Dalton knew New Zealand would come out firing, looking to avenge the shock defeat by the Irish in WXV1 last year.
And while Ireland started well by piling pressure on, a combination of basic errors and New Zealand’s quality helped the Black Ferns to pull away 19-0 by half-time.
Scott Bemand’s side fought back admirably in the second half but again failed to turn their possession into tries as New Zealand’s defence stood firm before they ran in two late scores of their own to add gloss to the scoreboard.
“We probably couldn’t get into our flow and one mistake in attack or defence and they’re under your posts a few phases later,” Dalton added.
“We probably left two scores out there but credit to them, they defended really well, they turned us over a couple of times in our own 22, so we have to be sharper and cleaner there.
“We invited them onto us a bit when we didn’t need to. We couldn’t get momentum and we put Dannah [O’Brien] under pressure, we didn’t give her the platform to play.”
Next up for Ireland is a quarter-final against France in Exeter, a side who beat them by 12 points in this year’s Six Nations.
Dalton believes her side will move on quickly from the loss with the France game looming and she hopes Edel McMahon and Stacey Flood will be ready for the knockout tie after both went off injured in Brighton.
“We’ll regroup, you don’t have time to feel sorry for yourself, you just have to clean your wounds and go again.
“[McMahon and Flood] are getting reviewed, they are up walking around which is a positive but we’re lucky with the depth we have, but we’ll miss the two girls if they can’t play.”
