Ireland's Monaghan and Higgins 'disappointed' with Black Ferns loss

In the lead up to Ireland’s 40-nil loss to New Zealand there was so much promise for Sam Monaghan and her teammates.

All day green jerseys piled into Sussex and there was a palpable sense of expectation on the final day of 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup pool action.

But not long after Ireland’s Call reverberated around Brighton Community Stadium’s concrete bowl, and a promising opening 15 minutes, it was the Black Ferns’ afternoon.

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New Zealand Women’s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women’s Top 50 award this week.

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Portia Woodman-Wickliffe receives Women’s Top 50 award

New Zealand Women’s superstar Portia Woodman-Wickliffe spoke to RugbyPass after receiving the prestigious, inaugural RugbyPass Women’s Top 50 award this week.

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Under Scott Bemand’s leadership, Ireland have more often than not made great strides forward. In 2025 alone the side saw Aoife Wafer win the Guinness Women’s Six Nations Player of the Championship and a third place finish in the annual competition.

“They played some incredible rugby,” Monaghan said. “We’ve left this game a bit disappointed and we left a fair bit out there.

“A lot of our errors they converted into tries and a lot of the pressure we put on them we just couldn’t convert in their 22. Loads to take into next week.

“We’ve got such a massive week coming up, we’re in a quarter-final which is really exciting. We’ll dust ourselves off, go again next week and bring it.”

Eve Higgins’ performance on the south coast more or less typified her team’s efforts.

The 2024 Summer Olympian tirelessly carried the ball and made last ditch tackles. On several occasions the 26-year-old even received treatment, although she remained on the field even as Stacey Flood and Edel McMahon left the pitch early with injury.

Higgins was also removed from play early when her mouthguard indicated that she required a head injury assessment and subsequently passed.

It was just the finishing touches that lacked and left the centre frustrated at the final whistle.

“It’s disappointing to come out and have zero points on the board,” Higgins said.

“But we’re fortunate enough now to be through to a quarter-final next week and we’ve got a few days to assess ourselves and fix things.

“New Zealand put huge line speed on today, with huge physicality, it’s now what we do to learn from that and get ahead.”

Next week in Exeter, Ireland will take on Pool D table toppers France. Their opponents beat South Africa 57-10 at Franklin’s Gardens to conclude the group stages and avoided a potential banana skin against an opponent that have impressed many at the World Cup so far.

It has been eight years since Ireland last tasted victory against France.

WIth the potential return of Aofie Wafer on the horizon and a week to banish the errors that compounded their efforts in Brighton, a brighter horizon could well be around the corner.