Anna McGann believes Ireland will have to be faster out of the blocks if they are to kick-start their Guinness Women's Six Nations campaign against Italy on Saturday.
Scott Bemand’s side endured a frustrating opening-day defeat to England last Saturday, losing 33-12 to the world champions at Allianz Stadium Twickenham.
While the 21-point margin is the closest Ireland have come to the Red Roses since 2016, the performance was below the standard that has been set by Ireland in the last two years, as they fell 14-0 down inside the opening quarter, after which their hosts kept them at arm’s length.
While defensively Ireland performed well for large chunks of the game, their lack of an edge in attack meant a first win against England since 2015 was never on the cards, and their 28 carries for just 53 metres across the opening half encapsulated how few questions were asked of the world champs.
"I think we were definitely up for it physically, I just don't think we probably implemented it quick enough," said McGann, scorer of Ireland’s opening try.
"We were probably a little bit spooked in the first half, I guess. But I think it stands to us with how we came out in the second half because usually England are a brilliant team in the second half, and they can run away with things, and we didn't let them. And if you look at the second half, it was a 12-all score.
"We’ll take a lot of confidence from that but we are definitely disappointed."
The first round of the championship had similar vibes to last year’s opening defeat to France, where Ireland struggled to pull the trigger in attack.
The panel reacts to Ireland's disappointing Women's Six Nations defeat to England at Twickenham #RTErugby pic.twitter.com/baynY7HNoZ
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 11, 2026
Particularly in the final 10 minutes of the first half they will look back with frustration at two wasted opportunities in the English 22, first when they saw a lineout stolen by Maddie Feaunati, before Dannah O’Brien’s routine penalty kick to touch was sent out over the in-goal area.
Prior to that, handling errors by Emily Lane and Eve Higgins saw attacking opportunities end as soon as they had started.
"I think we definitely created some opportunities today, but we probably just didn't finish them," McGann added.
"There were one or two mistakes made, so hopefully when we rectify them, we can probably see a little bit more of our wingers and our back three."
And the winger believes there is plenty of time to iron out those attacking creases, ahead of their trip to Galway this weekend.
"I think our bench did well when we came on but I think going forward, we need to look at that first half and into the second half and look at where we can capitalise on the pieces that we made and the things that we did well.
"I think we did create things, we just probably didn't finish them. And there were opportunities there that we left on the pitch.
"I think rolling into next week, they are quite easy fixes and we've a home game in Dexcom which will be really exciting and we'll have the home crowd so hopefully that'll bring us up for it again.
"It's not like we wanted to come here and just have a good scoreline; we wanted to come here and win.
"So I think going forward, we've got some things to fix, but it will be an exciting campaign for us. And I think there are a lot of positives there to take from it."
Ireland took a more direct attacking approach in the second half, with tries for McGann (above) and captain Erin King getting them on the board, ensuring there would be no repeat of 2024 and 2025 when England racked up big scores in the second half.
As frustrated as they were by the result, Saturday’s game was an occasion to savour, with a crowd of just over 77,000 at Twickenham smashing the previous Women’s Six Nations record.
And McGann believes she and her team-mates are becoming more and more comfortable on the big stage.
"It was unbelievable. To be fair, I think the World Cup probably prepped us well for it.
"When we came into the stadium for the captain's run, we were looking at it, and it's kind of just an extra layer onto the Brighton [World Cup] game, an extra tier onto it.
"Some of the girls who played here two years ago were ready for it. We probably weren't ready for it back then, but we were definitely ready for it now.
"I think we embraced the crowd and we fed off the energy, and we fed off the Irish support that were there.
"I think we're now at a stage with women's rugby in Ireland, this is to be expected, and it's not just family and friends in the crowd anymore. So that's really exciting, and we can't wait to have our home games where it's just going to be a sea of green," the winger added.
Follow our live blog on Ireland v Italy in the Women's Six Nations on Saturday from 5.40pm, and listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
