IRISH NOT GOOD VALUE FOR €8M

SCOTT Bemand (below) has not been short in telling his Ireland players, the supporters and the media he is coaching at ‘elite’ sports level.

- ONE FinFOLEY WITH DEREK FOLEY

It is a word he chucks into the mix all too often as if telling your players they are great will have a startling effect: it'd be coaching and tactics for me, I'm afraid.

Of course with €8m spent year-on-year by the IRFU on women's rugby, including the 37 XVs and Sevens players on €15-30k contracts, they are definitely ‘elite’ in a domestic sense.

But add in a €100k-plus coach and a back-row team nearing a collective €200k, we need to get this party started in terms of being penny-for-penny competitive with those outside the island.

Which, in turn, makes the stuttered win over Japan, conceding 27 points to Spain and being tactically out-thought, and failing to score against New Zealand worrying.