Damage limitation far from Ireland thoughts

Hannah O'Connor insists Ireland have no intention of going into damage limitation mode when they face France in their TikTok Women’s Six Nations clash on Saturday.

Greg McWilliams' side are coming off the back of a harrowing opening-round loss to Wales where an inexperienced outfit found down themselves 26-0 down at half-time, overpowered by a larger and more dynamic home pack, before losing 31-5.

Much has been made of Wales’ earlier switch to professionalism and the strides made in their game over the last two years, while France are further ahead in those stakes and reached the semi-final of the World Cup last year.

Ireland, minus their sevens players once again, must upset the odds if they are to record a first win over France since 2017.

O’Connor, who came on as a replacement in Cardiff, balked at the suggestion that Ireland could try to restrict their opponents rather than play their own game.

"No, absolutely not," the Blackrock player, who is in line for her 16th cap, told RTÉ Sport.

"We are not playing a Six Nations match to have that attitude.

"Our squad is full of youth and exuberance with a mix of senior people so there’s a beautiful balance but we’re not in this competition to make up the numbers or step off the gas as we go into this week.

"It’s very much heads down and see what we can do. It’s those little tweaks that we feel as a squad we are very confident about and can make a big difference for us and how we go about our business on Saturday."

The versatile forward did admit that the mistakes of last weekend was thrashed out among the squad and that they need to forge that anger and frustration into a cohesive performance in Musgrave Park.

"Coming off the back of a loss it’s been even more beneficial to us, that