Lining up for the anthems, Stacey Flood eyed up the crowd. A warm wave followed the recognition of a familiar face.
Running off at half-time, after an opening period featuring a ludicrously high ball-in-play time, Brittany Hogan would have been forgiven for focusing solely on a much-needed seat in the changing room. Instead, before running up the tunnel, she too smiled and acknowledged the support of a loved one.
Ireland’s first World Cup game in eight years could easily have been an overwhelming occasion. The fall of missing the 2021 edition and subsequent rise of this group has been well documented. Franklin’s Gardens was full of fans sporting player names on the backs of their jerseys – a marker of friends and family. It was an emotional prematch setting.
Ireland’s joyous World Cup start
For all the potential baggage, Ireland looked calm. Amee-Leigh Costigan smiled during the anthem. Granted, it’s easier to spot the smiling, waving ones than the players gripped by prematch nerves.
RM Block
The sense of calm could have been thwarted by the game itself. Ireland’s first two attacks ended in errors. Aoibheann Reilly made an ill-judged dash for the line and saw the ball swatted out of her grasp. Hogan then spilled when trying to transfer possession back through a maul. The theme of the week in training was a “fast start” but Ireland fluffed their lines twice inside four minutes.
We’ve seen frustration become a crippling issue in similar situations. They avoided that fate. After the “up the jumper” approach didn’t bear fruit, someone changed the call to go wide. The first time the Irish backline touched the ball, they scored, Costigan notching Ireland’s first World Cup try in seven years and 363 days.
More problems came in the second half. Japan looked set to narrow the gap to seven with all the momentum on their side. Multiple mad scrambles kept Ireland afloat before Eve Higgins’s intercept try killed the game off. The on-field problem-solving worked.
Perhaps Japan were ideal opposition for such an occasion. Their first-half kicking game gifted Ireland territory. A famed defensive breakdown threat never materialised. Their attack was lateral and often lacked punch.
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Standard of opposition granted, Ireland struck the required balance of desperation and composure. “We’ve been over here for 10 days now, we were desperate for a game,” acknowledged Ireland head coach Scott Bemand.
“When you’ve been away for a few years you want to get everything you can out of an experience like this. We’ve turned up, it’s a near-full Franklin’s Gardens, it’s a great occasion, the sun is out, this is the time of your lives. Don’t be anxious about it, embrace the opportunity.”
A further window was offered into Ireland’s psychological preparation. Teams regularly ask guests to present match jerseys in the days leading up to the contest. This week’s choice looks to have hit the perfect note, given the context.
One of the squad’s liaison officers on the ground in England recently rowed across the Atlantic in aide of a cervical cancer charity. Shannon Ikahihifo, an Ireland forward who was in the World Cup preseason camp, has recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. The words of Hannah, the liaison officer, struck a chord.
“Her story was moving,” says Costigan. “I’m sure you’ve seen our Shannon has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and it really touched us closely. I’d like to wish Shannon all the best with her recovery, and we love her so much and we’re behind her every step of the way.
“She [Hannah] spoke about the ocean and how she had to respect the ocean ... we talked about our green wave and she said that it’s a big wave when it’s coming, you can feel it and sense it. I think we really related to her story, wanting to be that ocean and wanting to be that wave heading into today. And I think we showed that.”
Ireland have their themes, their motifs, ways of framing the challenge of high-performance sport in a digestible manner. They call themselves and their following the green wave. They shout “le chéile” – “together” as Gaeilge – before and after matches. Links are made between important off-field issues and their own playing journey.
Positivity pervades post-match conversations. Inevitable questions are asked about lineout malfunctions. Coaches allow the players to bask in the result before getting in to the nitty-gritty. “A perfect game of rugby doesn’t exist,” says Bemand.
“There’s some real moments that I thought were sublime out there today, and there’s some real moments that we know we’re going to need to be better week on week. We’ve scored some tries with some variety, we’ve shown some forward power, we’ve shown some backs prowess, but we’re going to need to be better each week to get to where we want it to get to.”
Perhaps this positive bubble is just one Spanish purple patch or a Kiwi onslaught away from bursting. Yet on the admittedly limited evidence of a bonus-point win over a weaker Japanese side, this is an Irish outfit which is very comfortable in its own skin.
