Scott Bemand was left to rue Ireland's naivety in the second quarter of their WXV1 loss to Canada but is confident his team are on the right track.
Ireland lost two props, Linda Djougang and Niamh O’Dowd, to the sin-bin in the space of a minute, in which they conceded a penalty try.
They responded with a Dannah O’Brien penalty while down to 13 players but let Canada in for two more converted tries before they were back to their full complement.
Bemand’s side kept the hosts at the Langley Event Centre in Vancouver scoreless after the break, while Eimear Considine’s try got Ireland back to within two scores but they failed to breach the Canada defence again.
"The performance, there’s a bunch of stuff that’s gone on in that game that could have rocked any team. To be right in the game deep into the first half...
"There was a bit of naivety where we copped two seven-pointers late in the first half but then we regroup and win the second half five-nil.
"We’re sitting here disappointed that we didn’t execute more chances, that we didn’t execute when we got into their 22.
"We think we’ve left some points out there. I’m immensely proud of the girls. We came here and said we want to leave respected; I think we’ve come some way to earning a bit more of that respect.
"But we’re quickly wanted to move through the gears and be in them games right at the death."
Ireland qualified for the top tier after finishing third at the Six Nations and there was fear the jump up from WXV3 might have come too soon for the squad, which finished bottom on the standings in the 2023 Six Nations with a wooden spoon.
"As a group we never talked about it being too much too soon," skipper Enya Breen said.
"We want to test ourselves against the best and yes, we’re getting valuable experiences but we’re out here to fire shots and to have a crack at teams.
"It didn’t go our way but a lot of good things happened as well and we’ll build that into next week [against the USA]."
Once again, back row Aoife Wafer (above) was outstanding for Ireland, constantly a threat on the ball and ferocious in defence.
The 21-year-old was replaced in the 65th minute by Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, who was playing her first game since recovering from a long-term knee injury.
"If you look at Aoife’s output over games, this is still a three-game comp and we need to be a bit mindful, she’s fine and she’s come off in pretty good health," added Bemand.
"We got Deirbh on, we wanted to give her some rugby after a long absence with injury.
"We’ve had some bits that haven’t gone our way, we’ve had some bits that have gone our way.
"You look at the scoreline in the second half, you look at getting girls back on the pitch after long lay-offs, which continues to add bits to our depth.
"I was delighted to see her, she makes a break off the back of the scrum, we win a penalty, we’re asking the questions in their 22."
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