The table may suggest that Ireland's final Guinness Women's Six Nations game against Scotland on Saturday is a dead rubber, but assistant coach Denis Fogarty says the squad are "energised" about the prospect of finishing their campaign on a high.
Ireland appear to be locked into third place in the championship, nine points behind France in second, and five ahead of Italy in third, although their points difference means only a heavy defeat to Scotland, combined with a large Italian win against Wales, will see Ireland drop to fourth.
With their stated aim of closing the gap on the championship’s top two, Scott Bemand’s side aren’t entertaining the idea of easing off in Edinburgh this Saturday.
And despite dealing with a short turnaround from Sunday's 40-14 win against Wales, Fogarty says they’re ready to finish their campaign with a third win from five, which would be their best return since 2017.
"They’re not exhausted. They’re energised by making sure we finish on a high," the scrum coach (below) said.
"We know it’s always very tricky over in Scotland, we’re very much aware of that, but it’s also pressure on us to make sure we managed the week really well."
The squad will break after this weekend, but face a short off-season before their World Cup pre-season camp begins in June.
"When you look at it there are no games in May so every game counts for them in building that depth within the squad and making sure we finish on a high and go straight into a World Cup campaign in a good place," said the former Munster hooker, whose brother John is also scrum coach for the Ireland men’s team.
"Equally, off the back of a slight frustration last week, they want to make sure that we finish on a massive high this weekend.
"The 22 errors where we just handed the ball back to Wales, that was quite frustrating for us and equally for the players, they were very frustrated around that and it shows the growth around that and they know they can deliver on-pitch.
"We put them under pressure quite a lot in training during the week but for some reason it just doesn’t come off sometimes during the game.
"It’s good that they were like that. The coaches will always be slightly frustrated but the players wanted to make sure and put it right this week."
Niamh O’Dowd (above) is fit to play after the looshead prop missed Saturday’s win in Wales with a shoulder injury, but the final game of the championship will come too soon for Beibhinn Parsons, who had been hoping to return from her broken leg during this Six Nations.
However, with two World Cup warm-up games against Scotland and Canada to come in August, Fogarty says they are happy to take their time with the winger, who suffered two broken legs in the space of five months in 2024.
"Managing that was really important for her, and to get her confidence back up, especially around the contact area.
"Overall, we have some really good options there and that has given us the opportunity to give minutes to Vicky [Elmes Kinlan] and Anna [McGann] has done really well for us as well. It is getting competitive in that area now," he added.
"I'm not a toy!" - Ireland scrum coach Denis Fogarty tells @neil_treacy he's not repeating last year's promise to dye his hair if the team finished third in the Women's Six Nations #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/JKbDaYlwcE
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 23, 2025
Fogarty has also insisted he will be making no special promises to his players, after he found himself with bleached hair during the WXV in Canada in October.
The scrum coach had made a friendly wager with the players at the start of last year’s championship that he would dye his hair bright blonde if the team finished in the top three.
And despite some persuasion from his players this week, he says he won’t be writing any more cheques that he doesn't want to be cashed.
"I am not bleaching my hair again!" he laughed.
"I have made absolutely no promises whatsoever. I have been asked by the girls about ten times what they can do to me [if we win] and I was there, 'I am not a toy, I am not doing anything else for ye!’.
"The bleached hair was enough. It took me four months to grow it out. It was a nice piece to do and I am glad we came third but the bleaching was enough."
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