Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams fought back tears in a press conference as he insisted his side must "own it, move on and be better" following their 31-5 defeat to Wales in Cardiff.
He was visibly emotional as he backed his team to improve, tearing up and pausing while answering media questions a number of times to regather his composure.
The hosts secured the bonus point in a ruthless first-half performance where they scored four of their five tries and despite an improved display after the break Ireland were unable to find any way back into the game, although they claimed a consolation try through captain Nichola Fryday.
While Wales are 14 months into professionalism, Ireland Women are just a few months into their professional era, and even then not all Six Nations squad members have accepted historic IRFU deals. A total of 29 contracts were awarded by the governing body at the end of last year on the condition that players ply their club trade on home soil, but a number of players including captain Fryday declined to remain playing in England's Premier 15s competition, largely seen as the best women's rugby club competition in the world.
A number of sevens players were also off limits for Ireland, who had headed to Cardiff looking to avenge last year's defeat to Wales in Dublin. They would have been hoping for a performance more akin to their 45-0 demolition of Wales in Cardiff two years ago, which marked Welsh women's rugby real low point before efforts were made to properly invest in the programme.
Speaking after his side's defeat, Ireland boss McWilliams told a press conference: "We'll do some soul searching but like any good sports team you are going to have good times and bad. This is obviously a day that is a tough day but we have got to learn from it and get better.
"I'm not going to pretend we are not disappointed. We have got to own that performance. We know where we are.
"Wales are a little bit further ahead of us, you can see that in their development, they overpowered us in the first half and we have learnt some really valuable lessons.
"Like anything, you have got to learn from those lessons, create a plan and aim to be better the next time you play.
"I thought it was 31-0, so I was happy when I was told it was better than I thought it was. It's really hard. You always have to take the next step in any challenge."
He added: "I think we are better than how we played today, for sure. It was one of those days when things went against us. We'll learn from the mistakes and make sure the next time we are in those situations we are going to be better."
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