Ireland confident before Ferns clash

Control of set pieces will be vital for Ireland again on Tuesday(P. Charlier/IRB)

"New Zealand are what they are – an extremely impressive side. I watched 30 minutes of their game against Kazakhstan, they were impressive from the start, but they’ll have weaknesses and we’ll find them."

The words of Irish coach Phil Doyle as he looked ahead yesterday to his team's crucial game against the Black Ferns in round two of the World Cup on Tuesday.

It's probably the right attitude to have. Too often teams go into games against opposition such as New Zealand and England and seem almost in awe of the shirt - with the game lost before the kick-off. A common word we hear from players when looking ahead to their first game against the Ferns (and, as they play so rarely, most games in major competitions are the opposition's first!), is "honour" - how they are "honoured to have chance to play the Ferns."

It is never an encouraging thing to hear, and what was notable from Ireland when looking forward to their next game is how it was absent. They know that New Zealand are a good team, a strong team, with ability across the field. They respect them - but that is as far as it goes. They are going into the match full of belief - as captain Fiona Coughlan said "We’ll be watching footage of them and we’ll look at our own game. We’ll be watching the videos, but they can be beaten."

And after the game against the United States on Friday you cannot blame them. Up against the biggest and heaviest team in the competition, in a tension-filled must-win game, they came through. Coughlan was particularly pleased about how her team reacted:

"We adapted to the game, we’d have liked to have played a wider game, but that did not work so we played it tighter. We used our maul – perhaps more often than we would normally – but it worked, and we sucked players in. It's something we’ve worked on and we like to use."

Doyle also commented on how well the planning that had gone into the fixture, and how it had worked for his team "As expected the Americans brought physicality and line speed in huge abundance, and we knew we'd really had to box clever. It's all about getting to the side of them, low round their knees. It's all about the pick and go. Territory was always in the game plan. The plan was to get their back three to turn,  we identified weaknesses there, and attack their line out. The maul had to play a role – we identified it before the game because we knew they’d be coming in from the sides, that they would not be disciplined enough. So we’d get penalties to turn into territory.  We recognised that their right winger had no kick on her, so everything would be a run, so we were able to close her down quite easily, most of the time. Lots to work on even so."

It was not a perfect performance from Ireland - far from it. Doyle was far from happy about the start to both halves - "pure nerves" in the first, and a rather more serious "lack of concentration" in the second that cost what could have been vital tries - and it was clear that words had already been exchanged. Coughlan was positive, even about this. "It was disappointing to conced tries early on in both halves, but we regrouped from that and we can back stronger and fighting and well take a lot from that."

Whether Ireland actually achieve what would, in all honesty, be one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history only time will tell. If Niamh Briggs - player of the day on Friday - can repeat her masterly performance again the USA, anything is possible and with such a positive attitude they can be expected to push New Zealand all the way. At the very least they should keep their points record such that they will still be competing for a place in the semi-finals come round three.

And New Zealand were by no means perfect on Friday. A win by over 70 points is pretty impressive in anyones book - even against 500-1 outsiders. Their ability to react to the unexpected, and spot an opportunity in the twinkling of an eye, was amazing to watch. But there were also times when play was most un-Fern-like, with mistakes made that Kazakhstan invariably failed to capitalise upon, but which Ireland will seize on if they are made again.

It's pretty unlikely that they will make those mistakes again - even the Ferns will have found it hard to maintain concentration when they were, at times, scoring at better than a point a minute.

They will not underestimate Ireland. As a result it should, based on round one, be a closer game that most expected - especially if Ireland can play 80 minutes like they played 70 against the USA.