Image source, InphoImage caption, Scott Bemand is hoping to lead Ireland to a rare Women's Six Nations win over France
ByMatt GaultBBC Sport NI senior journalist- Published9 minutes ago
Head coach Scott Bemand says Ireland are "ready" for the pressure of facing France in Clermont on Saturday after learning from a string of big-game experiences.
Ireland began their Women's Six Nations campaign with a 33-12 loss to England in front of a record 77,120 at Twickenham's Allianz Stadium.
Bemand's side also faced New Zealand and France in front of near-capacity crowds at the World Cup last year - and the coach feels those days will stand to his squad as they bid for a first win on French soil.
"We've got the benefit now with our group having come through the World Cup piece where we had full stadiums, a lot of noise and a lot of expectation, internal expectation," said Bemand.
"Going away to France is a class experience. We were away in England two weeks ago so we've had a recent opportunity of stepping into that sort of arena.
"I saw a completely different group to two years ago walking into that space, so as we continue to evolve, continue to get more confident in ourselves and our performances, I think we're ready for this one."
Bemand, who has made one change from last week's nine-try win over Italy, added the team feel "excitement and anticipation rather than nerves".
"We're ready for this, we've trained well this week," he added.
"We're now recovering, we'll travel, we're going to enjoy it. The weather looks good over there and we'll be absolutely gunning to start and get out of the blocks when the whistle goes on Saturday night."
France v Ireland
Women's Six Nations
Saturday 25 April, 20:10 BST
Stade Marcel-Michelin, Clermont
Watch on iPlayerLive on BBC Two NI and BBC Sport website and app
Bemand likes 'aesthetics' of 'Bomb Squad'
Image source, InphoImage caption, Niamh O'Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Dorothy Wall and Sam Monaghan were four of the six players Scott Bemand introduced in the 52nd minute against Italy
France have started their tournament with bonus-point wins over Italy and Wales despite starting slowly in both games.
Against Italy, they led 5-0 at half-time but scored five tries after the break to win 40-7, while they beat Wales 38-7 in Cardiff having been held 7-7 at the interval.
In contrast, Ireland raced into a 45-10 lead in the first half against Italy having been made to pay for a sluggish start in the defeat by England.
In the 57-20 win over the Italians in Galway, Bemand deployed his own 'Bomb Squad' when he introduced six of his eight replacements in the 52nd minute, but he was coy about the possibility of deploying a similar strategy at Stade Marcel-Michelin.
"We'll see what the game requires," he said.
"We have a couple of plans that we'd go into any game with. I like the aesthetics of it. When you do it, it looks class, doesn't it? It looks powerful, it looks together.
"That group (Neve Jones, Niamh O'Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Dorothy Wall, Sam Monaghan and Eve Higgins) we spent a lot of time with in the week, so is it a tactic that we choose to deploy? We'll see where we are."
