Co-captain Edel McMahon welcomed the arrival of Aoife Wafer into the Ireland camp after the injured flanker joined up with the squad ahead of their World Cup win over Japan.
Influential flanker Wafer is recovering from knee surgery and remained in Dublin until Saturday night before meeting up with the panel during the jersey presentation.
It's highly unlikely that the Six Nations player of the tournament will be risked against Spain in six days' time but McMahon, who played 74 minutes on her comeback from a knee injury, hailed the resilience of Wafer, who had overcome a separate injury during the championship before suffering a MCL injury in training.
"She's an unbelievable rehabber, she an unbelievable worker," 31-year-old McMahon told RTÉ Sport after the 42-14 victory.
"I was doing rehab myself so the days when the girls were away, we’re at home, myself and Aoife and a few others are in the HPC.
"You see the work the girls are doing and I’ve no doubt that she’s got the art down to a T from coming into rehab and to playing and it doesn’t faze her at all.
"To be honest, it’s great to have her finally here.
"I can’t understand what it was like to not travel and to be putting in the grit at home, but that’s testament to her, that she wants to be here with the squad.
"She’ll do whatever she can with the help of the medical staff so it will be great to have her in training this week and we’ll see where she goes."
Ireland are also without Erin King and Dorothy Wall but back rows Fiona Tuite, McMahon, Brittany Hogan, Grace Moore, Claire Boles and Ivana Kiripati have all played their part.
"Confidence and clarity are big things in the squad," said the Clare woman, who won her 35th cap, about the forward options.
"It’s something we keep driving home, everyone understands their role and what is expected of them in this position.
"That’s been a key driver for us. There’s been a lot of trust in the squad as a whole, not just as a 23.
"We can’t say, 'oh, we’re missing this person’. We have to move on as a squad, we have to go after it because we trust the next person to come in.
"If we’re talking about who we are missing, we’re not giving the confidence to the player who is taking their spot and the person we are backing to take on that role."
On her own performance after missing the warm-up games against Scotland and Canada, McMahon said: "Honestly, the staff have done a great job looking after me for summer.
"I had a really good plan around me. I’d been involved in a lot of sessions, managing those minutes so I had a lot of confidence that once I got out on the pitch I’d be fine.
"I guess it was just to see how I was going in the game.
"That was a really fast start. Japan put us under pressure, there were a lot of D sets and kick sprints, it was about seeing how the body was. I was happy to go the 80.
"That’s the plan [to be available for selection against Spain].
"I’ve had a very good progression. We’ll have a chat with the coaches and the medical staff and we’ll make the right call for me."
Head coach Scott Bemand, meanwhile, issued a positive post-match medical update.
"We’ve come through another game in great health," he said.
"There’s been a plan that’s gone on for two years that we can play multiple back games up, back performances up, whilst keeping people fit.
"Our medics and athletic performance do an unbelievable job."
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