In the first-ever standalone women’s international rugby match at the Aviva Stadium, Ireland Women thrashed Scotland 54-5 in the Six Nations to secure a third consecutive third-place finish, with head coach Scott Bemand praising his side’s progress.
Almost all of Ireland’s points came in a first half, in which they ruthlessly put Scotland to the sword to take a 47-0 lead.
Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Robyn O’Connor, Brittany Hogan, Erin King, Aoife Wafer (twice) and Stacey Flood all crossed in the first half in front of a record crowd of 31,294 at the Aviva.
Results are massive. Results are everything in this game and we want to give people something to cheer
Their sole second half try came from Hogan as Ireland finished the championship with three home wins, with their only losses coming away to both France and champions England.
“Obviously, we put out there that we wanted three home wins and we haven’t gotten that in a while,” said Ireland captain Erin King.
“So, to put that out there and then get that done, we’re really proud of that.
“And just the performance in itself. I think that first half we really came out the blocks and we’ve talked all campaign about having a fast start.
“And I think we showed that we can do that.”
Victory also gave Ireland their best Six Nations campaign since 2020, when they amassed 13 points.
But Ireland’s hopes of breaking France and England’s dominance at the top of the table will have to wait for another year.
Momentum
Scott Bemand’s side can still reflect on another championship of progression, though, and they have the ‘big two’ on Irish soil next year.
“We’ve always been quite open, and we want to keep the momentum going,” said Bemand.
“We want to keep growing the wave. So, we’ve been able to achieve that both on and off the pitch.
“We’ve got our three home wins, which we haven’t won three games in this competition for a good while. Even predating myself.
“So, we’re starting to convert some performances into wins.
“Results are massive. Results are everything in this game and we want to give people something to cheer.
“So, I think we’ve achieved that.”
Bemand says the experience of playing in front of a 77,000 crowd at Twickenham and a partisan home support in Clermont will stand to the players.
“We’re becoming so rich in terms of experiences that we’ve been through,” he said.
“We’ve got new caps, we’ve got people adding into the on-pitch stuff, we’re growing our wave.
“I leave here with a sense that there’s only more to come.”
