Review of Wales defeat was 'pretty blunt' - John McKee

Senior coach John McKee says he's expecting a much improved performance from Ireland this Saturday, when they resume their TikTok Women's Six Nations against France at Musgrave Park.

The opening round 31-5 defeat to Wales in Cardiff has already left Ireland facing a huge battle to try secure a top three finish, which would see them rewarded with a spot in the top division of the new WXV competition later this year.

The squad got back down to work yesterday, as attention turns towards the visit of the French, who were 22-12 winners away to Italy on Sunday.

And McKee gave a frank assessment of how his side performed, particularly in their first half against Wales.

"There was a pretty blunt review and meetings, looking at some of the technical areas of the game we felt we let ourselves down," he said.

"The disappointing thing from a coaching perspective is we got beaten in some areas where we've done well before, and we got away from our process and the way we do things.

"The sessions yesterday around review were very good, and training today has been pretty good this morning, we got a lot of physical work done, particularly for the forwards, we're really looking forwards to the contest this week."

Much of the commentary since Saturday's defeat surrounded the gulf in size and power between the Irish forwards and the Welsh, which led to Wales dominating Ireland up front in the opening half.

But the New Zealander admits his side played into the hands of the hosts.

"Certainly, looking back on the last game, they put us on the back foot early on, they played to their strengths very well, and in the intensity of the game we didn't react well to fight ourselves out of the corner, so to speak.

"We know our scrum, we haven't got the biggest