IRELAND HEAD COACH Scott Bemand still believes the Women’s Six Nations is a viable competition under its current structure despite last weekend’s heavy defeat to England.

England’s emphatic 88-10 triumph at Twickenham was their 28th straight Six Nations win in a run which has seen them claim five consecutive titles and close in on a sixth.

France will launch the latest bid to thwart England’s Grand Slam ambitions at Stade Chaban-Delmas in Bordeaux on Saturday, and even though the English and the French are currently a cut above the rest, Bemand is adamant the standard across the board at the moment is an improvement on recent editions of the championship.

“I think the fact that people are talking about it shows how much interest there is,” Bemand said on Tuesday. “Do I think it’s a viable competition? Yes, I do.

“People and the media generally want quick fixes for things. There’s investment going in, there’s focus being put on it.

“We said after the game last weekend, that arena and that atmosphere is something that our players have to learn. Now we’ve got that under our belt and come through, and we’re not derailed. We’ve reviewed it, we’ve parked it, we go forward.

“We like to think we can keep trying to bridge the gap. How quickly that happens? It’s great to see the teams outside England and France going hell for leather at each other and competing hard. Having been a part of it for a long time, the quality throughout is better. It’s our job to try and close that gap on those top two.”

While it wasn’t until November 2022 that the IRFU officially launched their Women’s XVs High Performance Programme, their English counterparts are much further down the line in terms of being a professional set-up.

However, Bemand acknowledged the women’s system in England was at a much different level upon his departure as lead coach in 2023 than it was when he first became involved in 2015, and he feels some of the steps the RFU took during that period can also be replicated in Ireland.

“I was involved in the England programme when it started professionalism really. I remember my first dealings with the Six Nations. The girls were teaching, were working as firefighters, they were out and having to come in from a place of work to do the Six Nations and then go back out.

“I remember sessions meeting Sarah Hunter at Bath University and we had some lights and we were trying to get a session with six or seven girls on a Monday evening. So, that started somewhere. That was six, seven years ago and things have quite quickly accelerated within that programme.

“There will be some pieces that we can say ‘well, we can use that intel’, we can use what worked and what didn’t, hopefully streamline and be more efficient about how quickly we can get there. The IRFU have already got some pieces in place which I believe will add to that. How quickly that gap is bridged remains to be seen.”

Although last weekend’s game in Twickenham was undoubtedly a setback, Ireland remain in contention for a top-three spot ahead of Scotland’s visit to Kingspan Stadium for a final round encounter on Saturday.

The result of the earlier kick-off between Wales and Italy in Cardiff will leave Bemand’s side with a clearer understanding of what needs to be done, but they will be in with a shot at securing World Cup qualification once the action gets underway in Belfast at 2.30pm.

The Scots have recorded victories against Wales and Italy thus far in the 2024 championship, and also led France before the visitors sealed a hard-earned 15-5 success.

This is more than enough to make Bemand wary of what awaits them in Ravenhill this weekend, but he is also confident his charges are capable of reproducing the form that saw them overcome Wales in comprehensive fashion in Cork less than two weeks ago.

“They rattled France in that game. Bryan Easson has been coaching them for a good while now. I’ve had many a battle with him. Their attack coach Matt Banahan, I played for a couple of years at Bath with him. We can kind of see some bits in their game that we would say are known to us. They’re well organised and they’re going to keep coming,” Bemand added.

“It’s going to be a great game, but we’re really confident in our preparation, in our identity and what we’re trying to do, and how that will hopefully put a winning performance out there.”

Daire Walsh