Ireland want to be more than 'noble losers' - Bemand

Ireland finished third in the 2024 Women's Six Nations behind England and France

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand said his side want more than to make a "good fist of it" against the best teams in the world after they were beaten 27-15 by France at home to open the Women's Six Nations.

Both sides scored three tries at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast and the visitors led by just two points with nine minutes remaining.

Last season's championship runners-up, however, scored the final 10 points of the game through a Mor­gane Bour­geois penalty and Em­i­lie Boulard's converted try.

"We don't want to be noble losers," Bemand said.

"With 10 minutes to go, we felt we could go on and win.

"They're a young group still. They've got to be in those positions."

Ireland, who beat world champions New Zealand in Vancouver last year, were 14-0 down after 18 minutes before forcing their way back into the game and Bemand believes they could have secured victory with more "calmness of thought" in key areas.

"We've had some experience, like at the end of the New Zealand game in WXV1 when we were able to come back and win it, but coming out here against these tier-one-nations and World Cup contenders, we thought it would come down to those last 20 minutes.

"You're going to need to have that composure, not belief really, just calmness of thought that you can execute where you want to be on the pitch, how you get there, and then you take those opportunities."

Ireland will travel to Italy next weekend in round two of the Six Nations but could yet meet France again this year.

At the World Cup in England, the winner of Ireland's pool will play the runner-up of France's in the quarter-finals and vice versa.

"With a World Cup on the horizon, this very well could be a quarter-final," added Bemand.

"We said to the group, we want to get to that World Cup and know the next time we meet France, we can beat them.

"It's obviously not gone our way today but I think we think we can beat them the next time we meet them."