watch Leinster v Toulouse in the Heineken Champions Cup semi-final live on Saturday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on the RTÉ News app or RTÉ.ie/Sport and listen to live commentary on Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
