2020 Women’s 6 Nations

Ireland will start there 2020 women’s 6 Nations campaign against Scotland in Donnybrook tomorrow at 1pm.  They will hope to start the Championship in winning fashion after only one win in 2019 to their opponent’s tomorrow afternoon. Ireland then lost their other fixtures and will also have to qualify for the 2021 World Cup at the tail end of 2020. 2020 is a big year for Irish women’s rugby which has gone through many turbulent times since the home World Cup of 2017.

Many players have left the squad through retirement and the players just haven’t come through as quickly as one would have hoped. Having to split there resources between 7s and 15s has been tough but this cannot be used as an excuse into 2020 as this has been the norm for a few years now.

With 3 homes games against Scotland, Wales and Italy the hope of a 3rd place finish is very much in Irish hands as one feels England and France will be fighting for top spot even though they face each other in round 1.

Momentum is a word used very often in sport but is a key message for this group and they know a win against Scotland will set them up for a another home game vs Wales on Sunday week. Adam Griggs has had a extra few training camps and training game vs Wales so they should be very prepared for the challenge that this weekend will bring.

Having Phillip Doyle in the Scottish corner will bring challenges he was the man that was in charge of Ireland for many years including a number of World Cups and he was the man who was in charge of Ireland when they won the Grand Slam of 2013 and Championship win in 2015.

Both he and Ireland have been on different paths since he left the Irish job. Ireland have lost the momentum of his time charge and have really failed to capitalise on the good work he and many more put in while he was charge.

The challenge for this current group is to try and win all three home fixtures and then they have two free hits against France and England although they won’t see either game as a “free hit“ against the heavyweights of England in round 3 and France in Round 5.

Time for all the talking to cease and for the girls in green to take charge and put all the lessons of 2019 to good use and make a winning start to the 2020 Championship on home soil against Scotland. 1pm in Donnybrook Sunday…

 

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