‘The Irish Players And Public Have Embraced Me’ – Bemand

With a freshly-inked contract extension with the IRFU through to 2029, Bemand is excited about building on the progress made since he took over as Ireland head coach in August 2023, just three months on from the team finishing bottom of that year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations.

Since then he has overseen a WXV3 title win, a statement victory over New Zealand and a runners-up finish in WXV1, two third place finishes in the Six Nations, and qualification for last year’s Rugby World Cup in England where they narrowly missed out on a semi-final place.

There have been ups and downs along the way, but with a strong and talented squad eager to make its mark on the fast-approaching 2026 Six Nations, Bemand is understandably enthusiastic about enhancing those solid foundations.

“It was very quick (the decision to continue). I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done in the last three years,” he said, speaking after the announcement of his contract extension.

“The Irish players and public have embraced me coming over the water, and I am grateful for the sense of connection that I’ve got from coming in. This was my first head coach role.

“It’s never going to be as simple or smooth as people think. We’ve had some chastening experiences in the three years, particularly at Twickenham the last time, and losing the quarter-final (to France) that we could have and should have won.

“We continue as not just a playing group, now with the Sevens and 15s coming together. We continue to evolve and grow as a wider squad, and I want to be part of that.”

There are some changes to both the coaching and playing personnel for the upcoming Six Nations campaign, which begins with an April 11 opener against World champions England at Allianz Stadium, and concludes with a historic Aviva Stadium clash with Scotland on May 17. Tickets details are here.

Former Ulster lock Alan O’Connor has joined the Ireland Women’s coaching team as forwards coach, assisting Bemand alongside the retained trio of defence coach James Scaysbrook, backs & kicking coach Gareth Steenson, and scrum coach Denis Fogarty.

Fit-again back rower Erin King, who has made an impressive return from tearing the cartilage in her knee last April, is the team’s new captain, and there are nine uncapped players included in Bemand’s 36-player squad for the 2026 Championship.

Amee-Leigh Costigan, who has announced that she is pregnant with twins, and the injured Edel McMahon, Claire Boles, and Ivana Kiripati are among the notable absentees, along with Siobhán McCarthy, Molly Scuffil-McCabe, and Méabh Deely who each missed out on selection.

The newcomers include UL Bohemian prop Eilís Cahill, the reigning Energia All-Ireland League Player of the Year, and Ballincollig second row Aoibheann McGrath, the Clovers’ joint-top try scorer in this season’s Celtic Challenge with five tries.

“There’s a natural point after a World Cup where you look to refresh the group,” explained Bemand. “We’ve got so much talent, so much potential coming through the Irish system, whether it be the WNTS (Women’s National Talent Squad), the pathway, the Celtic Challenge.

“The girls that are named are fully deserving of their opportunity. Of those nine, six have already been in camp with us, and some on multiple occasions. So actually they don’t come in as new, they come in as uncapped but have been a part of our group for a good while.

“Three of them are new in but they’ve fully earned their opportunity through the Celtic Challenge. Really exciting to see what they can do when they’re in camp with us. We think we’re going to see an elevated layer of competition which hopefully drives performance.”

He continued: “The depth and breadth of the playing group that we now have is significantly different from it was. There’s a lot more contenders, the squad is eminently more competitive to get into.

“You’ll notice that we’ve left out some very good players, and they will continue to stay ready should anything happen.”

While Ireland have managed a couple of top-three finishes in the Six Nations under Bemand, winning three matches in a single tournament has proven beyond them so far. They lost 27-21 at home to Italy in his first year, but bounced back to beat both Wales (36-5) and Scotland (15-12).

Last season they were convincing winners away to Italy (54-12) and Wales (40-14), before a frustrating 26-19 final day defeat to Scotland saw Francesca McGhie’s last-minute try split the sides. Aoife Wafer missed that match through injury, but shone brightly across the first four rounds to be crowned the Player of the Championship.

When the Hereford native took over, Ireland were ranked 10th in the world, and below Wales, Italy, and Scotland. The strides made can be seen by the fact that the current World Rugby rankings have the girls in green placed fifth, as the third highest European team, and the gap between themselves and France, in fourth, is now down to 5.4 rating points compared to 18.53 in 2023.

Bemand has set certain targets for his side this year, and they include ‘going longer into games against England and France so that we can get them under pressure’, leading to improved performances and results. Five points was the gap when they met les Bleues on that wet and windy afternoon in Exeter last September.

“We’re delighted to see that we’re playing over in Clermont when we play France, and we know that we’re gunning for these teams. We think we’ve got capability to go and create more and more problems (for them).

“The last couple of years we’ve only won two games in the Six Nations. We’ve got to take our performances on, we need more results than that.

“We’ve got three opportunities to play in Ireland, and they’re certainly games that we’re targeting on the back of the World Cup, and looking at that gap between the World Cup contenders and sort of the rest of the world. It’s a big part for us as we continue to refresh our squad.”

Reflecting on some aspects of their game they need to improve, he pointed to converting more of their chances into points. When losing out to New Zealand and France in their last two World Cup outings, there were missed opportunities that they were left to rue – they had seven visits to New Zealand’s 22 and came away scoreless each time.

“In professional rugby you need the ability to absorb pressure and take advantage when you’ve got a penalty, and if you get into the 22, scoring points when you get there.

“Against the Black Ferns, we had the first chance in their 22, and we need to be better at scoring that, because the game could have been different if we got seven points there.

“So, that has been a big area of focus. Hopefully we’ve learned a lot from the World Cup, and we can push our performance level as we keep expanding on what our capabilities are.”