Ireland out to back up Black Ferns upset against heavyweights Canada

Scott Bemand’s side will line out against the hosts at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday.

Sat, 05 Oct, 2024 - 07:45

Brendan O'Brien

Getting to the top is one thing, staying there another. It’s a challenge made all the more testing by the fact that Scott Bemand’s side is now being asked to take down Canada less than a week after accounting for New Zealand’s world champions.

A Kiwi scalp will never lose its currency but there are others of equal value in the women’s game right now. The Canadians stand second in the world rankings, one place above the Black Ferns, having beaten them just last May in Christchurch.

A comprehensive win against France last Sunday offers more recent evidence again as to the abilities of the host nation as the tournament switches from the impressive BC Place Stadium in Vancouver to the more homely Langley Events Centre this weekend.

“A strong Canada outfit will provide a different challenge for us and we're looking forward to testing ourselves against one of the best teams in the world,” said Ireland’s head coach Scott Bemand ahead of their Saturday night second round WXV1 tie.

Ireland did so well against New Zealand.

The five tries scored dominated the highlight reels but isolated clips don’t do justice to the way they allied head and heart to pull off one of the greatest shocks that the game of rugby will see in this entire calendar year.

They leaked just three points while down to 14 players early in the second-half and showed a very encouraging ability to go about things on their own terms in the manner and in the areas in which they played the game.

They overcame the doubts that might have come with conceding an early try, and in seeing the lead taken off them at times, but roused themselves to pinch it with less than two minutes to go thanks to Erin King’s second try and Dannah O’Brien’s conversion.

Ireland finished the game with just 45% of possession but that figure read 63% for the final ten minutes. That shows mental resilience and a high level of physical fitness, but they spoke almost immediately afterwards of areas ripe for improvement.

Cutting down on the 13 penalties coughed up in round one would go a decent way to maintaining the momentum that they have created with the Kiwi win and the 26-point success against Australia in Belfast in the middle of last month.

Belief must be booming.

“If we go into it again thinking that we can put out the performance that we want to put out then that will be very important to us,” said winger Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe earlier this week.

The presence of five sevens players, including Murphy Crowe, has added immensely to the group effort in British Columbia and Canada are in a similar boat what with five of their own among their number who took part in the Olympics last summer.

Coach Kevin Rouet, who has made five changes to the XV that started last week against France, made a point of referencing the need to keep building depth into their squad as they build towards next year’s World Cup in England.

Bemand has made four alterations to his line-up with only one enforced: King stepping in for captain Edel McMahon who picked up an injury during the week. Eve Higgins, Emily Lane and Cliodhna Moloney are the others to move up the roster.

Ireland: S Flood, E Considine, E Higgins, E Breen, A Murphy Crowe, D O’Brien, E Lane; N O’Dowd, C Moloney, L Djougang, D Wall, F Tuite, E King, A Wafer, B Hogan.

Replacements: N Jones, S McCarthy, A Stock, G Moore, D Nic a Bháird, M Scuffil-McCabe, N Fowley, A Dalton.

Canada: T Perry; F Bermudez, S Seumanutafa, A Tessier, A Corrigan; C Gallagher, J Pelletier; B Kassil, E Tuttosi, A Ellis; T Beukeboom, C Holtkamp; P Buisa, C Crossley, G Senft.

Replacements: S Cline, M Hunt, R Wood, L Royer, F Forteza, J Omokhaule, O Apps, J Schell.