While the Guinness Women's Six Nations started with the familiar sight of Irish players disappointed in defeat, Saturday's 27-15 loss against France was a very different kind of disappointment.
Twelve months ago, the idea that Ireland would look back on a defeat to France as one that got away would have been fanciful thinking, but the general message from Scott Bemand and his players on Saturday evening in Belfast was that this was a game they could, and maybe even should, have won.
The scoreline flattered France in the extreme, with the sides scoring three tries apiece and France leading by just two heading into the final 10 minutes. When the frustration subsides and the squad regather at the IRFU high performance centre this week to prepare for Italy on Sunday, they will review a game where the positives far outweighed the negatives.
"Our point of reference is 'Where were we last year to where are we this year?’," Bemand reflected after Saturday’s defeat in Belfast.
"We’re moving in the right direction. To close a gap takes a bit of time. France are still a good team and they have their pro league over there. We have moved forward.
"We have to back up how we played today and back it up with some winning performances."
One of the biggest areas of improvement in the last 12 months has been at the lineout.
In 2023 and 2024 Ireland’s lineout ran at 69% and 61% respectively, the lowest in the Six Nations in each of those seasons, but on Saturday in Belfast Ireland had a retention rate of 95%, losing just one of their 19 throws. To put that total in perspective, the 18 lineouts won on Saturday is already more than half of their tally in the 2024 championship.
Not only did they consistently win their own lineout ball, but there was variety in the throws from Neve Jones and Cliodhna Moloney, who targeted the middle and tail of the lineout rather than settling for easy front options, and that was rewarded with all three tries coming directly from the set-piece.
"In the lineout the forwards have done a good job today," Bemand added.
"We’re developing our lineout, we’re developing how we win the ball. Obviously winning back-ball is a fairly integral part of getting your lineout launches going. It’s much easier to launch from the back than the front.
"We’ve used a little innovation today as well in terms of tempo. When France got the card we started to take the legs away from them a little bit whereas at the end of the first half we took the tempo down.
"We’ve got to keep trying to find innovative ways to keep a little bit of tempo in the game. It seems suit us and hopefully that can allow us to grow our opportunities and hopefully people more to get behind."
Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon laid much of the credit for the lineout improvement at the door of forwards coach Alex Codling (below). The former Newcastle Falcons head coach joined the coaching ticket in the lead-up to the WXV last year, and has also spent part of this season working with Munster following the departures of Graham Rowntree and Andi Kyriacou.
"It's a big investment. Come Vancouver time, Codders came in to do the lineout, so we spent a lot of hours and a lot of work trying to revolutionise our lineout. It was very, very good today," McMahon said.
"There's huge belief in the group that we have the composure to stay in the fight. We knew the gameplan was working and that gave us belief that we were in this game.
"Setpiece was working well and lineout was absolutely excellent and got us on the front foot.
"You have elements of the game working well and you know that you're in it and you know you're not a mile off, so the belief stays high, and you just have to work your way back up the pitch and take the scores as they come."
While the lineout laid the platform for all three tries, they couldn't take full advantage of those scores, with Dannah O’Brien missing all three conversions, while French full-back Morgane Bourgeois was flawless from the tee, kicking three conversions and two penalties.
But Bemand was keen to deflect attention away from O’Brien’s form off the tee.
"Sometimes you can get a game like that. I have been here for two WXVs and a Six Nations to this point and Dannah’s kicking has been unbelievable. It’s been a real point of difference for us.
"It’s a skill that needs to stand up to pressure and it is an important part of our game. We are getting better at it but we never came in saying we were perfect at it. The more experience the more likely they are to execute standing up to that pressure," he added.
