Scott Bemand had every right to stress the positives after Ireland's 43-27 win against Spain yesterday, but the head coach will know that significant improvements are needed if they’re to secure top spot in Pool C.
Given where Ireland were when the former England assistant took over in 2023, qualifying for a World Cup quarter-final with a game to spare in the pool is better than anybody could have hoped for.
With that possibly in mind, Bemand bristled when it was put to him that the sloppy nature of Ireland’s performance in Northampton yesterday could be attributed to the heavy rotation in his side, with seven changes from the starting XV that defeated Japan 42-14.
"We've just won a bonus point, a bonus-point try, we're in a quarter-final. I'm going to say we've got that right," he replied, his answer considerably shorter and more abrupt than any of the others he put forward.
As defiant as he was publicly, he will know that his side need to raise their game considerably if they’re to pull off a repeat of their famous win against the Black Ferns from 12 months ago.
They never looked like losing against Spain on Sunday, but the way in which they struggled to deal with what was a primitive Spanish attack at Franklin’s Gardens was alarming, given what’s to come both next week in Brighton, and in a quarter-final against either France or South Africa.
Basic errors allowed the Spanish entries to the 22, and almost every time they made it into Irish territory they came away with points.
Claire Boles topped the tackle charts with 22, Ellena Perry made 20, while Eimear Corri-Fallon and Fiona Tuite logged 19 each. In total, eight Irish players made more tackles than Spain’s top tackler, Lourdes Alameda.
As impressive as those numbers are, Ireland shouldn't have been under that kind of pressure.
"We'll look pretty hard at our own performance, the bits where we can grow and obviously there's bits to grow, there always is, we've never professed to be the finished article, but scoring another seven tries out there again today shows that we've got some firepower," Bemand (below) added.
"It shows we've got some tools that we can call upon, it's just calling upon them consistently and more in the right space which will let us go longer and deeper into these games.
"I actually credit Spain. Culturally I think they've been an improving nation over the last two years," Bemand added.
"We played them two years ago, in WXV3, we're 10-0 down at half-time, managed to come back and win that. So we knew they're going to be dogged and resilient.
"Whenever they got an entry, they resorted to a narrow pick and go game. And look, we actually look defensively comfortable in terms of a width perspective. It's just very hard to stop the close game.
"We feel if we can get entries and it can become a contest, we can do a job on it, but there'll be some bits for us to learn around how we deal with that pressure."
The loss of Sam Monaghan (above) early in the game didn't help.
The captain took a knock to the hip after a heavy tackle in the opening half, and while her substitution appears to have been precautionary, if there is any doubt over her availability it would be a surprise to see her risked in Brighton next week.
The likelihood is that Bemand makes another host of changes for the meeting with the Black Ferns. Neve Jones, Ruth Campbell, Brittany Hogan and Béibhinn Parsons will be on deck and pushing to get back into the starting team, while the performances of Grace Moore take some pressure off Edel McMahon, who was rested this weekend.
One player who made a real case to start next week is Perry, who was named player of the match in her first Irish start.
The 27-year-old former England international was only drafted into the Irish squad in late July after an injury to Christy Haney, but after impressing off the bench twice in her first two caps, she raised her game up further in the starting team, topping the tackle count in her 60 minutes, while making six carries, contributing to two jackal penalties, and dominating the giant Eider Garcia at the scrum.
"I can’t really speak highly enough about her," Bemand said.
"She’s such a sound person both on and off the pitch.
"We've had the pleasure of inviting Bert in, her young son, and he never stops grinning, I’ve never seen a lad with a permanent smile on his face.
"And she's so proud of being able to show Bert what she can do on the world stage.
"So she's added in more than just the off pitch and we know she's a great scrummager. She can carry, she can play ball at the line, and she can defend.
"So we've got a player here who's just added more again to a group and has bought into what the group's trying to achieve."
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