Ireland were served with a dose of reality on Sunday, following their 40-0 loss to the back-to-back World Cup champions in Brighton.
The Black Ferns provided a huge step up in class and intensity compared to Ireland's opening games against Japan and Spain.
Objectively, this was always the way the group games would play out.
Ireland had qualified for a quarter-final before this match so they were in bonus territory while fighting to the top the group, which would have given them an easier quarter-final draw.
It doesn’t change the trajectory of their tournament a whole lot. They know a lot about France from their Six Nations games and they’ve been closing the gap in the last two tournaments.
France are ranked one position above Ireland, but there’s a big gap in ranking points between the two.
There’s no doubt that France will be favourites going into the game, but I still believe that there’s a big performance in this team and they’re well capable of causing an upset.
Ireland started the game faster and had possession for the opening seven minutes or so, failing to capitalise on opportunities to score.
They turned down a kickable penalty in favour of going to the corner, and failed to score after getting to within a metre of the try line.
After turning down the three points, Ireland attempted to use a peel play at the front of the lineout instead of being direct.
It suggested that they didn’t want to take New Zealand on in a battle and tried to out-think them.
It was a miscommunication between Aoibheann Reilly and her forwards that finally caused the turnover after Eve Higgins won the contact to give Ireland quick ball just a metre from the line.
They missed a huge opportunity to rattle their opposition.
Despite some uncharacteristic handling errors, New Zealand sprang into action and took a foothold in the game.
Stacey Waaka was the finisher of their first score, but she created a lot more with her slick handling and troublesome footwork.
Teenage sensation Braxton Sorensen-McGee was the beneficiary of the work done inside by Waaka, yet she showed her own qualities to beat defenders too.
Ireland looked rushed and uncomfortable when they threw wide passes into the rushing defence of New Zealand. Tactically, this is where I think Ireland would improve if they had the chance to replay the game.
When Niamh O’Dowd, Linda Djougang, Aoife Dalton, Higgins and Grace Moore took their opposition on through the middle, they gained yards and took control of the contact area.
When Dannah O'Brien played laterally to the second line of attack, Ireland were knocked backwards and lost all control of possession.
It was obvious that they needed to punch through the onrushing defence to break up their line speed and test the footwork of defenders who were intent on forcing errors from Ireland.
With that said, New Zealand were well capable of playing both direct and wide. Their physicality in breakdowns and the contact area was obvious.
Their handling through their centres to the wide channels was causing problems for Ireland’s narrow defence.
If Ireland managed their attacking strategy with more direction, they would have made more of a game of it, but with no guarantees that they’d have done enough to force a result.
New Zealand scored a pair of tries as the game was winding down, one of those was as the clock went into the red.
The scoreline doesn’t reflect the game as it played out, yet they fully deserved a dominant scoreline.
Ireland should learn from this result.
New Zealand in a World Cup is a very different proposition to the victory that Ireland got in the WXV competition.
The sudden increase in game intensity caught Ireland out and their attack stuttered as a result, their defence was caught narrow as well.
That shock is out of the way now and they can regroup ahead of another huge challenge against France on Sunday (1pm).
Scott Bemand would be much more comfortable without the injuries to Edel McMahon and Stacey Flood.
Depending on the medical report, it looks as though Flood is certainly out after being taken off the field in a stretcher, following an unfortunate incident at the back of a ruck.
Both are leaders for Ireland and will be missed if they can’t line out in Ireland’s quarter-final. Bemand has depth in his pack and could shuffle his team to keep their physicality.
However, there isn’t the same like-for-like replacement to match Flood’s distribution from the backfield.
It was assumed that McGann would take her place and the back three positions would be re-jigged. Higgins moved to full-back while Nancy McGillivray came on, pushing Dalton in one channel.
Higgins has been exceptional in midfield.
Her Sevens background gives her the skills to manage the back-field as well, but I thought that Bemand would keep that combination in midfield, considering how important Higgins has been for their gain line chances.
Team selection will be interesting yet again for this weekend. Ireland are facing a huge challenge to win as the underdogs.
Their lessons in defeat will stand to them as they have every chance of turning France over.
Watch Ireland v France in the Women's Rugby World Cup quarter-final on Sunday from 12.30pm on RTÉ1 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to live radio commentary on RTÉ Radio.
