Ireland's fragile confidence faces tough test against New Zealand in Vancouver
The pressing need is for Ireland to stay in the game against the Silver Ferns, retain the confidence and the feel-good gained from the 2024 Six Nations
Brittany Hogan was the single most valuable player in the recent Inter-provincial championship.
Leinster may have started slowly and eventually won the bauble, Munster's teamwork based on a mostly UL Bohs framework was noteworthy and cause for thought.
But it was the 26 year-old Ulster back-row Hogan whose strength of will seems to match her strength on the ball who was an MVP in every half in every match she played.
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Given Ireland are facing the opening WXV1 game half a world away in Vancouver and facing up against the Rugby World Cup winners New Zealand, there is little doubt Hogan and her teammates are in for a severe test.
Think back: It is not that long ago this team had descended into near chaos so the consequent regroup and confidence gained from some hard graft and a lot of heart in the 2024 Six Nations (Ireland finished third) was welcome.
Promotion to WX1 via the Six Nations was wonderful, to be celebrated at the time but some had reason to be worried for the 'new', 'improved' Girls in Green...had it come 12 months too soon?
Admittedly, the Silver Ferns didn't deserve to win the 2021 Rugby World Cup.
England had stormed into a decent 14-0 lead in the final which was staged at Eden Park, Auckland but they fell victim to an 18th minute red card (it was a red card offence but it came from a rugby-type collison where lack of technique rather 'foul' play was the major contributor).
From where the 14 competed brilliantly and only fell to an Ayesha Leti-l'iga try nine minutes from time, the last score of the 34-31 scoreline.
But that shouldn't take away from the idea New Zealand will be gunning for Ireland and will expect to put 40 or 50 points on the scoreboard by way of a 'training spin'. It will be that difficult for Scott Bemand's team.
As it is, Ireland arrived in Canada well in advance of Sunday's game which is scheduled for 7pm local (3am Irish) and, in a stroke of not so much luck as good planning, managed to get a semi-competitive game in with France.
"The feeling within the squad is good, really good," says back-row star Hogan. "We came over to Canada earlier than some of the other teams. It was really important for us to acclimatise as there is an eight-hour time difference between Vancouver and Ireland so there were a couple of tired bodies the first few days.
"But we are all connected now and are ready to hit the ground running. We had our first big blow out playing against the French in the Canadian rain.
"It is very valuable to us to get that first hit on the grass and see the stuff that we were talking about in meetings come to fruition."
The step up from simply playing and training amongst themselves to being challenged by France was welcome.
"It is so valuable especially because whenever you are training against each other you are always aware of the special plays, or what's going to happen, say in our lineouts, so it is very easy to defend or attack against them.
"To play a team that have no idea what you are doing, it's really valuable to see if our moves are actually going to work or if we need to scrap some of them so it is really valuable time before we have New Zealand on Sunday."
VERDICT: This is an incredibly important game for Ireland on the back of the baby steps forward that marked the Six Nations campaign. Don't expect Ireland to win, they haven't an earthly. But they do need to avoid shipping a confidence-damaging defeat.
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