6 Nations: Round 3 reaction

By Aoife Hogan

Published by Alison Donnelly, March 1, 2010

8 minute read

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6 Nations: Round 3 reaction

"This was our toughest match so far in the Six Nations, and certainly the conditions did affect both sides playing today. Even so we still managed to score some quality tries and that says a lot about the willingness of this side and how they want to play."

"Well be incredibly disappointed with the start of the game. We had an idea of how we wanted to play and in the first 5 or 6 minutes we gifted them 12 points. If you gift England 12 points, its an uphill battle. But then I was really proud of the girls as after that we got into the type of game that we wanted to play in this particular match and I think we just about owned the next 30 minutes. Where England are really good is that they capitalise on mistakes. We tired a little bit and made 2 or 3 critical errors and well be very annoyed with the tries we gave away in the second half. We should have been closer. Im really happy with the girls but its a test match and our aim is to win test matches so were pretty disappointed with that.

Well be focusing on the scrum for the rest of the 6 Nations, but unfortunately we only get together the day before we play. Its an area thats already been highlighted to us and during the summer weve got intensive work to do on it, which we will do, especially as we have new girls coming in.

We want to be known for more than the kicking and mauling team and we are capable of more. We tailored our tactics a little bit for England and were developing the maul but were also developing quite an intensive running game. But again our problem is time. We take the 6 Nations very seriously but we are building towards the World Cup and thats whats in front of us.

The conditions did hamper our aim to play a running game but they might have helped us too! The England back 3 are pretty lethal so its a bit of give and take."

"It was unfortunate to lose a match but we were in the game for 80 minutes and that will be a huge benefit in the future. It will be something to learn from. England are obviously a vastly experienced team. It was my third cap and it was great to come up against some of the best in the world so hopefully well improve from here on in.

The initial speed of the game took us a while to settle into it and when you make a mistake against the likes of England they punish any mistake you make. Going forward we will have to look to improve on that. We will be thinking about the scrum as we head into the next two games. Were still a developing side and there are a lot of new caps in the team. I think there were at least 4 or 5 new players in this match. The set piece is something that we need to build on and work on. The lineout is something we can improve on again, especially defensively.

The maul is something we worked on really hard in the lead up to the 6 Nations and we scored a similar try against Italy. Its something that weve worked hard on and hopefully its something that we can use as a tool going forward.

The conditions did hamper our forward play today, especially in the scrum as it was difficult to get your a grip. England have a heavier pack and if they got the initial push on we did find ourselves sliding back. But overall the conditions didnt cut up too badly and the kicking game helped. There was good kicking from both sides."

"The score was 22-5 and that was a brilliant score against who we think are one of the strongest teams in the 6 Nations. At home is always a bonus, but Ireland always bring it. They always step up and play well against England.

Our initial thoughts were to come out hard. We knew we had to attack them at set piece and we did this in the scrum throughout the game.

In the first few minutes we caught them a little bit unaware. Got 2 quick tries on the board but they did come back and theyre strong and they fight. Their skill levels are good and they came at us hard.

The conditions didnt really suit our style of rugby. We made a few errors and the ball went to ground which wasnt ideal but were a good strong team and were still building and we came through a competitive 6 Nations game with a really good win.

The conditions werent ideal but a good team should adapt to that and it was the same for them. Both teams had to deal with it and with the World Cup around the corner we have to be able to deal with conditions like these."

"It was a poor performance and everyone is understandably disappointed. We need to be beating sides like that if we are where we think we are in the world game. I felt that we played most of the rugby in the first half but we failed to capitalise on our scoring opportunities.

In the second half, we found ourselves pinned in our 22 for long periods during which time we messed up and gifted them a couple of scores.

It will be interesting to see how we respond to this when we go to Ireland. I would like to think we can strike back with a victory and a decent performance too. We are off track in terms of our Six Nations ambitions, but I will be happy to accept wherever we finish in this tournament providing we learn the lessons of today's game."

The first forty minutes were poor and we didn't get into the game at all. However we responded to that with probably the best 20 minutes we've had, at the start of the second half, moving the ball well and executing good moves.

"Stephanie [Johnston] made her international debut today, too. She came through the Academy and the A programme - you never know how soon the call may come to join the national side and to be thrown in on the wing like she was, she did really well."

"Of course there is a little bitter taste for us because of the missed kicks in the second half and those prevented us from bringing at home the victory, but the Scots have played a great second half we are guilty of putting ourselves in trouble today by making mistakes out wide. Today we lack a bit of cynicism, but we have confidence in the work we are doing, we want to continue to grow and I'm sure the results will come."

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