If Scott Bemand wants a yardstick for how much this Ireland team have changed in the last 12 months, Saturday in Cork should provide it for him.
The list of results and records you could reel off to summarise England's status in women’s rugby could last all day, but here’s a few: For a start, they’ve won 22 games in a row, and 31 Guinness Six Nations games in a row, dating back to a defeat to France in 2018.
In their last 66 games, they’ve only been beaten twice, both by New Zealand’s Black Ferns, the most recent of those being in the 22022 World Cup final. "Not quite World Cup winners," Ireland second row Dorothy Wall remarked this week, as she was reminded of the Red Roses’ dominance.
In 2022 they beat Ireland 69-0, in 2023 they beat Ireland 48-0, and although Ireland did get on the scoresheet in 2024, England put up 14 tries and 88 points, winning by 78.
And yet, while you can get long enough odds on Ireland being competitive - let alone winning - when they welcome John Mitchell’s side to Cork on Saturday, Ireland head coach Scott Bemand insists his team can pull off the biggest upset in Six Nations history.
"Yeah we believe we can," he said, when asked if Ireland can win this weekend.
"We talk about awe versus belief. It’s not as simple as just accepting that you don’t need to be in awe, but we have played against these girls before. Some of the girls play in the PWR [Premiership Women’s Rugby] and rub shoulders with them regularly. Some of us have coached in that system so we know every system has opportunities and flaws."
Bemand spent eight years as an assistant coach with England prior to taking the Ireland job in 2023, and has overseen a remarkable turnaround in the team’s fortunes in the space of 18 months.
And with grand designs of eventually breaking up the English and French dominance in the Six Nations, the 46-year-old wants Ireland to prove they belong in the top tier of the game.
"It's not just around containing them [England], it's about us firing shots on our terms as well and we’re in a much better place now than we were.
"We want to be hard to beat, stopping them getting the possession they want on their terms is a big part of that.
"Defensively, we’re getting better all the time. Attack-wise, we’ll get moments and we need to execute against that. We’ve been focusing on bits so that we’re not under pressure and bits where we need to get scoreboard pressure on them and then executing that.
"In terms of the athleticism of the game our group has been growing, has made great strides in terms of power, fitness you need to compete with the Tier 1 nations, so it’s a great opportunity for us to test ourselves.
"We know how many moments of pressure we got them under last year. We are a different team to that.
"I am expecting us to create more pressure on them, give them more things to worry about and make some of that stick, and then if we are in a game, we know we have the ability to kick on and hang in there, a bit like that NZ fixture.
"So, it’s not about turning up for us this weekend, it’s about showing everybody that we are a tough team to beat, you’ve got to produce a performance to get anything out of us and then we get those moment we will make them count."
The Ireland head coach names his matchday squad this afternoon, with Wall pushing for a recall after dropping to the bench for the win against Italy.
Still only 24, Wall (above) is in line to make her 35th Ireland appearance on Saturday, and started in last year’s painful defeat at Twickenham.
But the Exeter Chiefs lock insists a lot has changed in a year.
"We knew that [defeat] would come up, it was not a great day whatsoever, but there's a reason they’re in the position they are in the world rankings," she said.
"It’s pretty obvious to everyone that we’re a different team than played in Twickenham that day.
"They had that occasion in Twickenham, 50,000 people, but it’s very different when we bring them down to Cork. That’s all I’ll say.
"We’re at home in Munster, it’s passionate, and we’re really up for it. This whole week there’s been a great energy. We’re having fun as well, and every meeting we’re talking about it, what our plan is.
"You’re nearly getting up for it in every meeting, so you have to bring yourself down so you’re not too over-stimulated."
