McWilliams confident ahead of 'cup final' Edinburgh occasion
CUP FINAL FEEL: Head coach Greg McWilliams. Pic: ©INPHO/Craig Watson
The end of the beginning or the continuation of a very long road ahead.
This inexperienced Ireland side goes into its final TikTok Women’s Six Nations match in Edinburgh on Saturday evening very much moving forward but the direction of travel is still not quite clear.
The decision at the outset to leave the strike power of Ireland’s Sevens stars such as Stacy Flood, Aimee-Leigh Murphy Crowe and Beibhinn Parsons to pursue their Olympic qualification dreams on the world series circuit and instead place trust in the next generation of raw talent was a calculated risk.
A return of four defeats from four in this year’s XVs championship makes for grim reading as the national team prepares to make its last stand against Scotland at DAM Health Stadium at 7:30pm.
They face a side that bought itself some wiggle room last weekend with a first championship win in 12 matches by beating Italy 29-21 and this Ireland side can anticipate a record Scottish crowd for the Women’s Six Nations as a result.
A fifth consecutive defeat for Ireland would leave head coach Greg McWilliams and his squad staring into the uncomfortable abyss of not just a Six Nations wooden spoon but the prospect of relegation to World Rugby’s Third Tier of nations when the global governing body’s new WXV tournament begins its first two-year cycle later this year.
Yet the Ireland boss, who has selected a starting line-up unchanged from the team which started last Saturday’s 48-0 loss to Grand Slam-chasing England in Cork for this match against the Scots, is confident that whatever the outcome in Edinburgh, his players are united and determined to see through the task of lifting the women’s team out of the doldrums rather than walk away dispirited at what could be viewed as the thankless task ahead.
“No, they’re tight,” McWilliams said. “My concern and the players’ concern is making sure they give their best performance at the weekend. It has to be, you have to be focused on that because for the players it takes a lot of mental and physical energy to put in really good performance against a Scottish side that came up with a really impressive win that will give them good momentum.
“It’s going to be a record crowd at DAM Health so we know it’s going to be a big challenge, so the main focus has to be on our ability to play and they’re in a really good place. There’s been a good energy this week and last week we showed a really good resilience and I think now it’s about connecting a little bit better and being smarter in how we play.
“Hopefully we can see an increase in how we use the ball this weekend which will hopefully allow us to show what we’re about with the ball and score some tries and hopefully excite the crowd.”
McWilliams is more than hopeful of an Irish win.
“I do. There’s no doubt it’s going to be a really good occasion, record crowd and a team coming off the back of a win so they’re going to be riding high in confidence but we have a group of players that have been working really hard away from the game and away from the camera and just going through the hard yards and they’re putting together some really good passages of play in training.
“I believe if they can show that in how we perform it’s going to be a cracker of a game and we’ve got the ability to compete. There’s no reason in the world why we can’t go out and win. It’s a cup final, it’s the last game and anything can happen in a cup final and it’s up to us now to go out there and put the best foot forward and come away with a win.”
C Rollie (Loughborough Lightning); C Grant (Saracens), E Orr (Heriot’s), M Smith (University of Edinburgh), F McGhie (Watsonians); H Nelson (Loughborough Lightning), M McDonald (Exeter Chiefs); L Bartlett (Loughborough Lightning), L Skeldon (Worcester Warriors), C Belisle (Loughborough Lightning); J Konkel-Roberts (Harlequins), L McMillan (Saracens); R Malcolm – captain (Loughborough Lightning), R McLachlan (Sale Sharks), E Gallagher (Worcester Warriors).
J Rettie (Saracens), A Young (Sale Sharks), E Clarke (University of Edinburgh), E Donaldson (University of Edinburgh), E Sinclair (Exeter Chiefs), C Mattinson (Worcester Warriors), B Blacklock (Harlequins), L Musgrove (Wasps).
L Delany (Sale Sharks); A Doyle (Munster), A Dalton (Leinster), V Irwin (Ulster), N Behan (Leinster); D O’Brien (Leinster), M Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster); L Djougang (Leinster), N Jones (Ulster), C Haney (Leinster); N Fryday (Connacht) - captain, S Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury); B Hogan (Ulster), G Moore (Saracens); D Nic a Bháird (Munster).
C Nielson (Exeter Chiefs), S McGrath (Ulster), K Buggy (Gloucester-Hartpury), H O’Connor (Leinster), D Wall (Munster), A Hughes (Leinster), A McGann (Connacht), M Deely (Connacht).
Sara Cox (England).
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