Scott Bemand: 'I want Ireland to be contenders by the World Cup'

To many, England’s comfortable 33-12 dismissal of Ireland for the opening round of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations was almost predetermined. 

But for the visitors, it was their best result against the Red Roses in three years. In 2025, they managed a single try in a 49-5 home defeat. In 2024, an 88-10 thrashing marked their last outing at Allianz Stadium. This time, periods of the second half were dominated by Ireland, with sustained pressure in England’s half, winning penalties at decisive moments, and effective set-piece execution to platform both of their tries. 

Post-match, Ireland head coach Scott Bemand assured that this was always going to be a huge undertaking but remained positive about Ireland’s growth. Ireland went into half time 21-0 down but scored two tries in the second half, one through replacement winger Anna McGann and one through captain Erin King.

“An occasion like last week, I thought was outstanding,” Bemand said. “It’s great to play in front of a record crowd. The second half is where you see the Red Roses blow people away. The challenge that was issued at half-time, I thought they responded to. The bench offered a lot when they came on.

“There’s bits we can take enormous encouragement from. In the World Cup, we spoke about mauling and being able to have an effective maul in the green zone. We’ve effectively scored two maul tries today, which we did not do in the World Cup against the World Cup contenders. That’s a statement of something to keep going after. I’ve seen a group that can stick in there longer.”

“It was always going to be a tough ask, wasn’t it? Coming to the new world champions, number one in the world in front of 77,000 people. But we’re hungry to get better quickly. And I think that’s the message that we’re going to we’re going to take. 

“There’s a process that you have to get through and you have to keeping step changes in areas of your game. You’ve got to grow your squad, the capability within the squad. It was a tough day at the office two years ago. And I would say we were very confident that we knew we were a different group coming here.” 

Bemand refers to their last outing at Allianz Stadium Twickenham, with England dominating Ireland 88-10. A flare signal at the time to the IRFU that Ireland needed better infrastructure to support its international women’s side.

“The atmosphere, the vibe if you like, arriving to the stadium and seeing the occasion, the crowds – the girls were energised, not daunted, and we were pretty confident that would happen because they were young and inexperienced. Now they’ve been through some stuff, that 88-10 and they can learn from it.

“You look how composed Anna [McGann] is out there today on the back of that game two years ago. She’s had a World Cup, she’s been playing games where we’ve gone close to France.

“I would like to think if we can get, as we go through this competition and into next year, we can squeeze those errors out which then hopefully gives you tight scoreboards into that sort of last quarter of the game.”

Anna McGann scored Ireland’s opening try of the fixture in the 63rd minute from a driving maul, beating two defenders and avoiding touch in the five-metre channel. It was a difficult and adept finish to get Ireland on the scoreboard.

Bemand emphasised that the result against England is part of a bigger developmental picture for Ireland. Since offering the first central contracts for international players in 2022, their current targets are  building quality and depth into the squad, with young players coming up through the system.

The Celtic Challenge has been a large vehicle for this. A cross regional competition between Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It’s two Irish teams: the Clovers and the Wolfhounds [who have won the competition all three years since its inception] have increased training, minutes and quality of matches for players in these regions. 

It is a competition designed specifically to address the gap in the women’s game across the Celtic nations, and has become an increasingly productive pathway for selection into the national side, bridging the gap between club [the Energia AIL] and country. Ireland does not have a domestic professional league akin to England’s Premiership Women’s Rugby. It shows the importance developing an infrastructure designed specifically to fit the needs of the women’s game, which might not necessarily sit is a mirror image of the men’s. 

Fixture

Womens Six Nations

Ireland Women

09:40

18 Apr 26

Italy Women

All Stats and Data

“It’s not rocket science in terms of how it works is it? We developed a really strong process over here in England and we’re seeing a very similar trajectory over in Ireland,” Bemand added.

“The group we’ve got now is better than the group we had two years ago. We know that through the Under-18s and the Under-20s there’s players that are going to come into contention for us very, very quickly. Just last week the Irish U18s beat the England U18s. 

“I know people have got opinions on the Celtic Challenge – it’s working really well for us. It’s given us time together. We base everything around a training identity which we’re able to bring to life. In the Celtic Challenge the back lines are relatively experienced, still young but with experience. But two very young packs. 

“In two years time, those young packs then become women that have experience, travelling to Wales and Scotland, training hard and under pressure, and those girls are going to start to come through. So I think there is similarities in terms of the process that was gone through. 

“By the time we get to the next World Cup in Australia, I’d like Ireland to be considered contenders. We’re tracking. We’re closing the gap. We’re investing our money in the right areas.”

A man with a plan looking to the remainder of the tournament, with their second fixture against Italy at home this weekend, Bemand underlined the goals for his squad.

“We’ve got four games left in this competition. The Irish lads [Ireland men’s national side] lost their first game and were in it right until the last kick. So we want to be in this competition, to be in it for four more games to get our best out there and produce some results. It’s just incrementally getting better.

“We know next week’s going to be a tough game. The Italians are tough, and they’re well coached. We had a really good away result to them last year. It’s important to build momentum and first thing is be hard to beat and win your home games. 

“We want more and more occasions like we’ve experienced today. We’ve got a home game at the Aviva against Scotland at the end of the Six Nations and we want to be able to do what England have done here.”