'This is just the beginning' - Erin King delighted as Ireland end Women's Six Nations campaign in style

BOW DOWN TO THE KING: Ireland's Erin King celebrates with her niece after the match. Pic: ©INPHO.

Erin King led Ireland to an emphatic 54-5 Guinness Women’s Six Nations victory over Scotland on a landmark day at Aviva Stadium and promised it was only the beginning of her team’s journey.

Ireland ran in eight tries, with fly-half Dannah O’Brien kicking seven conversions with King on the scoresheet alongside two apiece from fellow back-rowers Brittany Hogan and player of the match Aoife Wafer, and one each from wing Robyn O’Connor, full-back Stacey Flood and hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald.

Injury-hit Scotland were trailing 47-0 at half-time and their first entry into the Irish 22 did not come until the 78th minute but they avoided a whitewash with a try in the 85th minute from replacement front-rower Aisha Sutcliffe.

It did little to dampen celebrations as Ireland recorded three wins in the Six Nations for the first year since 2020 to claim third place behind world champions England and France.

The 22-year-old flanker was the first captain to lift the Siobhan Cattigan Trophy, introduced this year to honour the late Scottish international forward who died at the age of 26 in 2021 and mark an enduring rivalry that began with Ireland’s first women’s international against Scotland in 1993.

King raised the trophy aloft in front of a home record 31,294 supporters in Ireland’s first standalone women’s international to be staged at the Aviva after her team delivered a performance to match the occasion.

“We were delighted to show what we were capable of, for the majority of the game,” King said. “Really happy with that performance and really proud of the girls, and yeah, we're only growing and this is just the beginning.

“We put out there that we wanted three home wins and we haven't gotten that in a while. So to put that out there and then get that done, we're really proud of that. And just the performance in itself. I think that first half we really came out the blocks and we've talked all campaign about having a fast start. And I think we showed that we can do that.”

Head coach Scott Bemand was equally satisfied with his team’s output in scoring seven tries in the opening 40 minutes. Asked how pleased he was with Ireland’s ruthlessness, Bemand said: “First half, how good the girls can be.

“I thought they took everything that we've been working on over a period of time and put it into place. And people look at the pick and go scores and they're a product of some unbelievable backs play to get you on the front foot, carrying, collisions, a little bit of offloading, gets you to that point, gets you 95 metres up the pitch.

“And to have that sense of inevitability of scoring is where we want to move the group to. We knew we needed that.

“It was one of the reflections from the World Cup. When you come against the best teams, once you get there, you need to be able to take your points. And certainly that first half, I thought they were unbelievable at executing the pressure they built.

“And as ever, there's bits to learn, isn't there? The second half, we weathered a storm. Scotland came out with some sort of emotional, physical response, which is absolutely normal. And we weathered that and we got ourselves opportunities.

“And if we just got a little bit sharper in taking those opportunities we could have got the scoreboard going again. So, it's an unbelievable performance without it being perfect.

“And it tees us up well to get more caps into people, to learn some more, grow the game in the summer, to then come back in 12 months' time and have another crack at this.”