After a weekend off, Ireland are ready to go “up another level” as they look to cap off another improved Guinness Women’s Six Nations campaign, according to centre Aoife Dalton.
While Scott Bemand’s side are unlikely to break into the top two of the championship after defeats to France and England, back-to-back wins against Wales and Scotland in the next 10 days would leave them with their best Six Nations return since 2020, when they won three of five games.
Having faced difficult trips to London and Clermont in the first block of games, the squad can enjoy home comforts over these next two weekends, as they host Wales in Belfast on Saturday evening, before a highly anticipated final round against Scotland at Aviva Stadium, where more than 25,000 tickets have already been sold.
While Ireland have had more than a week to stew on the frustrations of their missed opportunity away to France last time out, Dalton believes the break-week came at the right time for the squad, as they recharged their batteries ahead of two campaign-defining weeks.
“We were definitely glad of it. We didn’t realise how much of an effect it would have on you, three games in a row,” the centre said.
“Two tough away games, we had a really good training week last week and we were only in for two days. We were really glad of it and fresh coming into the season.”
Speaking after Ireland’s 26-7 defeat to France in Round 3, the Offaly native (above) admitted that Ireland’s flurry of disallowed tries in the first half wouldn’t be easy to watch back in the cold light of day.
And those frustrations are clearly still there, 10 days later.
“Those three chances. If we had taken one of those, maybe going in at half-time, it would have been 12 or 14-7,” added Dalton, who turned 23-years-old last weekend.
“It just would have changed momentum a bit, rather than going in 7-7 all that half-time. When you come up against them teams, especially the top four, it’s just the finer margins. Inevitably, they were going to come back at us and their quality side as well.
“With the utmost respect to them, we can’t afford to miss chances like that.
But the Leinster centre believes it’s “technical aspects” of their game, rather than composure, which were to blame.
Aoife Dalton has started all three games for Ireland in this Six Nations
“You’d be surprised, they might even be in the phase earlier. It’s just small little changes and tweaks,” she said.
“It’s our responsibility to put it out on pitch. We’ve been trying to do that last week and this week. Hopefully it comes through now for the weekend.
“I think it’s just going up another level for us again. We’re very resilient.
“We bounced back from things much worse than this before in a short turnaround, so no doubt we will [again]. That’s a credit to the girls themselves.
“We don’t dwell on things too much or sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. You just have to move on. It’s the nature of high performance.
“We can’t wait for this weekend against a Welsh side who put it right up to England, scored four tries against them in Ashton Gate.”
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