Ireland's women's rugby team lost 18-13 to France in the quarter-final of the World Cup six months ago. Under Bemand, Ireland has secured back-to-back third place finishes in the Six Nations, but finished 10 points behind France and 17 behind England in the 2025 tournament. Bemand has signed a new contract to stay as Ireland's coach until the 2029 Women's Rugby World Cup.
For the upcoming Six Nations, Ireland's squad features significant changes, including nine uncapped players in its 36-strong group. The team also has a new captain, Erin King, replacing Amee-Leigh Costigan and Edel McMahon. Wales' women's rugby team, in contrast, is coming off a difficult period, having suffered whitewashes in last year's Six Nations and World Cup campaigns.
We've always said we don't want to be afraid to talk about winning; winning games and competitions.
The team won just one of 10 Tests last year and is currently ranked 12th in the world. Specifically, Wales lost all five games in the Six Nations for the first time in their history in head coach Sean Lynn's first campaign, and had a winless World Cup, bowing out at the pool stage. To address past issues, Wales has implemented coaching and squad changes for the Six Nations.
The team has new defence, attack, and forwards coaches, and head coach Sean Lynn has named nine uncapped players in the squad. Wales is captained by Kate Williams for the Six Nations, with Alex Callender injured. A notable return for Wales is Alisha Joyce, who came back to rugby 123 days after giving birth and was named in the Six Nations squad.
The nice thing about how we've been tracking is that we had a good World Cup, but we didn't get what we wanted out of that quarter-final. We pushed France close, but we have to be another school better.
She is the first Wales player to use the governing body's new performance maternity programme, and missed last year's Six Nations and World Cup due to pregnancy. Wales opens its Six Nations campaign against Scotland at Principality Stadium on Saturday, facing a team they have not beaten in over three years. England, the defending champion, also faces squad changes as they begin their Six Nations defence at home to Ireland on 11 April, with over 67,000 tickets sold.
The team is missing Zoe Stratford and Abbie Ward due to pregnancy, and Emily Scarratt and Abby Dow due to retirement. England's coaching continuity is secured with John Mitchell signing a new contract as the women's rugby coach until the end of the 2029 Rugby World Cup in January.
Erin embodies the Ireland player of the future of how she attacks training and how she is - honest, driven and a resilient player.
As Red Roses, what comes next is a fresh start.
The Six Nations is hugely important to us, and we know success in this competition has to be earned every time.
This is a new cycle for us.
I'm very excited, we've got a blend of senior players, some fresh faces, fresh voices and the squad is looking much more competitive.