Following defeat to France in the opening game of the Women’s Six Nations Championship, Irish coach Scott Bemand reported that his team had no injuries for their second match against Italy this weekend.
Disappointed though Ireland were with coming up short against the French, Bemand said that although Ireland got quite a lot wrong, their higher standards would hopefully show on Sunday in Stadio Sergei Lanfranchi.
“We’ve come through in reasonable health,” said Bemand. “Post match we have a full squad to pick from. We are in pretty good health. Actually, we have come through the first game pretty well.
Have the Lions left Ireland in the lurch?
“We got quite a lot wrong against France. We’ve higher standards and in our last 18 months we have worked hard at firing shots. We let an opportunity go. We just let them off the hook.”
Aoife Dalton praises Ireland’s ‘complete team performance’ in sinking Italy
Ireland secure record-breaking eight-try victory over Italy
Italy v Ireland: Injury-free Aoibheann Reilly to start as Irish side look for rare win on the road
Ireland’s Scott Bemand hopes his team will show higher standards in Six Nations match against Italy
Bemand pointed to Ireland not being the finished product yet but also stressed the team have no interest in becoming noble losers. Pointing to his 21-year-old outhalf Dannah O’Brien, he added that Ireland will back themselves this weekend to get more of their game on the pitch and create more experience for the players and more opportunities.
“We had 14 handling errors, which is more than the French had,” said Bemand. “That is the reality of it. Do we work on handling? Absolutely. We created six opportunities against France, they created two. We are only going to get better. We made strides this week. We have just got to keep getting better and better.”
Bemand added that he believes Sunday’s opposition have become more structured in their play and will provide stubborn opponents. The Italians were beaten 38-5 by England at LNER Community Stadium in their opening game but showed signs of resistance in the second half. The half time score was 33-5.
“They have more structure these days and we are expecting a strong box kicking game. I am expecting and incredible challenge from Italy. They are certainly not going to roll over and make things easy for us.”
