Sam Monaghan: It is really dialled-up in training for Scottish battle

A recap: it was Scotland who dramatically came from behind to beat Ireland by two points in September 2021 in Parma to end Ireland’s World Cup qualification hopes. Seven months later, it was Ireland who dramatically came from behind to beat Scotland by a point in April 2022 in Belfast to consign a winless Scotland to the wooden spoon in the Women’s Six Nations.

Last year, it was Scotland’s 36-10 convincing win that consigned a winless Ireland to the wooden spoon and hammer home the worst of campaigns for an Irish squad.

While Ireland v Scotland this weekend isn’t Parma 2.0, because both teams can still qualify through the WXV later this year, there is an automatic 2025 Rugby World Cup qualification place up for grabs for the team that finishes third in the table. Scotland are third on eight points with Italy fourth on six points just ahead of Ireland on points difference (-72 compared to -74).

Mention the history between Scotland and Ireland to Irish co-captain Sam Monaghan and she doesn’t need a second invite. “There’s been a few close games. That was my third cap, losing to Scotland in the last minute of the game [in Parma] and then we got them back at Kingspan. Last year, we weren’t performing and they came out on top of us at the Hive,” Monaghan says.

​ “It’s been some close games. I’ve played with a lot of those girls in the PWR [Premiership Women’s Rugby] so there’s an expectation of knowing what they’re like. They’re organised, but I think if we stick to our game-plan and what we’ve been doing in the last few weeks against Italy and Wales, we’ll come out on top.”

Monaghan is set to return to the Ireland team when it’s named today for Saturday’s finale. She missed the 88-10 defeat to England as she hadn’t fully recovered from the game against Wales the previous week (the game against Italy last month was her first match back after suffering concussion in January). The Gloucester-Hartpury lock says watching from the Twickenham sidelines was tough.

“Yeah it was. I guess you kind of feel a bit helpless, getting on messages and stuff. But look the girls, they’ve experienced that now. We’ve parked it and moved on but yeah it was hard to sit there. You just wanted to run out onto the pitch. But, no, kept fighting to the end and that’s what we can ask and focus on this week now.”

Do they feel they have a point to prove this weekend?

“A hundred per cent. It’s not the result we wanted. We have it under our belt now for next time but going into this week we are all guns blazing. It is really dialled-up in training.”

The impressive Scotland have been pulling off firsts in this championship. They picked up a first championship win on Welsh soil in 20 years with their 20-18 win over Wales in round one and recorded a first Women’s Six Nations win on Italian soil with their 17-10 victory over Italy last weekend. Preferably, Monaghan doesn’t want to leave it late like two years ago when Enya Breen scored a try and conversion to get them over the line.

“They’ve been rising up so we can’t under-estimate them but we just need to focus on our performance and how we go out there.

“We’re going there to win, we don’t want it to be as close as that coming into the last minute and having Enya Breen kicking the winner. It’s important we get off to a fast start, get on top of them. The set-piece will be crucial in this game, as every game, and the breakdown. They’re big keys we want to hit this week heading into Saturday.”

Ireland will look to add another twist to their rivalry.