Sam Monaghan fit for Ireland’s Women’s Six Nations clash with Italy as coach Declan Danaher hails squad focus

Monaghan missed the 38-17 defeat to France in their opener in Le Mans last weekend.

The Ireland co-captain was following return-to-play protocols after going off for a Head Injury Assessment while playing for her club Gloucester-Hartpury recently.

Dublin lock Ruth Campbell – who wasn’t part of the match-day squad against Les Bleus - has picked up a wrist injury and will be sidelined for “a couple of weeks”.

Danaher said all the players came through the game in France with the return of Monaghan a boost for the team.

“Sam's good to go. So she's passed all her relevant protocols she's needed to do. She's training and it’s good to be working with her. She's an important part of our team in terms of lineout,” Danaher said today.

“Off the back of the weekend, a pretty physical encounter that the girls were all battered and bruised, but they're all good to go.”

Danaher’s new stint as the specialist defence coach with the national women’s squad has got off to an impressive start as defence was one of the most encouraging aspects of Ireland’s performance in round one.

Ireland conceded 53 points to France last year, they reduced it to 38 last Saturday. they conceded nine tries to France last year, they reduced it five last Saturday.

They missed 43 tackles against France last year, they reduced that to 17.

Danaher – who was previously part of Declan Kidney’s coaching staff at London Irish – joined the Ireland coaching team under Scott Bemand earlier this year.

He’s only “six or seven weeks” in the job and already he’s made a difference with the players.

Last weekend’s try-scorer Aoife Dalton said after Saturday’s game that Danaher is making the players love defending.

“I have got to know the group. They are a real mix which is the beauty of any group and I have enjoyed working with them,” he said.

“There are older and younger players but in any defensive system you pull on that jersey and it doesn’t matter the area of the game because you have to throw yourself into it.

“For some, that defence will come a little bit easier, like Neve beside me with those 20-plus tackles, and they are all different.

“It’s how I dial that up for some and express its importance for the team. I have had a real buy-in from the group and I have made a real effort to get to know them individually as well so you get to have those interactions and maybe then they start to potentially care about an important area but one that is only a part of the overall game.

“I take as much joy in what we do in the attacking game. I would love for us to be all-round at the weekend.”

Danaher was impressed with a number of areas of Ireland’s game in Le Mans.

“The positives are for me, the effort and work-rate and the intent we showed. Then from a review point of view, we've had a good look at ourselves,” he said.

“What we can control better and we spoke with the girls around things like stopping driving tries, not allowing teams get that field position, but also little things around system; when you come under pressure where you're meant to be, what you can do to stop it.

“It's not just about defence, if the attack comes better, it takes pressure off the attack and setpiece.

“It's all marrying up the different areas so that we get an all-round performance that you can put out at the weekend and you're proud of.”