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Griggs: Minor improvements can help Ireland shock France

Ireland head coach Adam Griggs is quietly confident some minor tweaks can help his side score an ...



Ireland head coach Adam Griggs is quietly confident some minor tweaks can help his side score an upset win over France on Saturday. 

The sides meet at Energia Park in a match to decide who will top Pool B of the Women's Six Nations in association with Guinness.

Ireland's campaign began with a 45-nil win away to Wales last week. While Saturday's opponents went eight-points better against the same opposition on the opening weekend.

Griggs says there's no reason for his side to get carried away, despite the comfortable nature of last week's victory.

"We've certainly tried to keep their feet on the ground," the head coach said, "There's plenty of things when we reviewed the footage from the weekend that we know we can be better at.

"So it's about driving those messages to the players.

"We're full of confidence. We've spoken about 'we've got to concentrate on ourselves', and so every game we want to get better.

"Of course this is going to be a better opposition than what we faced last week.

"So if we can focus on the parts on the parts of our game that we want to improve, I've no reason why we won't be competitive and under the pump."

Griggs has kept faith with the same XV that started last week at the Arms Park, which means another outing for Connacht sensation Beibhinn Parsons on the wing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmZp--uR5xA&ab_channel=OffTheBall

She crossed the whitewash on two occasions last week, but the head coach feels there's more to her game still to be revealed.

"She's quite mature for her age," Griggs said, "Obviously I've been with Beibhinn since she burst onto the scene - I was involved with her in the U18s Sevens set-up as well - so we've known each other a while now and worked together.

"I think she's handling it quite well. I guess the side of it that we need to be prepared for is, with that attention and how well she's done, she's going to come across a lot stronger defence this weekend.

"If I was coaching on the opposite side, I'd be putting two defenders on her to make sure that she's marked up well.

"So we've got to make sure that we can bring her into the game in other ways, and not just the highlight reel stuff that we saw last week.

"It's going to take more of an effort to grind them down. She's capable of that, and that's probably where she's still learning a little bit.

"Just understanding her role, and how she can be a threat in other areas of the field and not just waiting on the wing for the ball."

As far as Griggs is concerned, there can be no waiting around in any area of the Energia Park pitch come Saturday, given the threats posed by France.

"You look at [Pauline] Bourdon at 9, and [Caroline] Boujard on the wing," he said, "Two players there that we're going to have to make sure that we keep a lid on early-on.

"We've really got to target slowing down their ball. I think if they get front-foot ball they can become very dangerous on attack.

"So us, around that breakdown, making sure we can disrupt it early-on and not give them the platform to use that ball out wide is really important.

"But similarly, I think for us in terms of our attack it's being patient and earning that right to play.

"I think we probably overplayed a few times last week, and that's probably how the game opened up. But I know this week will be a different test.

"So we have to make sure that we build that platform first, stay patient, before we look to expose them out wide if we can."

Ireland unchanged for France test but 7’s star Murphy Crowe in line for debut off bench

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Adam Griggs Beibhinn Parsons France Ireland Six Nations Wales Women's Six Nations