Among the many statistics emanating from the England squad, one is that they have not been beaten in the Six Nations championship since Ireland did it in the final round of the 2018 campaign. That’s a run of 31 unbeaten matches.
During the current streak, England have averaged 8.2 tries a game. Now ranked the number one team in the world by a distance – 97.56 points to second placed Canada’s 89.3 – England will arrive in Cork’s Musgrave Park (kick-off 4.45pm) on Saturday expecting to change that 31 number into 32. Many believe they will. Ireland went down 88-10 last year in Twickenham.
But intimate venues have been kind to the Irish team in the past. Ireland’s only two Six Nations wins over England came at Ashbourne Rugby Club in a 25–0 win in 2013 and an 11–8 win in 2015 – the two years Ireland went on to win the title.
Maybe it’s time to scratch a 10-year itch. Irish coach Scott Bemand believes so and that a much-improved Irish team is capable and can stop the winning streak.
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“Can we? Yeah, yeah we believe we can,” said Bemand. “We talk about awe versus belief. It’s not as simple as just accepting that you don’t need to be in awe, but we have played against these girls before. Some of the girls play in the PWR [Premiership Women’s Rugby], rub shoulders with them regularly.
“Some of us have coached in that system, so we know every system has opportunities and flaws. They have got certain bits of their game that we know we need to deal with, certain bits where we need to be prepared to act physically, think fast.
“In terms of the athleticism of the game, our group has been growing, has made great strides in terms of power, [the] fitness you need to compete with the Tier One nations, so it’s a great opportunity for us to test ourselves.”
England have been changing up their squads during this championship, which led to a smug headline in the Daily Telegraph last month ‘England and England ‘A’ are best teams in Women’s Six Nations’.
That came after England coach John Mitchell’s side added a second WXV1 title by beating Canada in October, while fullback Ellie Kildunne won the World Player of the Year, an award largely earned from grabbing nine tries and gaining more than 300 metres more than any other player in the 2024 championship.
Bemand knows what England will bring, although it depends on the side they pick. With an eye on the World Cup in the summer, which they are hosting, they have been trying to find their best combinations.
But Bemand has faith in an Irish squad that has gained in confidence and self-belief, with a big part of it coming from the win over world champions New Zealand last October.
Although Ireland lost to France in this campaign, the team looks on it as the one that got away. The coach’s instinct is that Ireland are not the team that conceded 88 points in 2024 and have been closing the gap.
“They [England] have had two groups that have managed to keep scoreboards ticking,” he says. “But you look at that second half against Italy, I know they had two that were chalked off, but it was deep into the 75th, 76th minute till they got a score, so there’s bits of the game we can get after.
“We’ve got to ask the right questions. That’s really important. If we let England play on their terms that gets difficult, but we believe we have focused on some areas of the game that won’t let it just be played on their terms.
“That will allow us control speed of possession, let us control territory. So there’s bits we believe we’ve got in our armory now that won’t conceded eight tries, that will allow us get scoreboard pressure.”
Ireland reported no injuries after claiming their first victory over Italy since 2022 with a 54-12 win at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, although star winger Beibhinn Parsons remains unavailable to play this week. Bemand expects the former Sevens star will make an appearance before the championship ends on April 26th in Scotland.
