'We've got to be smarter' - Bemand left looking for more from Ireland

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand was left rueing missed opportunities as his side lost 40-0 to New Zealand in their final Pool C game.

The 46-year-old’s side enjoyed a promising opening 15 minutes at Brighton Community Stadium before the reigning world champions’ unwavering class shone through to finish as six try winners.

Braxton Sorensen-McGee registered another hat-trick as the 18-year-old’s stock rose even higher at the conclusion of the group stages.

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Ireland will now have a seven day turnaround before they play France in Exeter. A long time to sit and dwell on not scoring a point against the Black Ferns. No matter how hard they tried.

Numerous drives toward the whitewash were repelled, Amee Leigh Costigan could not latch onto a promising jab through and knock-ons at key frustrated the majority Irish crowd.

“In terms of how we started the game, we created momentum, created opportunities – if you look back at that, we’ve just got to be a little bit smarter in terms of how we take points when we’re in the score zone,” Bemand said.

There was an added element of frustration to Ireland’s toothlessness for their head coach.

In the opening two matches of the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, Ireland have scored 13 tries in their games against Japan and Spain.

On Sunday no matter what the Irish tried nothing seemed to come off. Their kicking game failed to significantly challenge the Kiwis. The Black Ferns rode every green way which came their way expertly.

“If you look over the last two weeks, we’ve actually been pretty clinical in terms of getting into the score zone coming up with points,” Bemand said.

“A different challenge with New Zealand, in terms of the type of athlete, type of player they’ve got, the physicality they bring.

“The fact we’re getting in there and creating momentum and getting opportunities to get in will be something that we’ll need to be looking at.

“We understand we will need to do more of that again against another World Cup contender (France) next week.

“(We) just need to be a little bit smarter in terms of how we get over the whitewash when opportunities come.”

There are also a number of potential injury issues that Bemand will have to deal with in the coming days.

Stacey Flood left the pitch in the 34th minute with an apparent lower leg injury, something which her head coach described as a “cut on her foot” at full-time.

Edel McMahon was replaced early in the second half after a knock to her knee and Eve Higgins missed the final minutes of the game as she underwent a head injury assessment which she passed.

It was in the six minutes that Higgins was absent in which the Black Ferns scored their final 14 points. Sorensen-McGee and Maia Joseph both dotted down to put some real distance between them and their opponents.

Even in the face of their late collapse, Bemand is keen to set his sights immediately on next Sunday’s clash in Exeter.

“Right up to the 75th, 76th minute and its 26 (scoreline) and some of those have come off the back of our errors, which have created opportunities for them to get in,” Bemand said.

“I think there’s a lot of positive stuff we can get out of this. There’s clearly some bits that we want to tidy up on if you’re going to go against World Cup contenders and next week, the quarter-final, brings a life all to itself where there’s no second chances now.”