Eve Higgins insists there is no chance Ireland will have one eye on New Zealand when they face Spain at the Women's Rugby World Cup this Sunday.
Ireland can secure qualification for the quarter-finals with a game to spare if they defeat the Spanish in Northampton, which would then make their clash against the Black Ferns in Brighton a Pool C decider.
The prize for topping the pool is considerable, with the winner of Pool C likely facing Italy or South Africa in a potential quarter-final, and avoiding England in a potential semi-final.
For the runner-up in Ireland’s pool, France and England would be the likely quarter and semi-final opponents, should they get there.
With Spain eight places behind Ireland at 13 in the world rankings, Scott Bemand’s side are expected to get the job done and guarantee themselves quarter-final rugby.
And Higgins says they haven’t given any thought to a potential pool decider against the defending world champions.
"We're not looking ahead to New Zealand next week, everything is about Spain this week, and we want to go in and get a performance," she said.
"It's definitely the goal, going into every game is to win it. And we've been very much focusing on one game at a time.
"To get past Japan and to win that game is great, but now focus everything on Spain."
Ireland have a chequered history with Spain, losing to them in World Cup qualification in Parma in 2021, while they needed to come from behind to beat them 15-13 in WXV3 two years ago.
The Spanish, meanwhile, were beaten 54-8 by New Zealand in their opener in York on Sunday.
Higgins said: "Some of us obviously played Spain two years ago in WXV3 and we know, especially, on the Sevens series playing Spain it's the same with fifteens. They're an extremely hard-working team.
"They never really give up, and they fight for every inch and you saw that with them scoring at the very end of the game [against New Zealand] as well.
"We know it's going to be a tough game to get into so it's kind of all focused on us and bring what we've learned from the Japan game and bring it into this weekend again."
The 26-year-old was one of the standout players in Sunday’s opening pool win, a 42-14 defeat of Japan at Franklin’s Gardens, playing a crucial role in tries for Béibhinn Parsons and Fiona Tuite, while her own intercept try on 54 minutes killed the game off after a brief Japanese revival.
From 28-7 at half time, Japan had got back to 28-14 before breaking down the left touchline, and looked certain to score another before Higgins shot up off the line to pick off a loose pass and sprint 95 metres to score, which made it a 21-point game and ended any chance of a comeback.
🇮🇪 35-14 🇯🇵
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 24, 2025
A sliding doors moment as Eve Higgins runs the length of the field for an intercept try #WRWC2025
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📺https://t.co/ZfldwHUA2l
📻https://t.co/VgaQpwGjHu pic.twitter.com/UfP4DqsBu9
"I suppose I just saw the opportunity and knew I couldn't go with one hand because that would have been seven points and a yellow card so I just tried to grab it with two and thankfully kept my feet," she said.
"I was waiting to pass the ball to Leigh [Amee-Leigh Costigan] on my shoulder. But, yeah, it was a cool experience, happy to come out with a performance.
"It's definitely something we're probably looking at going into this weekend: 'How can we start better in the second half?’.
"One of our main focuses going into the game was to start fast which we did in the first half.
"But now it's probably how we can bring that into the second half because definitely Japan had the momentum, so how can we spin that and gain momentum back in the early in the second half.
"The main aim was to come out with the performance and I think we did that.
"It's probably good that there were times when we were on the back foot and we came through times in the game that we could get back the momentum and that's extremely important to experience those types of feelings in games.
"So to have that now in the back pocket and to come out with a good win, it's good going forward for us."
The centre took time to enjoy her try in the moment.
Her experience in the Ireland Sevens team conditioned her to have a glance on the big screen in the stadium to see how far clear she was from the last defender, and that afforded her the time pause as she hit the tryline and leap under the posts.
"Ah stop," she says, when asked about the elaborate swan dive (above).
"I looked up and saw that Leigh was the closest person behind me, I think that's when my smile kind of came forward and the grimace went away.
"A lot of my team-mates have taken the mickey out of me and photoshopped me in different places. So I don't think I'll ever release them and I hope they will never as well.
"I think when you have a lot of time on your hands... I don't know. I think I might regret that."
In reality, there are no regrets.
"I think when we look back, these are moments that you might not live again," said the Railway Union player.
"Playing in a World Cup, it's huge.
"We couldn't do it last time, so we couldn't play in the last World Cup.
"So these come around every four years, and it's extremely special to be in that position. So, why not enjoy it?"
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