Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says his team will need to work on their “game smarts” following their 21-8 defeat to Canada in their second game of the WXV1 tournament. Ireland had to play with 13 players midway through the first half when props Linda Djougang and Niamh O’Dowd were yellow-carded within a minute of each other and Canada were awarded a penalty try.
The host nation then scored two tries in three minutes before half-time. While Eimear Considine scored a try six minutes into the second half and they kept Canada scoreless in the second period, a dogged Ireland fell to their first defeat in this competition following their 29-27 victory over New Zealand last weekend.
“We knew we would have to withstand Canada’s pressure game. We spoke about not letting them in and they got their points from entries that we feel were relatively soft on our behalf. Look we’ve got a bit to work at. A little bit of game smarts in that sense that we don’t want to be giving away cheap penalties and costing us yellow cards. It does put us under pressure,” said Bemand after the game.
“We actually defended really well with 13, incredibly well. But that pressure takes its toll and then as we start to get the girls back on, there’s maybe a bit of mental off-switch because we think we’ve survived the 10-minute period.
“I’m so proud of the girls, it’s not proud as in good effort, it’s proud as in we’re showing that we can fire shots. There’ll be more to come from this group as we learn and we’ll learn quickly.”
Despite the final scoreline, Ireland’s display was another indicator they can mix it with the world’s best. Canada – who are ranked second in the world – scored seven tries in their 46-24 win over France last week. While Ireland kept them to three tries, Bemand said he was disappointed his side weren’t more clinical with taking their chances.
“It shows where we are and where we’ve got to that we’re disappointed with the result,” Bemand added. “There was a bit of naivety where we copped two seven-pointers late in the first half but then we regroup and win the second half five-nil.
“We’re sitting here disappointed that we didn’t execute more chances, that we didn’t execute when we got into their 22.
“We came here and said we want to leave respected; I think we’ve come some way to earning a bit more of that respect. But we quickly wanted to move through the gears and be in them games right at the death.”
After a promising start, Ireland’s effort was punctured with back-to-back yellow card in the second quarter. With Canada piling on the pressure near the Irish try-line, Djougang was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 25th minute. A minute later, Canada were awarded a penalty try and O’Dowd was sent to the sin-bin for pulling down a maul.
Ireland initially managed playing with 13 players well. Five minutes later, Wafer made an excellent break up the pitch with captain Enya Breen in support. Then Canada were reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes when prop Alexandria Ellis was sin-binned. Ireland decided to kick for the points and a Dannah O’Brien penalty got Ireland on the scoreboard at 7-3.
But then Ireland conceded two tries in three minutes approaching half-time. Canada grabbed the momentum with tries from out-half Claire Gallagher and flanker Julia Omokhuale to help them to a 21-3 half-time lead. But Canada didn’t score again for the rest of the game. Six minutes into the second half Ireland got themselves back in the test. And the move was started by another Wafer classic with a storming run from the base of a scrum. The ball was recycled to O’Brien who produced an impressive cross-field kick which fell to winger Considine to dot down. While Ireland dug-deep for another score, it didn’t come.
Bemand hinted at some frustration with referee Aimee Barrett-Theron’s decisions at the set-piece.
“We were working hard to understand what the referee was asking of us from the set-piece perspective, and I felt we showed some great character in not getting too rattled by that. We managed to get back to an even keel,” said Bemand.
“The referees, like any of us, are out there trying to do their best. It maybe felt to us that today the rub of the green and the bounce of the ball wasn’t going to go our way. We kept calm, we kept to our processes, we didn’t get flustered and that gave us an opportunity in the second half, we’re still looking for that next score.
“We felt if we’d scored around the 65-70 minute mark, we’d be right in the game and we had chances to do that. We’ll never look outside ourselves as a group. There were bits we could have done better. We’ll review hard and try and put it right next.”
Ireland’s last game of the WXV1 tournament is against the USA next Friday. The defeat to Canada ends Ireland’s three-game winning run. Bemand says he’s not surprised by how fast his side are developing.
“No. They’re doing well. We’re immersing them in a lot of detail. We’re immersing them in standards that a year ago we were just starting to consider. We’re building belief in what our game is so we know we can trust it. The amount of character. Canada today have made line breaks; girls are hunting back, hunting back around the breakdown and covering each other’s backs. Defensively we’ve becoming the team that we want to. We’re becoming really hard to beat.”