WXV1: Ireland have ‘turned the page’ on New Zealand win as Canada match looms

Hogan lauded the Ireland players for their “hard work off the pitch” and “incredible diligence”.

Despite his warning about Canada’s strength, Hogan seems confident that Ireland will be in the right frame of mind for this weekend’s contest after the euphoria of Sunday’s win over the world champions.

“It’s always pleasing when you have a tight game and you win it in the end,” he said.

“We were really pleased with that but we’re able to turn the page quite quickly to Canada. It’s only a six-day turnaround, so again we’re building back up that excitement for this weekend.”

After being given Monday afternoon off to go whale watching, an experience which Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe described as “amazing”, the players and management watched footage of the competition hosts later in the evening.

Wing Murphy Crowe added that Ireland “all believed we could do something special” against New Zealand, but eyes are now fixed on facing Canada in Langley.

“We’ll move on to the next job now,” Murphy Crowe said. “We’ve our eyes on Canada.”

Prop Linda Djougang added that Ireland were ready for the “massive leap” to WXV1, and the team need to “stick to our system” against the Canadians.

“We just need to bring our physicality as we did last Saturday. Just play our shape and what we have been training to do and continue to work hard,” Djougang said.

“Canada are a really good team. We know what they bring and what a challenge they will be.

“We just really need to keep believing and play our style.”