Women's Rugby World Cup draw reaction as Ireland to face reigning champions in pool stages
The Women's World Cup will take place in England next year and Scott Bemand's Ireland are on the crest of a wave after beating Australia, New Zealand and the USA in recent weeks
by Michael Scully · Irish MirrorIreland will face a New Zealand team hell bent on revenge at next year's Women's World Cup finals.
Scott Bemand's side produced a massive shock in beating the Black Ferns, the reigning world champions, three weeks ago in the WXV1 tournament in Canada.
But Ireland face the prospect of doing it all again when they face the All Blacks in Pool C of the World Cup that takes place in England next August.
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Japan and Spain are the other teams in the pool and Ireland will be out for revenge against the latter, who beat them for a place in the last World Cup.
Ireland are in a different place now, having qualified for the finals as the third-best team in this year's Six Nations and then finishing second in WXV1.
Team co-captain Sam Monaghan expressed excitement after the draw was made.. "Really exciting," she said.
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"The group is quite familiar from the last couple of years, we went on tour to Japan a couple of years ago, we played Spain last year in WXV and New Zealand we've just beaten, so we can take confidence from that.
"It’s going to be an absolutely amazing experience especially for the younger players, especially the likes of Dannah (O’Brien) who has been in the setup for the last few years and playing really well. It’s great to see the young players coming through.
"Japan have kicked on in the last couple of years. They had a decent WXV tournament so they’re always an exciting and clinical team to play.
"That was a hard win against Spain in the third tier of WXV last year. They’ve got some serious pace with some of their Sevens players coming back in as well. They’re an exciting team to play. Quite a passionate team.
"And then New Zealand - I’m buzzing to play them. I know they’ll definitely be up for a rematch as well. That group is so resilient. The hard work they do for each other off the pitch, it showed in those performances in WXV.
"It’s really important now that we stay connected as as group so it’s really important that we go back to our clubs and try to strengthen our individual performances and when we come back to the Six Nations that we’re hitting the ground running. "
Monaghan missed the WXV games due a serious knee injury she suffered in the summer, but she said she was proud of the way the players performed to finish second in the table.
“So proud," she said. "I can’t even put it into words. Bursting with pride. Watched it three times, probably cried three times. It’s such an inspirational group.
‘I was back running today, not at full body weight but at 70% just to get into the mechanics of it. Working really hard.
"That WXV performance really inspired my rehab for the next couple of weeks so I’m itching to get onto the pitch as soon as possible with the girls."
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