Scott Bemand has dismissed suggestions he has one eye on New Zealand ahead of Sunday's Rugby World Cup Pool C clash with Spain.
Ireland can secure their quarter-final spot with a game to spare if they defeat Spain at Franklin’s Gardens, but Bemand has made seven changes to his team from last week’s 42-14 win against Japan.
Edel McMahon, Béibhinn Parsons, Niamh O’Dowd and Aoibheann Reilly all drop out of the matchday squad, while Neve Jones, Brittany Hogan and Ruth Campbell move to the bench.
However, Bemand insists his changes are a combination of tactical decisions, and managing the game-time of players like McMahon and Parsons, who have just returned from injury.
"Not internally," Bemand said, when asked if there was already a focus on the Black Ferns next week.
"Absolutely right, this is our first chance to nail that quarter-final position. We're absolutely gunning for it.
"We've been gunning for it in training which is why it's important that people have the opportunity to be allowed to compete for this position.
"There's a couple of tactical changes which gives us slightly different things to what we showed against Japan.
"Now it's just about getting the job done at the business end."
And the Ireland head coach doesn’t believe the seven changes will come at the expense of consistency in performance.
"There's always a balance to strike to these occasions," said the 46-year-old.
"The girls that come in are fully ready. They fully competed their way in.
"They've earned their spot and I think we've got the blend right of team and physical capability across the board to get our best game out there against Spain."
Among the changes, Bemand has yet again rotated at scrum-half, with Reilly replaced at 9 by Molly Scuffil-McCabe, with Emily Lane on the bench yet again.
While Lane is the only one of his scrum-half trio who has played every game in the last year, there has been a revolving door when it comes to the starting job, and the Ireland coach says he’s confident the lack of consistency in selection doesn’t lead to disillusionment among the players.
"The players do understand where they stand," he said.
"We have a great relationship with the three of them.
"We're really strong at scrum-half, we've got some unbelievable players. Each one is slightly different which is why we're picking to get our best performance out there against Spain.
"The conversations that go on behind closed doors, stay behind closed doors, but they're good conversations.
"I think Aoibheann was outstanding last week, and Aoibheann has laid down a really strong marker for the rest of the competition.
"Molly is the strategist of the 9s.
"Her blended game, in terms of identifying space, tempo-up, tempo-down, when to play, when not to play, she gets a chance to put her best game out there in this game.
"Emily has been doing a great job, trained the house down this week and Emily will come on and impact the game.
"As the three of them, we're in a fortunate position where we can call on their chosen superstrength, and we get to choose how we deploy that; how we want the start of the game to look like, how we want the end of the game to look like."
Sunday will be a special day for tighthead prop for Linda Djougang (above), who is set to win her 50th cap in the Pool C clash.
The 29-year-old has played in every game for Ireland since Bemand took charge in 2023.
He said: "Linda's an amazing story, a truly unique, amazing story that has layers, layers that we don't probably all understand.
"She's an incredible player. She can play both sides of the scrum.
"Her level of robustness and resilience. I think she's only missed one game in all her caps so an incredible feat of endurance, of getting better all the time.
"She’s right at the centre of what we are now and where we've come from and where we're trying to go.
"I'm delighted. I messaged her the other day, saying, 'I'm so proud to see you get to this space.’
That sentiment was echoed by Ireland’s captain on Sunday, Sam Monaghan (below).
"I think it's the first 50th cap since I've been involved which is amazing," Monaghan said.
"Linda's been such a cornerstone of this team, the passion she plays with on the pitch.
"We all sat in the team room on [Saturday] but we saw her interview with the BBC and like, tears in our eyes.
"She's been through a lot and she just plays with her heart on her sleeve.
"I'm really proud to see her get her 50th on Sunday and be right behind her the whole way."
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