Losing most of their best backs to Sevens didn’t help Ireland but it was upfront where they struggled most.

Ireland's scrum-half is doing a PhD on tackling in the women's game and hopes her doctorate will help shape policy to ensure female players are safer

Sene Naoupu and Eimear Considine return to the starting line-up in a whole new backline due to the loss of seven players

Ulster hooker Neve Jones (23) had no worries packing down with men and, as chief dart thrower, will be especially vital in sorting out Ireland lineout.

The lop-sided nature of this defeat indicates the mountain Ireland face in their current rebuilding phase.

Nichola Fryday is convinced the Ireland women’s rugby team are capable of getting their Six Nations Championship campaign back on track at Stade Ernest Wallon

Two different codes, both tournaments haunted by regrets, but that isn’t where the similarities end

Speaking at a press event with the same conviction and passion that made her Irish captain and the top point-scorer in the 2013 and 2015 Six Nations, Briggs says professional contracts will not solve the problems of Ireland’s transitional women’s side right now.

Limerick native Briggs won 57 caps for Ireland in her playing days and won two Six Nations championships, including one as skipper

It was a dream start for Ireland who were 12-0 up in the early stages - Beibhinn Parsons and Stacey Flood with the tries

If rugby and GAA grappled with lofty matters of power and equality, soccer seemed to console itself with a very traditional debate: whether the manager of the national team was any good or not

The IRFU have confirmed that this Saturday’s Bateman Cup semi-finals and the following weekend’s resumption of both the men’s and women’s All-Ireland Leagues remain on schedule

Although what the players are ultimately asking for is no quick fix, there are many areas that can be improved speedily and without massive wads of cash

The many and varied reactions to the Irish women’s rugby players’ letter show that this is far more than a sports story. It is a struggle for public honour for all females that is now well and truly ignited

In the most remarkable opening remarks before any Dáil Committee, neither Sport Ireland nor the Federation of Irish Sport mentioned the Irish women’s rugby players

Minister Chambers was told at an Oireachtas meeting that the IRFU’s rejection of the “overall tenor” of a letter sent to him and Minister Catherine Martin by current and former players was not being taken seriously enough

Time is something the IRFU doesn’t have here — the battlelines have been drawn with impunity and that brings the potential for lengthy and open warfare

The rugby players stopped short of downing tools but it’s still a massive intervention to seek the sports ministry to act as a form of watchdog on their behalf

The union declared itself to be “fully committed” to the development of the women’s game

Two former Munster men also featured at the online ceremony, CJ Stander accepted the Moment of the Year Award and JJ Hanrahan claimed the Men’s Try of the Year Award

Ireland women will be hosting Italy at Musgrave Park on April 10, 2022. The Cork venue has been successfully hosting the Ireland U20s since 2019.

Captaining her country for the 24th and final time, the retiring Kerry native grabbed a brace of second half tries to turn a 12-3 interval deficit into an eventual three-point victory

Overcoming a nine-point interval deficit, and the 29th-minute dismissal of first-time starter Hannah O’Connor, the home team did just enough to see off a stubborn Japanese challenge

After playing her part in helping the Irish to secure a Six Nations title in 2015, Doyle subsequently switched over to the IRFU’s Sevens programme

Despite being just 27 years of age, the Kerry native will line out in an Irish side for the final time tomorrow afternoon in an autumn test against Japan

Head Coach Adam Griggs - who is taking charge of the team for the final time - has named three uncapped players in his matchday 23

Still relatively young at 27 to be stepping out of the limelight, the Kerry native had only just turned 22 when she made her debut in a Six Nations victory over Wales in February 2016

Griffin also revealed she will take some time before deciding whether to continue playing with UL Bohemians and Munster beyond the end of this year

The 27-year-old Kerry woman said that it was "a decision I have not come to lightly"

The build-up had been dominated by Monday’s comments from the IRFU’s director of sevens and women’s rugby Anthony Eddy which had prompted condemnation from former players and current front row Cliodhna Moloney

The union chief executive refused to be drawn on the future of Anthony Eddy while confirming that talks have begun on a new contract for David Nucifora

Men's internationals have been slow to offer backing to the women's team in the wake of this week's controversies 

The wider backlash against comments by Anthony Eddy, the IRFU's director of sevens and women's rugby, has left the Ireland players in an unenviable position this week

Flood's focus now is next month’s games against the USA and Japan in the RDS but the magnitude of last month’s failure demands more airtime as the IRFU goes about a review

This is 'one of Ireland's most innovative and sustainable jerseys to date,' according to the manufacturers

Head Coach Adam Griggs has included six uncapped players in his squad for Ireland women's Autumn international series where they host the USA and Japan

McWilliams was previously part of the Ireland Women's coaching team

Footage of the area, where rats were said to be seen scurrying about, was widely shared on social media.

The clash with world number six USA will take place under floodlights on Friday, November 12 with the Japanese tie an afternoon kick-off eight days later.

'Without rubbing salt into the wounds of the Irish women not making the World Cup, if something was to come off the back of this in a couple of years, it would give them the exposure they will probably miss out on in 2022'

The effectiveness of any IRFU review into Ireland's failure to qualify for the Rugby World Cup is also being questioned, given that the last one clearly didn’t work

Molloy, Ireland’s most experienced active international player, has announced her retirement from Test rugby

Bantry Bay RFC has taken to social media to accuse the Munster Rugby Women’s Committee and the IRFU of putting too much effort into “hashtags and hollow words” rather than “putting real policies in place to support girls playing rugby”

Ireland women’s coach Griggs said it was heart-breaking to have their hopes of making it to the World Cup in his native New Zealand next year ended in the final play of their qualifying match against Scotland