Six Nations round one: 'As enjoyable as the event itself was, rugby was the real spectacle'

Wow! What a fantastic opening round of rugby to kick off this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations. While wins in Le Mans and Parma were heavily predicted, Cardiff hosted an epic Celtic showdown where Scotland held on with the tips of their fingers for their first win in Wales in 20 years and their seventh successive win. A late Alex Callendar try provided a nervy finish for the visitors but the conversion went unsuccessful and Scotland took the W in the first round.

Italy provided a tough opening half for England in Parma and it took the reigning Grand Slam Champions 30 minutes to get over the Italian try line. They also received a yellow card for a dangerous ruck incident, which was the first card ever in the women’s six nations to be upgraded to red using the new bunker system. England played 70 minutes with 14 players but were still able to rack up the tries from late in the first half and the scoreline finished 48-0.

The tournament kicked off in the town of Le Mans on Saturday where Ireland came to the beautiful northwestern region of France to play Les Bleues in an entertaining encounter for the 15,000-plus fans in attendance. Although it may be more known for the 25 Hours of Le Mans car race, this proved to be a great host city for the occasion.

The Stade Marie Marvingt is a beautiful stadium which owes its name to the phenomenal French athlete who achieved milestones in numerous sports and is an important figure in French feminist history. A symbol of the ambition of French women’s sports which was on clear display on Saturday.

I was lucky enough to be in Marseille for the same round of the men’s tournament back in February. The similarities in celebrating the occasion are impressive. Pyrotechnics, flames, fireworks, free flags for all and of course the renowned sounds of the French brass bands entertaining everyone from the stands throughout the game.

Some particularly enjoyable moments from Saturday’s game were when they displayed the lyrics to “Freed From Desire” on the screens for everyone to belt out together at full time. (Yes, the words are “He’s got his strong beliefs”.) Also when the half-time announcer posed the controversial question to the French crowd: Do you say pain au chocolat or chocolatine? A heated debate in France which caused a huge reaction from fans cheering and booing for one or the other. It was great craic.

As enjoyable as the event itself was, rugby was the real spectacle. An early opportunity presented itself to Pauline Bourdon-Sansus who pounced and punished Ireland to open the account after just 2 minutes. Uh oh! Will this be the theme of the afternoon?

Beyond another first-half moment of magic from Bourdon-Sansus linking up with Menager to dot down for a second try, Ireland simply didn’t allow the theme to set in. They absorbed continuous attacking pressure from a French side who had a clear plan to work around the corner at pace and force Ireland into defending in waves until they broke them down.

However, after two further fruitless visits inside Ireland’s 5-metre line, Ireland’s defence was paid the ultimate compliment by France just opting to take the points from the kicking tee before halftime.

The second half saw three more tries from France including two from ultimate Player of the Match and second row Madoussou Fall, and hooker Agathe Sochat who has had her two-year-old daughter with her in camp at times during the preparation for the tournament.

However, it wasn’t just the French who found the grass beyond the try line. Ireland’s persistence and dogged attitude were rewarded with two tries of their own before the day was out. Aoife Wafer, who worked hard all afternoon with a big defensive impact as well as strong carries in attack, got over for her first try in green. Another Aoife of the Dalton kind showed that her defensive pressure was worthwhile by capitalising on some costly French fumbles on their own try line.

Weirdly, the game finished with the same scoreline as the men’s game in Marseille in February, just in reverse. France 38-17 Ireland.

Before the game, I was asked multiple times what would look like a good result for this Irish team. Squeezing France to a smaller gap in score: tick. Lower their missed tackle count: tick. Find some shining lights in individual player performances across the squad: tick. Score some tries and see the girls high-fiving and celebrating the small wins: big tick.

After a disastrous 2023 campaign marred with controversy and disappointing results and ultimately ending with the wooden spoon for Ireland this is progress. Across the whole tournament, they scored only 3 tries, one of which was a penalty try. To already have two on the board after just the first round and even more impressively against a superior French side, it’s progress.

Ireland’s defence needs to become one of their superpowers. With players like Neve Jones who is always a menace for any team trying to attack against Ireland and others who impressed defensively like Dalton, Wafer, and Hogan to name just a few, it’s clear that this is becoming something they can use to rebuild their status in this competition.

Sevens star and scrum-half Aoibheann Reilly was bouncing around on her toes behind the rucks, bossing around her defensive line and using her voice to bring energy and confidence to the waves of defence Ireland were forced to play with. We love to see it! And if the punters in the stand were enjoying seeing Ireland defend like women possessed, then the players must have also been relishing in it.

To avoid naively looking past the demise of Irish women’s rugby in recent years, I sign off with a taste of realism. Despite the positive reflections on Ireland’s first-round performance let's not go patting everyone on the back for a loss with no points gained.

Yes, feel hopeful about the progress. Yes, celebrate the small wins. Yes, take the positives from a difficult fixture. But let’s not forget, this is not where this team wants to be. The road to success will be long and arduous, but after seeing what I saw from this team last weekend, do I believe that this is the team that can finally start positively rebuilding what once was and has since been lost? Yes, I do.

Italy come to Dublin this weekend and you’d better believe Ireland will be hungry for their first win in this tournament since 2022.