Ireland v Australia: Edel McMahon says World Cup build-up beginning

Ireland captain Edel McMahon says Saturday’s game against Australia in Belfast (14:30 BST) will begin the team’s preparations for the 2025 World Cup and the “next chapter of where we’re growing as a squad”.

After all the turmoil that enveloped Irish women’s rugby after the failure to reach the 2022 World Cup, Exeter Chiefs back row McMahon says the team is now in a better place following the arrival of coach Scott Bemand 14 months ago.

“There’s been a massive shift in how we prepare. The off-field stuff and culture is really good at the moment,” said the Ireland skipper.

McMahon’s words will be music to the ears of the IRFU after the tumultuous days of 2021 and 2022.

In December 2021 – three months after Ireland’s shock failure to qualify for the last World Cup – a group of 62 players past and present wrote a letter to the Irish Government saying they had lost “all trust and confidence in the IRFU”.

The fallout included the departure of IRFU women’s rugby director Anthony Eddy, with Greg McWilliams’ stint as national coach lasting only 18 months as he left after Ireland’s dismal 2023 Six Nations campaign.

“The staff have been brilliant and how we’re performing as a high-performance environment is really starting to click together,” said McMahon of Ireland’s coaching set-up under Bemand.

“Players having voices in how that’s shaped is massive and adds to the buy-in from everyone.”