Ireland undaunted by Black Ferns loss ahead of World Cup quarter-final

France haven’t lost to Ireland since 2017 and they will have seen plenty in how the world champions defanged their next opponents that can be used or tweaked for their own devices before the teams meet again at the weekend.

UNDAUNTED: Ireland will face Six Nations rivals France in their Women's RWC quarter-final. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady

World Cups wait for no man or woman. Include Ireland’s two warm-up games against Scotland and Canada and the Ireland squad has played five games in the last six weekends and now France await in a tournament quarter-final next Sunday.

That’s some workload.

The Irish players made the most of their stay in Brighton last week. Arcades and roller coasters were the order of their day off for some of them, and the ride just continues now as they decamp further west down the south coast to Exeter.

A quaint university town in deepest Devon, Exeter is harder to reach than Brighton with its high-speed rail link direct to Gatwick Airport and London, and the four-hour journey on Monday will have given players and management some time for contemplation.

The 40-0 loss to New Zealand on Sunday has to have left some scars. The final score was unkind on a team that could and should have claimed at least one or two tries, and conceded a pair in garbage time, but momentum has undoubtedly been lost.

We can say that, the squad itself can’t afford to let such thoughts in.

“You're playing the defending champions,” said Eve Higgins of the loss. “They’re one of the top contenders in the competition. It’s always going to be tough. Same again next week. We’re going to be up against huge opposition.

“Our goal in this competition was to get into the quarter-finals as quickly as possible and we did that in our first wins in the pool stage. Now we’re into knockout rugby so we know if we put 80 minutes out next week we can get through and hopefully make a semi-final.” 

This team’s goal was made public from the off: make it to London. Beat France next week and they will guarantee a game in Twickenham given the winners and losers from the last four will play either a final or a bronze medal-type match in RFU HQ.

But the French haven’t lost to Ireland since 2017 and they will have seen plenty in how the world champions defanged their next opponents that can be used or tweaked for their own devices before the teams meet again at the weekend.

New Zealand targeted out-half Dannah O’Brien, their line speed out of defence was blinding and suffocated an Irish attack that couldn’t or wouldn’t adapt on the fly or at half-time and their physical pack set the foundations for a lightning back line to cut loose.

This was all after a fast and impressive start by an Irish team that showed its intent when engaging in a Mexican standoff after the haka, but Higgins had little doubt when asked what the difference was between Brighton and Vancouver last year when Ireland beat them.

“Maybe line speed,” said the centre who started at the weekend and featured off the bench in Canada. “Our attacking game was probably nullified a bit by the speed of their defence. Their physicality and their attack as well for getting us backwards.

“So maybe it was the speed difference from the last two weeks going into now. We knew that was going to come. So it's just how can we quickly get over that and bring it next week because we know it's going to be the same.” 

World Cups tend to be more challenging like that. There’s no doubt but that the likes of New Zealand and France are better now than they were in 2024, peaking at the perfect time in a way that sides with less resources might struggle to match.

Ireland’s cause in England hasn’t been helped by the absences through injury of key players, especially so in the pack, but the thin layer of talent at the pinnacle of the Irish women’s game was in evidence elsewhere in Brighton.

The team’s dependency on O’Brien at ten is already at Johnny Sexton levels and with Enya Breen unavailable with injury and Nicole Fowley unused this last two months, that left Stacey Flood as back-up against New Zealand.

Until she departed injured at least. Flood’s first-half injury effectively left Ireland with no-one to step in had O’Brien picked up a knock, while Higgins found herself shifted in the back field to cover for the loss of her fellow Dubliner.

“I knew that the last many games I played it was a possibility that was going to happen. So thankfully I've had conversations in the past going into games, that it was potentially something that was going to happen.

“You knew one day it was possibly going to. Obviously I have good teammates that can help me on the pitch. And I played a bit of 15 in the Celtic Challenge and stuff so I kind of just focus on myself and what I can bring.”