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WXV: Scott Bemand speaks of squad depth as Ireland prepare to face USA
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Ireland head coach Scott Bemand has discussed the squad’s depth as they get ready to face the USA in their final WXV 1 match.
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Bemand has opted for Nicole Fowley at fly-half over Dannah O’Brien, who has started both games so far and kicked the match-winning conversion against New Zealand in the first round.
He said: “We’ve got some good tens in the group. Two tens with a little bit more experience in Nicole and Dannah and we’ve got young Caitriona Finn who’s coming along nicely as well, developing inside the group.
“We just felt there’s some potential opportunities around how we play and where we play our rugby this week. Nicole gets a chance to put her forward with Dannah coming off the bench. Dannah’s had some big game-changing moments, she’ll take a step back away from pressure, see the picture, come on and have a big impact in the game.
“This isn’t just about Nicole and Dannah. Caitriona Finn’s rate of development is super fast. There are three in the mix at the moment. Caitriona is disappointed not to get a run out in this competition but she’ll keep the other two on their toes, keep pushing them forward. By the time we get to the Six Nations, if we’ve got three out halves out there competing we’re going to be in a good position with the squad.”
Last weekend’s match against Canada, despite being a 21-8 loss, was a key stepping stone in building the Irish team.
Speaking ahead of this weekend’s match, Bemand said: “We’ve been pretty consistent in talking about winning performances. It’ll be the performance that produces the result. We’ve been able to bring our training ID over here, we’ve been able to compete really hard within training. There are some girls that are ecstatic to get a look in, and there are some girls who have missed out just. There is a big opportunity in this game.
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“We want to put our best performance out there, we want to be coming home having picked up wins. If we get to the end of this competition and we leave this autumn block, if you include the Australia game in that, if we go home winning three losing one, we’d have been moving momentum in the right direction. Enya [Breen] mentioned about us wanting to leave these shores feeling respected. I think we’re earning that.
“Even the game against Canada the other day, the Canadians are complimenting our players afterwards saying how physical it was. We’ve got to keep backing that up. It’s not about winning and going to sleep. We want to back up what we’ve done this far in this series. We’re in a good position to do it, we’ve got the bodies fresh, the minds are eager, we’ve just got to produce that performance on the weekend.”
Among the team Bemand is building, there is a focus on integrating players and increasing cohesion between the sevens and XVs set-ups.
One player in particular who has been an example of such integration of late is Erin King, who will earn her fourth XVs cap this weekend, and provided a vital two tries in the historic win over the Black Ferns.
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“Erin is a firecracker,” Bemand said. “She brings loads of energy to everything she does whether that’s on the pitch, off the pitch. She’s superb. She’s still pretty raw around how much XVs she’d played coming into this but she’s growing every session that we do.
“Every single session that we do there’s another layer of detail that she’s able to add to her game without it taking from her instinctive best. We’ve said we’re going to be a Team of Us, we’re going to be an Irish women’s group, sevens and XVs, we’re going to be able to pick the best players out there and she’s added an immense amount.”
Ireland face the USA at 12:30 PT on 11 October at BC Place, tickets are available HERE.
