Greg McWilliams has shrugged off fears that Ireland could lose by 100 points to England in the women's Six Nations on Saturday as he confirmed that Dorothy Wall's absence is due to an ankle injury.
McWilliam's new-look side is in danger of finishing the championship with the wooden spoon after the loss to Italy in Parma last weekend, Ireland's third straight defeat of the campaign.
The arrival of World Cup losing finalists England to Musgrave Park on Saturday doesn't bode well given how heavily the Red Rose defeated Wales and Italy, who were both comfortable winners against Ireland.
READ MORE: The women's game endures hardship as Irish rugby is likened to 'old boys club'
Over the past week, a number of the Ireland players have come off social media due to their frustration over criticism.
"There possibly has been some negative press but there’s also been some positive press and there are a lot of people out there who are supporting the team for the right reasons," said McWilliams this afternoon after naming a side that has three changes from last weekend.
"We can’t control that (negative stuff). We hope we put on a show on Saturday that makes those supporters happy and proud.
"We can only control our inner circle and it’s really important we do our best and there’s some learnings along the way.
"As we grow, we grow on and off the field. We’ve had some good conversations but we can only control our performance and what we’re looking to get out of this week."
The Ireland head coach added: "Look, when you're in this environment you're in a bubble and we've been with each other now for essentially four weeks, and we've got to control what we do and how we can improve and that has to be your focus.
"That's been our focus this week, like every week. We know what's coming at us and we've got to prepare to meet that and to match that, and that means that mentally you've got to be ready for the fight and ready for the battle, you've got to get your technical and tactical elements of the game correct.
"And that outside noise is something that we can't control. What we can control is our performance and our ability to prepare as best we can.
"That's exactly what we're doing, we're focused on getting together, getting a plan in place and hopefully we can implement that at the weekend and show that competitive spirit and compete.
"It will be a great test for us and I think that's something that the players are excited about, to go out and play against England in Cork, there's going to be over 5,000 people in Musgrave Park.
"The weather is going to be good and we're just hoping that we put on a good show and show the Irish public that we are very proud of wearing the Irish jersey, we're very proud about driving this program forward.
"You can't ask for more than what the players are doing. We care, the staff deeply care about the players and we want to go out and put on a performance.
"And it's about fight, it's about working together as a group and showing that resilience in your performance. That has to be at the core of every team and every sport that you play, you want a team to show that resilience and fight and as long as we keep doing that, as a head coach I know that I'll certainly be very proud."
Wall is one of those players who would certainly have shown resilience and fight but the hard-working flanker must sit this one out, with Brittany Hogan taking her place.
However, she is expected to be back for the final encounter against Scotland.
"Dorothy is a big part of the squad but it’s an opportunity for other players to step up," said McWilliams, trying to put a positive spin on the blow.
"Brittany came on against Italy last week and did fantastic, brought a great energy and now it’s her opportunity to put the jersey on, hopefully keep it hers.
"She had an injury on her ankle last week against Italy and the response early in the week was a bit slow, she trained pretty well yesterday but still a little niggly.
"So we felt the best thing to do was to rest her to give her a chance to get it right for what leads into a big weekend next weekend. We’re just doing the right thing with Dorothy."
Asked how much of a gap there is currently between Ireland and England, and how that gap can be closed, McWilliams commented: "We know the women's game globally has grown massively, it is developing in this country massively.
"You can see that with our underage structures and our club structures and the amount of people that are playing the game now.
"There's no doubt that we want the Six Nations to be competitive, I think everyone does because it makes it a better spectacle. England and France are ahead at the moment, we know that, and I think our job as a Union is to continue to improve and to develop.
"I've talked openly about the plan that we have in place and I'm really confident in that, and we're on our own journey and there's an old expression that sometimes you must lose sight of the shore to discover new lands.
"So I think it's important to know where we are, it's really important to know where we've come from and it's very important to know where we're going and we have a plan of where we want to go.
"So we're always conscious of closing gaps and being competitive and this is another weekend where we'll find out a lot about ourselves and we'll reflect and we'll be smart about how we review the game, as we do after every game.
"We want Ireland to be competitive and are fighting really hard to get to that point.
"At the moment it's testing our resilience but it's a great challenge. It's a brilliant challenge for this group of players that are learning in the public eye and I'm very proud of how they're sticking to the task.
"There's no doubt that it's been tricky. You want to win your games, you don't want to be losing games. We want to win and to always improve, and this is another opportunity for us to show that this weekend.
"Success for me is having a group of players with a good energy, ready to go out and fight for every inch and to fight from whistle to whistle, but also to be smart in how they play and tactically to put on a good performance and one that we can show that there is continued growth."
READ NEXT:
GAA fixtures this weekend and what matches are being shown on TV
Dara O Baoill on Paddy Carr's Donegal departure: 'It was a decision we had to make'
Over 90 percent of female inter-county GAA players receive no expenses, new GPA report reveals
Galway star David Burke has 'walking properly' target rather than Tribe comeback
Hyundai pay tribute to Craig Breen with Irish colour scheme at World Rally Championship
Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts
