Niamh O’Dowd says victory over Scotland in Saturday’s final Women’s Six Nations match can give Ireland momentum heading into the World Cup.
Ireland travel to Edinburgh looking to secure third place in the standings behind England and France.
Scott Bemand’s side have won in Italy and Wales to end their run of four years without an away victory in the Six Nations.
“This weekend is a really good opportunity to hopefully finish the campaign with some momentum,” said prop O’Dowd, who returns to the starting line-up after missing last weekend’s win in Wales because of a shoulder injury.
“We’ve had two good wins this year. Even last weekend, we put 40 points on Wales and there were still areas we definitely could have sharpened up.
“There is quite a vast difference from two years ago [when Ireland lost 31-5 to Wales and 36-10 in Scotland] and we’ll be hoping to put some points on them away from home this time as well.”
After the Six Nations, Ireland will prepare for the World Cup with warm-up fixtures at home to Scotland and Canada in August.
The Irish will then face New Zealand, Spain and Japan in pool three when the World Cup gets under way later that month.
“Everyone will then get out of here, get back to their friends and families for a while for a break,” added O’Dowd, 25.
“We’ve then a bit of remote training, come back in June and hit the ground running.”
