Home run gives Ireland a chance to break from the pack

The last time Ireland hosted Wales in 2024, things felt a lot different.

Scott Bemand was still looking for his first Six Nations win as head coach.

Their 38-17 defeat away to France in the opening round was a reasonable return and they fired a couple of shots, but the 27-21 loss to Italy at the RDS a week later was a deeply frustrating watch.

Wales had also started with back-to-back defeats, but considering how they had thrashed Ireland in Cardiff a year earlier, and had gained invaluable WXV1 experience a few months later, they were still a team Ireland were looking to make up ground on.

Ireland's 36-5 win that afternoon down in Cork felt like a significant breakthrough at the time, and two years on it has aged even better.

A few weeks later Ireland scrapped and fought their way to a win against Scotland to secure their World Cup qualification, and only five months after that they pulled off one of their greatest ever results when they defeated the world champions New Zealand.

"Wales was a bit of a seminal moment for us," Bemand said this week, ahead of this evening’s renewal against the Welsh in Belfast.

"We were talking about that this week, actually, how the stadium felt, the ground felt.

"There was that wave of optimism, wasn't there, about getting people on board and we'd not had a [Six Nations] win, I think, for a while before that game.

"We did it by being physical, by being direct and getting on top of them up front, which then created the platform to score some pretty reasonable tries.

"I think we're a different animal now."
A dominant 40-14 win in last year’s fixture in Newport cemented the rise Ireland were on, by which point Wales were in the early days of a new coaching ticket of their own, with former Gloucester-Hartpury boss Sean Lynn taking over from Ioan Cunningham.

As they come to Belfast in the penultimate round of the 2026 championship, the visitors are desperate to end an eight-game losing streak in the championship and a second successive wooden spoon, while Ireland are looking to copper-fasten their status as 'Best of the Rest'.

Through three games, Bemand’s side are operating around level par, although it’s a scorecard littered with birdies and bogeys.

The manner of their win against Italy showed us the kind of attacking rugby they can play when things click, as they used Aoife Wafer like a magnet for defenders, before taking advantages of that extra space to score seven first-half tries.

Even in defeat, away to England and France, they showed they are now comfortable on the big occasion.

On the other side of the ledger, their skills under pressure at Twickenham left a lot to be desired, while their first half in Clermont was one that had to be seen to be believed, as they dominated their hosts and crossed the line five times, only to somehow go in at half time level at 7-7.

"We've had three big days coming into this Test match.

We're ready for it.

And what we're going to do now is get our best performance out there and let the rugby do the talking."
After an incredibly disappointing World Cup, they have shown signs of growth in this championship, and picking up a four-try bonus-point against England, albeit in a 62-24 defeat, has been a bright spark.

Lynn’s side still look limited from an overall attacking point of view, illustrated by the fact that full-back Kayleigh Powell is their leading carrier with 28, which ranks 15th overall in the championship, while their 11 clean breaks in three games is the lowest in the competition.

Their real weapon, though, has been their lineout attack.

Six of the eight tries they have scored so far have been from lineouts deep in the opposition 22, and they have scored those tries in a neat variety of ways.

Two have been rolling mauls and two others have been clever strike plays off the top, which the Irish pack will need to be wary of.

There is the potential for this to be a battle of the back rows, with Wales and Ireland ranking first and second respectively for turnovers won.

Of the seven players who lead the championship with four turnovers each, five of them are either Irish or Welsh.

With that kind of game in mind, it was no surprise to see Bemand go with a 6:2 bench split for this game, with Grace Moore the extra forward brought into the matchday squad, and Anna McGann the unfortunate back to drop out.

While Bemand has never named the same XV in consecutive games for Ireland, there has been a spine of consistency across this campaign, with the same front row, back row and half-back partnership for every game so far.

His one change to the starting team this week sees Eve Higgins come in at inside centre, while versatile back Niamh Gallagher is in line for her debut off the bench.

Injuries haven’t been kind to Wales, who were already without number 8 Alex Callender and Nel Metcalfe coming into the championship.

Callender’s co-captain Kate Williams has also joined the injury list in recent weeks, while influential second row Gwen Crabb is the latest key player to be sidelined.

In better news, Hannah Dallavalle and Carys Cox are fit to play and start on the wing and centre respectively, while the experienced Georgia Evans comes into the second row to cover Crabb’s absence.

The message has been consistent from the Irish camp that their goal is to break up the established top four in the world, and be a contender when they travel to the next World Cup in Australia in 2029.

They have already shown in this championship that they have closed the gap on England and France a bit more, but now it’s time to show they have created a gap between themselves and the rest.

Verdict: Ireland bonus point win
Ireland: Stacey Flood; Béibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Robyn O'Connor; Dannah O'Brien, Emily Lane; Ellena Perry, Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Brittany Hogan, Erin King (capt), Aoife Wafer.

Replacements: Neve Jones, Sadhbh McGrath, Eilís Cahill, Ruth Campbell, Sam Monaghan, Grace Moore, Katie Whelan, Niamh Gallagher.

Wales: Kayleigh Powell; Hannah Dallavalle, Carys Cox, Courtney Keight, Jasmine Joyce; Lleucu George, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Kelsey Jones, Sisilia Tuipulotu; Branwen Metcalfe, Georgia Evans; Jorja Aiono, Bethan Lewis (capt), Bryonie King .

Replacements: Molly Reardon, Maisie Davies, Donna Rose, Natalia John, Alisha Joyce, Sere Lockwood, Freya Bell, Nikita Prothero.

Referee: Aurelie Groizeleau (FFR).

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