McMahon Pleased With Ireland’s Fast Start And Composure To See Off Japan

Join the Green Wave and support the Ireland team – sign up here today.

The Green Wave got going early on in their first Pool C match, with Amee-Leigh Costigan and Neve Jones scoring inside the opening 10 minutes. Béibhinn Parsons and Fiona Tuite took care of the bonus point, sandwiching a Haruka Hirotsu score.

Japan halved the deficit to 28-14 when Masami Kawamura touched down, just three minutes after the break, but Higgins’ well-taken intercept try, and replacement Enya Breen’s effort past the hour mark, made it a six tries-to-two victory.

On a day when Ireland had 22 Rugby World Cup debutants, 21-year-old out-half Dannah O’Brien landed all of her conversions as Ireland achieved their highest points tally on the World Cup stage, surpassing the 40 points scored against Kazakhstan in 2014.

With Scott Bemand’s side having qualified for the tournament back in April 2024, and their pre-season training blocks beginning in early June, McMahon was delighted to get the show on the road, and tick a number of boxes in terms of the performance and result.

“Yeah, that first game, we’ve been itching for it for quite a while. When you prep for so long, you just want to put your best foot out there, and the girls were brilliant today,” she said afterwards.

“It was a great start. It was nice to hit the ground running. There were nerves, but nerves of excitement. There’s always two ways that can go, one there’s nerves that you’re excited and ready to go, and then nerves because you’re not prepared, but we surely were prepared.

“It just felt like everything was falling into place out there. We managed the purple patch from Japan, we stayed composed. I know we leaked a try or two there, but we problem-solved all that and we kept the score ticking over.”

Make no bones about it, Japan are dangerous World Cup opponents, especially first up. Ireland’s 2017 predecessors only had 10 points to spare when they won in the pool phase at UCD, and the Men’s team lost to the inspired Cherry Blossoms in Shizuoka two years later.

Lesley McKenzie’s well-drilled Sakura Fifteen had won five of their six previous Tests this year, including a first ever defeat of the USA. Captained by experienced back rower Iroha Nagata, they have the pace and tactical nous to cause problems for higher-ranked teams.

Mindful of that, landing those early blows was key to Ireland getting to grips with today’s opponents, and particularly as they had fallen behind to both Scotland and Canada in their two warm-up fixtures.

McMahon agreed: “It’s nice to see that (fast start). Over the last two games against Scotland and Canada, that was definitely the fix for us, getting off to that fast start.

“So, it’s a confidence booster to say that when we go after something, that we do and we performed that in the first 20 (minutes) of that game.

“There was a nice calm and collected energy this morning. This is the first World Cup game for most of us but it didn’t feel like it. The young girls took it in their stride so to be in that environment is very empowering.

“It’s huge. When I picked up a rugby ball, it was by pure chance. I never thought I’d be in an Ireland jersey or be captain with one of my best friends (Sam Monaghan).

“It’s so special to represent Ireland and the growth of Women’s rugby. To wear the green jersey and keep fighting is a badge of honour that we’ll keep going with.”

For the Clare native herself, her World Cup bow has been a long time coming. Her hopes of pushing for a squad place at the World Cup in Ireland eight years ago were unfortunately ended by an Achilles tendon injury.

A knee issue had to be managed in the lead up to England 2025, and she was not involved against either Scotland or Canada recently. That meant that her last match minutes were in the final round of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations in late April.

Bemand and his fellow coaches had no doubts about ‘Tricky’ returning to the green jersey in fine fettle. Hugely proud to jointly lead this team as Ireland ended their eight-year World Cup absence, she was pleased to play a total of 75 minutes at Franklin’s Gardens.

“I’m sure there was a couple of times I was looking at the clock, not sure what was in the tank for me! But yeah, the girls made it easy for me, I just slotted back in.

“I trust in the medical staff and I’d been training quite a lot, so it was unfortunate and I was disappointed not to roll out for those two (warm-up) games, but I was confident that the medical staff had a plan for me, and I was able to get nearly an 80 out of there.”

Featuring at openside flanker, McMahon was typically busy around the pitch, and was one of Ireland’s leading tacklers with 13 successful hits, one less than Neve Jones, and just two behind Brittany Hogan, the Mastercard player-of-the-match.

The girls in green will hope to build on their opening display when they return to the home of Northampton Saints to play Spain next Sunday afternoon (kick-off 12pm – live on RTÉ 2 and BBC Two). Tickets for the match are available to buy here.

Getting to stay in the same location for their second World Cup outing will certainly aid Ireland’s preparations as they look to make it two wins out of two. From their base in Whittlebury Park, they will train again at Towcestrians Sports Club over the coming days.

McMahon paid tribute to the backing the squad received from the Ireland fans in the stands this afternoon. There was a special atmosphere generated by both the Irish and Japanese supporters, who brought plenty of colour and noise to the occasion.

“I suppose we’ve fallen lucky with the pool stages that we get to stay in one spot for two weeks, which means we’re really settled here in Northampton.

“The crowd were unbelievable, there was a sea of green everywhere. Felt right at home, but you know there’s plenty for us to work on. We really enjoy this win but we go again for next week,” she added.