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'We’ve got firepower' – Bemand hails Ireland after Spain scare
By Nathan Johns
Ireland head coach Scott Bemand emphasised the positive result after a nervy victory over Spain at Franklin’s Gardens.
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The final 16-point margin did not reflect how close Spain could have come to an upset if they had improved on their error count. Despite the issues Ireland displayed themselves, Bemand was more focused on the fact that the result sealed a quarter-final berth at this World Cup.
“We knew what we wanted out of today, to get a bonus-point win. At the start of the day, I’d have bit your hand off, just because of the magnitude of the importance of what it signifies,” said Bemand, as his squad could be heard singing in celebration nearby.
“You can hear it in the other room now. To get into a World Cup quarter-final was something we wanted to achieve, and we wanted to achieve it at the first chance.
“So, two games in, we’ve taken two bonus-point wins from the games we’ve played and now we roll on to Brighton for another challenge, which we’re hugely excited about.”
Ireland started positively, working their way into a 12-point lead thanks to scores from Dannah O’Brien and Amee-Leigh Costigan. Spain did hit back, finding the line twice in the space of six minutes to level proceedings.
“I think we controlled it early and well, and some of the kicking in the first half was sublime, wasn’t it? In the corners and just keeping pressure on the Spanish,” said Bemand.
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“They’re a good team, Spain, and what we started to do when we went through the game, we’d have good moments, good exits, and give them an entry back. So it felt like a very flip-flop game by the end of it, where we’d get out, we’d give away a penalty, we’re back in, and we’re defending 10 minutes of pick-and-go.
“So we’ll look hard at that, about how we can stop it and what we need to do.
“There’ll be some bits around what a contest looks like, but we need to learn to manage that, we need to learn to deal with it a bit better. So we’ll look pretty hard at our own performance, the bits where we can grow, and obviously, there are bits to grow—there always are.
“We’ve never professed to be the finished article, but scoring another seven tries out there again today, it shows that we’ve got some firepower, it shows we’ve got some tools that we can call upon. It’s just calling upon them consistently and more in the right space, which will let us go longer and deeper into these games.”
As well as securing a quarter-final berth, Ireland were celebrating the occasion of Linda Djougang’s 50th cap — she is only the 15th Irishwoman to achieve the feat.
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“The group are absolutely buzzing for a couple of reasons: the quarter-final, I’ve just been told it’s the most Ireland have ever scored at a World Cup, and it’s only game two, and Linda Djougang, who’s just got her 50th cap.
“Fifty caps takes a special player. I think it’s a few years since Ireland had a 50-cap (2017), but she’s got loads more caps in her. She can go deep in the game, she’s physical, she’s brave, she’s a great person to have on our team.”
The Spanish camp were balancing conflicting emotions at half-time. There was pride at responding so strongly to last weekend’s defeat to New Zealand, albeit tinged with regret at what might have been given the close nature of the scoreline for much of the contest.
“There was a moment in the game where we felt like we could win it, it was there,” said Spain wing Claudia Perez Perez, a try-scorer on the day.
“I don’t think that went away, but it is true that Ireland are very effective in attack. When they were on top of us, we tried to hype the whole team up and continue trying to get to their try line. They played incredibly well, so it wasn’t possible today.
“I’m proud of the team because I don’t think a lot of people really believed we would be so close to winning. I’m proud that we were able to do that and show the whole team, and all the people outside watching, that we are a team that can compete against big teams, Six Nations teams.”
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