Professional v amateur reality hits home for Ireland

Nichola Fryday perfectly summed up the disadvantage Ireland faced when asked about facing England.

Stripped of their sevens players, this was the definition of professional v amateur.

England will reassemble this morning, review and train.

Ireland's players will go to work or to college and meet up later in the week to come up with a plan for how to beat Scotland.

"They’re just clinical in everything they do and have that advantage from training all week and are able to execute their systems efficiently and clinically and they get the opportunity to rep that all during the week," said the Ireland captain following yesterday’s 69-0 TikTok Women's Six Nations hammering.

"It’s just a step up they’ve got and we’ll continue to strive to get there as well.

"I think [the difference is] probably their power game, their set-piece.

"It's a real weapon that they have. We tried different ways of defusing it but it was just world-class and that's what we need to strive to get better at and be able to handle that kind of pressure.

"This year’s Six Nations has got tougher and tougher and England are that step above everyone else.

"At the same time it’s just rugby, if you go out and make your tackles and you chop low and you get one high and if you implement that system and process it makes your defence simple and easy and that’s what we did in the first half."

The one bright point was the scramble defence and the turnovers won over the course of a first half that finished 10-0 to the hosts.

But, once again, the set-piece crumbled with Ireland conceded six scrum penalties, England winning five of Ireland's put-ins, and stealing two Irish lineout throws, while disrupting a handful more.

Simon Middleton’s [pictured above] side will face France next