It was a Grandstand Finish for the Guinness Women's Six Nations

The looks on the faces of the Ireland players after Scotland delivered a knock-out blow with a late, late try said it all at the Hive Stadium, Edinburgh last Saturday. 

The players were distraught, gutted, almost in tears. It was a grandstand finish with the teams level at 19-19 in the final minutes before Francesca McGhie scored a late try and the homeside snatched a 26-19 victory. The Scotland players and staff celebrated wildly and there have been times in the past against the Scots when Ireland have been on the right side of that scoreline.

Sense of deflation
The sense of deflation for Ireland after was impossible to ignore. They wanted the trilogy of three away wins this season and after getting bonus point victories in Italy and Wales, they were warm favourites to get that hat-trick against Scotland. But, boy, the Scottish were fired up. Twice they had to play with 14 players on the pitch after two yellow cards but they were very smart with how they played that, just like Ireland were in Newport when Dannah O’Brien got her yellow card. Ireland just couldn’t make the most of their overwhelming possession and territory.

Ireland have been struck by some really bad luck on the injury front over the last few weeks. Firstly, Erin King ruled out for the rest of the year and then Aoife Wafer sidelined for the Scotland game with a knee injury but thankfully that injury isn’t serious. Aoife travelled to the game last weekend and I had a few words with her before the game and she was in good form. The expectation is she will be back fit for the start of Ireland’s World Cup camp at the beginning of June.

But the game on Saturday saw Ireland hit by more horrible luck. It was awful seeing Dorothy Wall go off with what seems like an ankle/achilles injury in the first half. Wall has been having her best championship since she came on the international scene so we’ll wait to see the extent of her injury as it would be a huge blow to her and the team if it’s serious. And then also in the first half, we had both captain Edel McMahon and Enya Breen go off in the first half for HIAs which they failed.

Debut
It was great to see Jane Clohessy come on for her debut and Claire Boles make her fifth appearance, but the loss of the experienced Wall and McMahon were hammer blows. While Ireland kept up the fight and kept themselves in the game, there seemed to be an unstoppable force behind Scotland in the closing stages and they got the final say with that McGhie try.

But the gains Ireland have made this season should out-live the pain from that Scotland loss. This year is all about the World Cup and Ireland being as prepared as they can be for that. And there’s no doubt that Ireland’s third place finish in the table has come with real potential and promise. There were many highlights from this Women’s Six Nations. Like the three tries Ireland scored against France in the opening defeat which the Ireland players saw as a missed opportunity. There was the record 54-12 win in Parma under the Italian sun in round two, the first time Ireland have scored half a century of points in 10 years in the championship with Anna McGann’s scoring a rare hat-trick.

Incredible atmosphere
My favourite game, ironically, was probably the one that ended with the heaviest defeat. The atmosphere at Virgin Media Park for the test with England was the best atmosphere for an Ireland game that I’ve been at. I remember the TV camera catching Brittany Hogan with her lip quivering during the anthems and that was the emotion of the occasion. And then for Ireland to put in an outstanding defensive performance in the first half to keep England to just a 7-5 half-time lead showed the heart of this team. My moment of the Six Nations is probably Amee-Leigh Costigan scoring that try against England which put them into a 5-0 lead after that excellent chip by Dannah O’Brien.

In round four in Newport on Easter Sunday, Ireland were a different class to Wales as they scored six tries and it really should have been more with scores left out there. And despite hoping for a statement victory that Scott Bemand wanted against Wales to come against Scotland, Ireland just seemed to run out of steam in Edinburgh. The loss of key experienced players, the reduction in cohesion and general fatigue and pressure which caused the handling errors, are some of the reasons they didn’t sign-off this championship the way they would have liked.

Bring it on
But this year was always about the World Cup. Ireland played six of their nine games this season away from home and that will stand to them when they’re at their bases in Northampton and Brighton for their pool games. They’ve studied hard under their new coaches like Alex Codling and Hugh Hogan who came into the set-up last August and now they’ve that base of knowledge, hopefully they can develop from there.

There were some great moments, some tough moments, in this Six Nations. Ultimately, will they be better for it at this summer’s World Cup? Absolutely. Bring it on.