Neve Jones has backed Ireland to fix their lineout issues, ahead of Sunday's Guinness Women's Six Nations meeting with Italy at the RDS (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player).
Ireland's lineout ranked bottom of the championship in 2023 with just a 68% return from their throws, while it again came into sharp focus after last weekend's 38-17 defeat to France, in which they had a return of just five from nine.
Jones, who was throwing into the lineout in Le Mans last week, says she's "definitely" confident those issues have been ironed out.
"Lineout is a huge part of the game nowadays so we have done a lot of analysis on what went wrong at the weekend and how we can fix it," the hooker said.
"We have had two sessions with the lineout already and improvements, so it is just continuing that on through the week.
"We have looked at what went wrong and what we can do to change that. Having looked at the analysis it should be going well."
While Jones may have frustrations around the Irish set-piece, the Gloucester-Hartpury hooker has continued to be an influential presence in the Irish defence.
The 25-year-old's 90 tackles topped the chart in last year's championship, and she's on track to match that number again this year, making 23 tackles against France last week, more than any other player in the opening round of games.
The Antrim native, who gained her rugby education at Ballymena, says it's always been an area of the game she's loved, way back to her days playing in the garden with her father David.
"It's just a bit of craic, isn't it?," she laughed, when asked where her love of tackling came from.
"Playing mini rugby I was the only girl and probably the smallest on the pitch, but it's nothing that's ever fazed me.
"I remember my Dad taking me out to the garden and teaching me how to tackle and I think that it set me in good stead throughout all of my rugby career. I’ve got to be very thankful for that from the first day that he took me out to teach me to tackle and playing mini rugby.
"I didn’t get the ball very often so I thought I’d just crack on with the defence, and I’d say it’s probably quite similar with my game at the minute.
"He [Dad] is the one that taught me from day one, but I’d say that coaches have refined it, to put it kindly. My dad played 'league' so the tackling would have been slightly different back then," she added.
While Jones led the way in the tackle count, it was an impressive outing across the board for Ireland's defence last week.
They gave up five tries in the 38-17 defeat, but the performance was in stark contrast to their 50-point hammering against the same opposition a year ago.
Earlier this week, former Ireland wing Alison Miller said she believed there had been a marked improvement in Ireland's physicality and strength and conditioning, with the bulk of the squad being a year further down the line in professional rugby.
And Jones, who is based in England with Gloucester-Hartpury, says she's noticed a big difference in the conditioning of the players who are under contract with the IRFU.
"Yeah the girls have gotten bigger, stronger, faster, it's just fantastic to see to come back and see that they have gone leaps and bounds since we left after the WXV, and its just pushing us on in the game to grow and be better and more of a challenge for everyone that’s involved.
"You’re competing for a jersey week in and week out and that’s a good environment to be part of.
"I think having that full-time kind of job has been really good especially for recovery, it's a huge part of the game. You’re not working and training at the same time. You can focus on one thing, you’ve got time for your analysis.
"I think its really huge for the game, its just growing and growing and its exactly where we need to be going."
Ireland continue their preparations for Sunday's visit of Italy to the RDS, with head coach Scott Bemand set to name his matchday squad at 12pm this afternoon.
Italy come into the game off the back of a 48-0 defeat to defending champions England last time out, but Jones says they're expecting a very different test from the Italians.
"Italy are a very exciting side, they like to keep the ball alive, so that's really exciting for us to challenge our defence after last week when we put in a really good defensive shift.
"I think anytime we've taken to the field as a squad, we’ve got each other’s back, we’re here to push each other over the line and just be better each week.
"Italy are always a great game, they just play the ball and they play what’s on. Its really exciting to watch. I watched them play against England last week and they rattled them for 30 minutes. And it was fantastic to see but it will be great to see what we can bring defensively against that kind of attack."
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