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Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams says the players are “asking themselves some tough questions” but will learn from another heavy Six Nations defeat.
Saturday’s 53-3 defeat by France in Cork followed an opening round loss in Wales, but McWilliams saw positives.
“It’s hard, it’s a big scoreline but we have inexperienced players who are very talented and we’ve full faith in them.
“Hopefully we will look back in time and see these as being really important steps for us,” he said.
Patience is clearly the key for a young, developmental Irish side who are having to learn on the job in the harsh environment of the Six Nations, minus some players who are on Sevens duty.
Ireland captain Nichola Fryday thanked the Irish fans for their support and for staying with a rookie Irish side which shipped nine tries in Musgrave Park.
“It means a lot to us that people are shouting for us because we are starting out and we want to bring them with us on our journey,” said the skipper.
“I’m really proud of the girls for sticking with it for 80 minutes, we showed spells of what we are trying to do and what we want to do on the ball.
“We met them up front but we didn’t match the physicality that the French brought and if you’re on the back foot like that, it’s extremely hard to stay in the game.
“It’s invaluable game time for girls. They have been exposed to a different level of rugby and we have learned so much.
“At times we were on a par with them in terms of physicality and mentality and at times we dipped off and that’s where we will take our learnings.”
Head coach McWilliams was similarly upbeat despite shipping 84 points in two games.
“We had three new caps in again this week and I was happy that the players worked in a really good direction and the key is to keep building now.
“We have really good coaches in Denis Fogarty and John McKee who are doing a mountain of work and the players have bought in.
“It’s a young squad, but we own that (result) and we’re proud of the players.
“The scoreline is not what we want and we get that.
“We understand that the Irish public want us to win, but it’s difficult for the players, they’re going into a well, and these experiences are what you want in a team.
“We want to see these players work towards an end goal which is to be the best team that we can be.”
