With 23 Ireland caps, Clonmel’s Dorothy Wall has already borne witness to three head coaches during her time in the green jersey, and so is well familiar with the reality that with each new era comes a new culture, thought process and game plan.
The latest person in the hot-seat is former Red Roses coach Scott Bemand, who replaced Greg McWilliams after Ireland claimed the forever unwanted prize of the wooden spoon in last year’s Six Nations tournament.
With that loss came “a lot of turmoil”, which was, unsurprisingly, a terribly difficult period for the players, and, in essence, served as a wake up call for all involved in Irish women’s rugby.
Best of luck to @IrishRugby who take on France in the Guinness Women's Six Nations on Saturday (2.15pm Irish time) 💪
Congratulations to Dorothy Wall who has been named in the starting XV 👏#IrishRugby #SUAF ☘️— Munster Rugby (@Munsterrugby) March 21, 2024
“We didn’t want to have that negativity fester so we kind of had to have a look at what happened,” says Wall.
“It was important to look back and see how we wanted to be going forward, but we also had to leave some of it there in order to go forward. It’s been really important and there’s been a huge emphasis on creating team bonds since,” she continues.
With the importance of those team bonds not to be underestimated, upon his appointment, Wall explains how Bemand implemented a system to help foster those relationships that are ever so important both on and off the pitch.
And, having won his first tournament in charge (the XV3 series in Dubai back in October), there’s no disputing that it seems to be working for the English man and his wider squad.
But how did he make that happen?
Well, one small gesture which Dorothy Wall points out has made a sizable impact is the “buddy system”, in which players are paired together at random and roomed together, with the primary mission of finding out each other’s ‘why’, according to Wall.
Green shoots of recovery - Scott Bemand reacts to Ireland’s loss to France in their Six Nations opener. pic.twitter.com/VqmvgiKL5x
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 23, 2024
“You may not be very close friends with them but they’re your buddy and you have their back,” she explains.
“You room together and you figure out their ‘why’, why they do it, how they do it, and you just figure out all about them.
It’s so important that we have that in our team, that deeper bond and deeper understanding of why someone does what they do and why they’re here in an Irish jersey because in the moments against England and France, that's the stuff that matters and gets us through.
It’s really important and we’ve been building those foundations since [Scott Bemand] came in last year.”
Wall’s assigned partner in crime is Leinster’s Eimear Corri, who you mightn’t have originally placed the Munster woman with upon a provincial glance, but it appears it’s a match made in heaven.
As well as in peace and quiet for that matter.
“Eimear’s a gem. She’s actually incredible I don’t know how she does it. She’s a medical student and she’s doing this. You talk about pressure, the pressure she’s under she can literally dictate someone’s life and she’s playing rugby for Ireland too. She’s just such a nice person like,” says Dorothy Wall.
“You know some people when they're stressed they could be ratty, or you’d know by the face of them that somethings going on but Eimear always shows up in the same way to everything, she’s a very impressive individual.
We room together and it's very chill.
We’re both being very good at winding down in the evening and that’s just the perfect combination because we both are just sitting there happy enough in silence. She’s great.”
🗣️ 'For us it's about identifying the space, drawing them where we want to draw them...'@eimear_corri looks ahead to her first trip to France, and what Ireland will look to do in Le Mans this weekend. | 🇫🇷
🎙️ @Stephan_KG
Become a member ➡️ https://t.co/zjoL9xndtL. pic.twitter.com/SyZHXw2t4E— Off The Ball (@offtheball) March 19, 2024
With the France game under their belt, Wall and co now look forward to taking on Italy this weekend in the second round of the Women’s Six Nations, this time with a home crowd to look forward to in the RDS Arena.
If those fundamental partnerships and attachments are anything to go by, we’re sure they’ll be off to a flyer.
