“You’re always disappointed. We didn’t fire any shots. We couldn’t get a foothold in the game, but there is a bigger picture. We capped nine new players [across both tests], we checked our depth. Last week we know the players were really excellent and they were on task. It’s hard to get back over it. This week the players were tired during the week and it’s not an excuse,” McWilliams stated in a post-match press conference.

“It’s a really good learning for us. We’ve talked to the players, we just have to separate the emotion and the process. Realise there are lots of very good things and we’ll learn from today. We were ill-disciplined in the first half and we’ll learn from that.

“Again, momentum in sport is a funny thing. We struggled to gain any momentum. When we had a little bit of it, unfortunately it didn’t go our way and we need to own that.”

Given he is at the helm of the first-ever Ireland women’s touring squad, it comes as no surprise that McWilliams is looking beyond how their two tests with the Japanese ultimately panned out. While he was still desperate to come away with an unblemished series win, he remains positive about the direction his troops are going in.

“Let’s be honest, after winning last week we wanted to go 2-0. We came up against a different Japanese side that were very physical. They played at a good pace and we knew they’d be coming at us. As I said to you, the game just went against us.

“I’ve got to say, as the head coach of a group of management and players, I’m so proud. I’ve been very lucky to have coached at schools level, at provincial level, international men’s, the professional game and I can genuinely say that this group are a special group that are only going to get better.

“To see how much they’ve grown in the last four or five weeks, it gives you real hope for where they’re going to go to as a group. They should be very proud and their families should be proud. We’ve got to get better and we’ll continue to do that,” McWilliams added.