Tierney anticipates 'cup final' against France

Ireland head coach Tom Tierney says Thursday's Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 Pool C game against France is "a cup final" for both teams.

Ireland recovered from 14-0 down to beat Japan 24-14 in Sunday's Pool C clash at the Belfield Bowl, but Tierney admits his side were lucky to grind out a second win from two matches after ceding so much territory to the Cherry Blossoms in the first half.

"We’ll be looking to rectify that," he said.

"You can't give the French 61% possession. It's going to be a cup final. That's going to be our mentality on Thursday night.

"Anything can happen. We're under no illusions that we have to improve in a number of areas for us to be competitive on Thursday."

France top Pool C on 10 points after bonus-point victories over Japan and Australia, with Ireland on eight points after their own narrow victories over the Wallaroos and the Cherry Blossoms.

Tierney says there is confidence in the camp that Ireland can prevail in the winner-takes-all clash against France, after their 13-10 Six Nations win over Les Bleus at Donnybrook in February.

The three Pool winners will qualify for the last semi-finals, and they will be joined by the best runner-up, which is likely to be the loser of Thursday's England v United States Pool B encounter.

"We went into the match against the French in the Six Nations as complete underdogs, we pulled a performance out of the bag there," he continued.

"I think that's well within our capabilities for Thursday.

"Favourites, or underdogs, it's not really about that over the next few days. 

"It's just really about having a mindset that we have to look after our jobs, and look after the basics."

Old Belvedere and Leinster winger Hannah Tyrell admits Ireland have struggled with their first-phase possession in both Pool C victories over Australia and Japan.

"We're just not clicking at the minute. We just had a lot of unforced errors, and that's really hampering us from getting going," she said.

"Once we get into our stride and get through a couple of phases, we're really breaking teams down and we're getting the results we need.

"I think maybe we didn't click as a team, there were a lot of handling errors at key moments in the game that gave the ball back to Japan, and put us on the back foot again.

"We kept turning over the ball which is very unlike us and not the way we want to play. But look, that game's done and dusted. We got the job done. And we're just looking ahead now to France to rectify things."

eir Sport's coverage of the Women's Rugby World Cup 2017 is sponsored by Aon.

Ireland face France in their third and final Pool C match at UCD's Belfield Bowl on Thursday, 17 August. [kick off 7.15pm]

Aon is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our colleagues empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance.

Image Inpho/ Dan Sheridan

eir Sport channels are available across the eir Vision, Sky and Vodafone TV platforms as well as on the eir Sport app. All 7 channels in the eir Sport pack are available for free if you are a residential eir broadband customer