Scott Bemand: 'Australia win gives supporters something to get behind'

Ireland Head Coach Scott Bemand and Christy Haney after the 150th Year Celebration Match

Ireland boss Scott Bemand believes his side’s upset victory over Australia in Belfast on Saturday can help bring the public along with the women’s national team as they step up to the top division of WXV in Canada later this month.

Ireland kicked off the IRFU's 150th Anniversary celebrations in style on Saturday with a morale-boosting 36-10 victory ahead of their WXV1 campaign in Vancouver later this month. Head coach Bemand will name his squad for the tournament on Tuesday before departing for Canada’s west coast at the end of next week and this six tries to two win over a side placed four places higher than his ninth-ranked squad was the perfect send-off in front of more than 3,600 supporters at Kingspan Stadium.

A try in each half from flanker and player of the match Aoife Wafer led the Irish scoring with further first-half tries from centre Aoife Dalton and full-back Eimear Considine giving the home side a 17-5 interval lead. The introduction of six of Ireland’s seven-strong bench shortly after the break lifted Bemand’s side to another level with one of them, Ireland Sevens star Eve Higgins claiming the first try of the second period before another, hooker Cliodhna Moloney rounded the scoring off in the final minute to touch down a powerful driving maul.

Ireland secured their first win in the Six Nations for two years last April when they beat Wales 36-5 in Cork and then edged past Scotland in Belfast in the final round to qualify for next year’s World Cup in England. Their third-placed championship finish also lifted the Irish into WXV1 where they will face world champions New Zealand and fellow top-four sides Canada and the USA in Vancouver, some vital preparation against Tier One opposition ahead of the World Cup. Beating Australia, their first Southern Hemisphere opponents since 2017, was another significant stepping stone in Ireland’s rejuvenation under Bemand.

The team huddle after the game

“It’s great to bring another winning performance back to Ireland.

“We said we wanted to take people along with us. To come up here, play fifth in the world, they are a good team, Australia are a Tier One nation. Being able to bring them to Ireland and put a performance there that gives the crowd something to get behind and gives the Irish public something they can see that we are moving forward and something to cheer.

“It felt like an exciting game and I’m delighted for the girls that some of the things we are starting to work on and want to implement we are starting to bear a bit of fruit.” Asked whether Saturday’s performance was the best of his 13-month tenure as head coach, Bemand drew a comparison with that Six Nations victory over Wales.

“The difference being in competition,” he said. “The Six Nations we probably had the weight of trying to achieve something. With this we know we are going into WXV1 next week. What happened today was important in taking us forward but without the weight of the result that the Six Nations brings.

“In terms of what the game looked like and how it flowed and where we got pressure, possibly. It’s brilliant being able to bring a bench on with that much firepower. They move a game up a level and it’s brilliant to see us score tries through pushing, getting a couple of maul tries today, that’s a great way to finish.

“We are showing we can score in a couple of different ways. Now we’ve got to keep that momentum going against more Tier One nations.”