'Young girls can now dream about playing at the Aviva': Scott Bemand on growth of the women's game

Interest in women’s rugby is at an all-time high following last summer’s World Cup

Thu, 26 Mar, 2026 - 08:19

Ayisha Gulati

From packed stadiums to long-term ambition, Ireland Head Coach Scott Bemand believes the Green Wave are stepping into a new era ahead of a landmark Women’s Six Nations.

Interest in women’s rugby is at an all-time high following last summer’s World Cup. Ireland’s campaign ended in a quarter-final defeat to France, but it marked significant progress for a side that failed to qualify just four years earlier.

Now, backed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) with a new contract in tow, Bemand is not shying away from the scale of his ambition.

“The Six Nations just keeps getting bigger and bigger, it's class,” Bemand said. “The stadiums that we're going to be playing in, the crowds that are expected to be in those stadiums, it feels that the momentum in women's rugby generated from the World Cup is continuing and there's some really juicy match-ups.

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"The players are so excited. This is the space we want to be operating in - big events in the best stadiums, in front of the biggest crowds."

That growth is evident. More than 70,000 tickets have been sold for Ireland’s opening clash with England at Twickenham, while over 15,000 have been snapped up for their final-round meeting with Scotland at Aviva Stadium - the first standalone women’s international at the venue. While already set to be a record attendance at the Aviva, Bemand hopes to see even more in Dublin.

“Playing at the Aviva is a really significant milestone for us,” he added. “We want to keep growing the game in Ireland and bring people along with us. We want 20 or 30,000 tickets to be sold by the time we get there. With good performances, hopefully more people will be enticed to come and support us.”

EYES ON PRIZE: Women's Six Nations head coaches line up at the launch event in London. Pic: Ben Whitley/PA

After not qualifying for the 2021 World Cup, becoming quarter-finalists in 2025 felt like real progress, and Bemand’s hard work has been rewarded with a recent contract extension until 2029, seeing the team through another World Cup cycle.

There has been similar progress in the Six Nations - after a bottom-placed finish in 2023, Bemand came in and helped Ireland finish third in the last two editions of the tournament, behind only England and France.

Bemand insists there is still work to do. His learnings from the World Cup were around converting in big moments, “packing a punch” against bigger players and better-drilled organisations, and having more squad depth - things that the team have been working tirelessly on.

“We want to be at a place in four years' time where we've got a team that has the experience and the depth to produce something special in the World Cup,” he added. “We believe we have the right group for that and will be stepping up our game.

“It’s not easy playing England and France away from home, but we believe we're at a level where we're going to create more problems if we play our best game.”

The success of the men’s team is also something Bemand draws upon, maintaining a close working relationship with men’s head coach Andy Farrell.

"Faz has done an unbelievable job with the lads. We're in a space here in women’s rugby that's on quite a steep trajectory in terms of the way we're trying to take the game.

“There's bits we can learn from the men's game and there's bits where we can tread our own path - we're not trying to copy, we're trying to be authentic and be our own version. We all have one common purpose and goal and that's to be part of a successful Ireland set up.

“How will we take our game to the next level? We can certainly draw inspiration from what the lads have done. Hopefully we can start elevating our performances, bringing results in. We want to be at the business end of competitions. Over the next couple of years we want to be talking about winning Six Nations titles, Grand Slams and World Cups."

Yet beyond results, Bemand is acutely aware of the broader impact this team can have.

“We talk about the Green Wave - it's got energy but what we've got to keep doing is growing that wave. It's got legs of its own. The ripples that we create will spread around the island of Ireland and it’s starting to happen.

“Our role is to keep it going. Young girls can now dream about playing at the Aviva, which is outstanding.”