Ireland 'not daunted' as England plan World Cup homecoming in front of 75,000 crowd

The Six Nations kicks off with Scott Bemnad's side heading for Twickenham. 

Erin King during an Ireland Women's Rugby squad training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

It’s 22 years since an Ireland team ruined an English World Cup-winning team’s ‘homecoming’. Girvan Dempsey scored the visitors’ only try that day as the hosts went down to a first Twickenham loss in five years.

Maybe the more interesting comparison comes in the fact that there will be more people in that same stadium for Saturday’s Six Nations opener between the countries’ women’s teams than were there when Clive Woodward’s boys came up short in 2004.