TEAM CAPTAIN EDEL McMahon has said the Ireland women’s rugby team are ‘pushing to be better’ as they aim to leave an indelible mark on the international scene in 2025.

Following bonus points win to date over Italy and Wales – preceded by respective defeats to the heavyweight duo of France and England – Scott Bemand’s side are on the brink of a second successive third place finish in the Women’s Six Nations ahead of their final round clash with Scotland at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh this afternoon.

A single match point will be enough to guarantee this goal is achieved, but McMahon and her team-mates are eager to sign off on this year’s Championship with a third away win. Runners-up at the WXV 1 tournament that took place in Vancouver last September and October, an ambitious Irish squad are also seeking to make a big impression at the World Cup in England later on this year.

While she has a key role in ensuring standards are being driven behind the scenes, McMahon acknowledged the younger players within the set-up – such as out-half Dannah O’Brien – are also proving themselves to be leading voices in the group.

“Even Dannah there, she’s just such a solid head going into the games now. She has really grown into herself. Players are standing up and being accountable, and we’re driving the standards week in, week out with training,” McMahon remarked in advance of being named at openside flanker for the Scotland game.

“This time last year we would have been over the moon with some of those games and some of those wins.

“Now we’re pushing to be better and to be more clinical on ourselves. Because we want to be top contenders and we want to compete at a World Cup. To say that and that’s coming from the likes of 21 year olds, it’s pretty impressive.

“The trajectory of the team is huge, the growth even in the last six months from when we were in Vancouver. Take the lineout as an example, that has exponentially grown and we have revolutionised that. Hopefully we keep building on that.”

When Scott Bemand officially began his duties as women’s head coach in August 2023, Ireland found themselves in the inaugural WXV 3 as a result of finishing bottom in that year’s Six Nations with five straight defeats. After steering them towards a third-tier title in the WXV during the initial stages of his reign, the former Leicester and Bath scrum-half also oversaw Ireland’s aforementioned third-place finish in the 2024 Championship – which secured their qualification for the forthcoming World Cup finals and the most recent edition of the WXV 1.

Victories over New Zealand and the United States in the latter tournament served further notice of their potential, and there have been plenty of encouraging signs in 2025. Although she always believed there were quality players within the Irish system, McMahon stressed the increased resources that are now at their disposal have helped the squad to progress under Bemand’s watch.

“I think I’ve always said the country has talent. We’ve come together as a squad and reflected on where we’ve been in the past, but we’ve a lot of real structure and coaching put around the squad now. We’ve a lot of resources pumped into us. We can see that with our coaching staff.

“Each week, each time we come into a campaign, we set a line of where our standards are and where they go towards. Certainly going into WXV 1 from 3, from the outside, looked like a huge task for us but we just took in the information. There has always been talent in this country, it’s just how we manage it.”

Following the completion of the Women’s Six Nations Championship this weekend, the Ireland squad will next come together as a collective on 2 June. This will serve as a starting point for their preparation for the World Cup – which begins for the Irish with a Pool C encounter against Japan at Franklin’s Gardens in Northampton on 24 August.

Before then, it has been recommended by the IRFU’s staff that the players take a complete two-week break and Clare native McMahon is looking forward to getting some rest and recuperation over the next fortnight or so.

“Hopefully spend a bit of time home in Clare, down with my family. Also checking in with the AP staff. Seeing what stuff I can do to keep the body ticking over, while resting and getting away,” McMahon added.

“I have holidays planned, to get some sun, and then to get back in and start tipping on with prehab bits, gym bits. To make sure that when I come into the campaign, I’m ready to go.”

Daire Walsh