Women’s Six Nations 2026: Finishing with two home wins would be ‘huge’ for Ireland – Gareth Stenson

Irish kicking coach Gareth Stenson said ending the Women’s Six Nations with two home victories would be “huge” for the team after last weekend’s crushing defeat to France.

Chasing a first win on French soil, Ireland had three tries disallowed during a dominant first-half display in Clermont on Saturday before the hosts took control in the second half to win 26-7.

Ireland host Wales in Belfast on May 9 before welcoming Scotland to the Aviva Stadium on May 17 after beating Italy 57-20 in their first home game in Galway.

“We don’t care about that,” Stenson told BBC Sport NI. “Three home wins was the goal initially, and maybe we’ll put in a big performance and try to get an away goal.”

“You have to be where the group is. You have to want to go and win. The ability is there.

“I think the way the games went. First off, it was good to play a big game against England and put us through the competition to see where we are. Then we went to Galway and had that performance against a good Italian team, scoring seven tries in the first half. The conditions were tough but we adapted to it well.

“And then to fight the fight that we did [in France]It was clear that you needed two good Test matches to get into a game that was just as tough as the one these girls had experienced.

“The holiday week has come as good timing for us. Maybe we can touch on some things leading up to the Wales game in Belfast. Hopefully we can get good support there because the girls are playing a good brand of rugby and feeding off the crowd.”