Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says his team are going to have to become \u201creasonably un-Irish\u201d if they are to capitalise on their position as favourites in the WXV Global Series.<\/p>\n
It is a different challenge for a side who have been striving to close the gap on the teams above them but, according to Bemand, it is a crucial part of that process with the big tournaments in mind.<\/p>\n
Ireland are the highest-ranked team in each of their three home games in the five-match series, starting with Sunday\u2019s meeting with the USA at Tallaght Stadium (1.45pm), and Bemand wants his players to embrace the expectation rather than hide from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to do it from the front and we\u2019ve got to become reasonably un-Irish and do it as the favourites,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that\u2019s all right. Learning to perform with that expectation is becoming a good tournament team.<\/p>\n
“It’s not all about world rankings, but I think we’ve closed the gap on what you would perceive as a top four and we’re going to start taking lumps out of that lot now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing you\u2019ve got to do, and I use the World Cup as a point of reference, is to win the games you have to win.”<\/p>\n
While they didn’t result in victories, the last two Six Nations performances against France in particular have left Bemand feeling confident about what’s ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got the hook into people now,\u201d the 47-year-old said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit interesting coming to watch Ireland, it’s \u2018what are they going to do?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we\u2019ve got a couple of games that we can go on now – we\u2019ll play, we\u2019ll kick, we\u2019ll counter-attack, we\u2019ll push. We\u2019ll score more and more. So we\u2019re building a really nice game.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The USA, who now have former Ireland coach Jack Hanratty in charge, are expected to provide a physical test. For Bemand, however, Sunday is about establishing the tone for the series and continuing the momentum generated by their recent performances.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, he has selected a strong line-up with one major change, which is in the back row. There are four changes in total from the starting side from the final Six Nations game against Scotland in May.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s a swell of public opinion and support for what the group has done,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are interested in the story that we\u2019re creating around the green wave, around the on-pitch as well. We\u2019ve got new leaders coming through, emerging talent.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
That talent includes Jemima Adams Verling, who will make her Ireland debut.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bemand has deliberately placed the 20-year-old Connacht back row between two experienced, world-class operators in skipper Erin King and Six Nations player of the tournament Aoife Wafer, rather than making wholesale changes to his side.<\/p>\n
“It gives Jemima every chance to succeed,” he said.<\/p>\n
Adams Verling has been part of the centralised programme for almost a year and has already had plenty of exposure to the international environment. She trained with Ireland throughout the Six Nations and spent last season in the Celtic Challenge.<\/p>\n
An important member of the Ireland under-21 set-up earlier this year – she scored tries against Wales and England – Adams Verling comes in for Brittany Hogan, who is named on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe special bit is the first time taking the pitch,\u201d Bemand said. \u201cShe\u2019s got a bit about her, you wouldn\u2019t put a score past her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her selection is also an indication of how Bemand wants to build his squad. \u201cI generally don\u2019t want it to be big sweeping changes because you want stuff to be teed up for success,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a few players here I think are right on the cusp of getting an opportunity. They\u2019ve got to keep training the house down. They (opportunities) are very earnable. The whole group is just getting experiences as they go through and maturing nicely.”<\/p>\n
B\u00e9ibhinn Parsons is not yet ready for her return from injury as Vicky Elmes Kinlan starts on the right wing, while Niamh O\u2019Dowd is selected at loosehead prop following Ellena Perry’s retirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The other change sees Dorothy Wall replace the injured Sam Monaghan in the second row.<\/p>\n
The series also arrives ahead of next September’s first-ever British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, which adds another layer. Jo Yapp, the Lions head coach, has already visited the Irish camp and met players and staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re selling, we\u2019re pitching,\u201d Bemand said with a smile. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a few people that I think could get on that tour and make a difference to it. This is the start of that, which kind of brings a bit of excitement.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says his team are going to have to become \u201creasonably un-Irish\u201d if they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3347,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-629356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-irish-womens-rugby","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}