Ending Six Nations with home wins ‘huge’ for Ireland

Ireland kicking coach Gareth Steenson says closing out the Women’s Six Nations with two home wins would be “huge” for the squad after last weekend’s deflating defeat by France.

Chasing a first win on French soil, Ireland had three tries disallowed during a dominant first-half display in Clermont on Saturday before the hosts seized control after the interval to win 26-7.

Ireland host Wales in Belfast on 9 May before welcoming Scotland to Aviva Stadium on 17 May having hammered Italy 57-20 in their first home game in Galway.

“We make no bones about it, three home wins was the goal at the start and go over and maybe put in a big performance and try to nick one away from home,” Steenson told BBC Sport NI.

“It’s got to be where the group’s at. You’ve got to want to go and win. The capabilities are there.

“I think the way the fixtures have fallen. England first up, it was good to play that big game and get us into that competition to see where we’re at. Then we go to Galway and put in that performance against a good Italian team, scoring seven tries in the first half. Conditions were difficult but we adapted really well to it.

“And then to put the fight up that we did [in France], it kind of lined up that you needed two good Test matches to go into what was effectively as tough a game as those girls have experienced.

“The week off has come as good timing for us. We can probably touch up on a few things leading into the Wales game in Belfast. We hope we get a good support out there because the girls are playing a really good brand of rugby and they’ve been feeding off the crowds.”

Hoping to avenge last year’s World Cup quarter-final defeat, Ireland made a quick start against France and took a 7-0 lead through Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald’s try.

But as Ambre Mwayembe hit back for the hosts, Ireland had three tries disallowed before France assumed control in the second half to claim a bonus-point win to keep alive their hopes of wresting the title away from world champions England.

While Steenson admits there are “plenty of frustrations” with how the game in Clermont panned out, he insists the first-half display points to the strides Ireland have made under head coach Scott Bemand.

“When you look back on it, there is a lot we’re getting right as a group,” he added.

“We’re creating opportunities which before we probably weren’t.

“Look at the England game, we went over and didn’t fire shots. We took a bit long to get into the game. We went over [to France] with a plan which was implemented for the best part of the first half, we just didn’t get the scores.”

Former Exeter Chiefs fly-half Steenson, who also worked with Ireland at the World Cup, added: “When you’re away in France or any away game, you want to understand the momentum shifts within games and there was definitely after half-time a momentum shift.

“It’s about understanding how to curtail that at times and knowing that the opposition are going to have their moments in games. Even at half-time I felt we were in a good space. Now there were a few punched out because of the physical element that was put into the game, a lot of effort put into it.

“There’s so many big learnings to be taken and I know that’s the old classic, you hear all these things about cliches and learning, but that’s where this group is, this group is not the finished article.

“The more they keep putting themselves in these scenarios and playing in those big cauldrons, they want to be playing in those types of games.”