IT HAS BEEN a largely encouraging campaign to date and with this year’s World Cup in England coming sharply into view, scrum coach Denis Fogarty believes it is important for the Ireland women’s rugby team to end their Six Nations Championship campaign on a positive note.

While they have fallen short on home soil to England and France in this year’s tournament, Ireland bounced back from those respective defeats with bonus point victories away to Italy and Wales. There was some frustration with the way they played against the Welsh last Sunday, but two tries apiece from Linda Djougang, Dorothy Wall and Aoife Wafer ultimately earned them a comprehensive 40-14 triumph at the Newport-based Rodney Parade.

Heading into their final round clash with Scotland at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday, just one match point is required for Scott Bemand’s side to finish third in the Women’s Six Nations for the second year in succession. Yet before turning their attention to the aforementioned World Cup in August and September, Ireland will nevertheless be looking to sign off on the 2025 Championship with a third win from five games.

“It’s quite important for us that we keep that momentum going. It was a tough outing probably against England, but how they bounced back has shown that growth. That resilience within the group. They were quite frustrated, which is a good thing, after Wales. The focus now is ensuring that we finish on a high,” Fogarty explained at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre yesterday.

“You see the depth within the squad is growing as well, which has helped. It even helps from a training point of view, of how competitive things are getting. It’s massive for us. We’ve spoken about it all week, of making sure that we finish this on a high.”

Aside from a final round clash in the 2023 Six Nations – when the Scots secured a convincing 36-10 victory in Edinburgh – recent meetings between Ireland and Scotland have been tight and tense affairs. In a Championship showdown at Energia Park in February 2020, an intercept try from Beibhinn Parsons (who is once again expected to miss out on this weekend’s game) helped the Irish to claim the spoils on a score of 18-14.

Whilst a last-gasp converted try from Chloe Rollie propelled Scotland towards a 20-18 triumph in a crunch World Cup qualifier at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma in September of the following year, Enya Breen’s seven-point stoppage-time salvo ensured Ireland defeated their Celtic counterparts by the slenderest of margins (15-14) in a 2022 Six Nations encounter at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast.

In the same venue a little under 12 months ago, a 74th minute penalty from Dannah O’Brien squeezed Ireland past the challenge of the Scots on a final score of 15-12.

Fogarty and his fellow coaches are expecting another gruelling battle in Edinburgh this weekend, but the experience of the last 12 months makes the Tipperary native confident the Irish players will be able to cope if the game is in the melting pot late on in the action.

“We are predicting a tight match. I think that’s been another area in which we have grown over the last 12 months. We have been in tight games. We speak about it as well, to remember those times that we were in tight games. Scotland last year in Belfast, New Zealand in the WXV.

“We look back at those moments and kind of go ‘remember what that felt like, remember what we had to do to close out those games’. They are things we have spoken about and that’s what we try to do from a training point of view. Put them under those types of pressure environments, what they would face in a game. They have reacted really well to that.”

During last year’s Six Nations, Fogarty was combining his Ireland duties with work outside of coaching as a sales manager for sportswear brand Kukri Sports.

However, that all changed for the former Munster hooker last June, when he took on a full-time role with the IRFU as a national women’s scrum coach specialist and throwing coach.

This is a significant transition for Fogarty (who also recently completed his second season as head coach of The Clovers in the Celtic Challenge), but it is proving to be beneficial for both him and Ireland’s collection of forwards.

“It has helped massively in terms of touchpoints with players. It has been very important in ensuring that when we get to competitions like the Six Nations, that they are in a much better place,” Fogarty added.

“You are not chasing your tail to a certain extent to make sure that we are getting details right that I spoke about and making sure that we are in good positions so that we can add layers onto different areas of it.

“Even before that with the centralised group. Adding bits and pieces that we wanted to implement in the Six Nations, which has helped massively. I am enjoying it. This year is a busy year, but it is exciting. I am enjoying working with this group.”

Daire Walsh