Ireland head coach Scott Bemand is confident his squad will regroup from losing influential flanker Erin King for the remainder of the Six Nations and the World Cup later this year.
King sustained a knee injury in Ireland’s defeat by England last weekend and the full extent of it was made public on Thursday.
“It does affect you, but we understand injuries can happen,” said Bemand, whose team play Wales at Rodney Parade on Sunday.
“The group have circled round her really well. Erin doesn’t want us moping. She wants us to go out and put in a performance.
“We’ll take a bit of Erin energy, we’ll bring it to training this week and take it to Wales with us because she’s still part of the group and around it.”
Squad skipper Edel McMahon could slot back into the back row after missing the England defeat because of a knock, while Enniskillen native Claire Boles will be another option to come in for the unlucky King.
“We can’t be reliant on one player. We’ve got to keep growing the depth. There are girls coming through,” added the Ireland coach.
“Edel is back on line this week. Claire Boles has been outstanding through the camp and brings her own unique brand of open-side flanker. We’ve got some options. We’re OK and we’ll be able to put a performance out there.”
Bemand revealed that King’s injury is related to her cartilage rather than cruciate ligament damage, but it is still serious enough to end her hopes of featuring at the World Cup.
“The doctors said to her that they were surprised she could carry on, but she said it was just a niggle,” added the Ireland coach.
“It actually deteriorated after the game. So it wasn’t like she couldn’t run around or move it during the game.”
Ireland led early on against England in Cork. While England scored 42 unanswered points in the second half to win 49-5, Bemand felt that his team’s first-half shortcomings were just as contributory to the ultimately heavy defeat.
“It’s not just about looking at the second half. We’ve gone pretty hard at the first half because if we get that bit right and we’re 15, 17-0 up at half-time, what does that England team talk look like at half-time?” he said.
“We could have had more scoreboard pressure in that first block.”
