For the younger players there were fewer scars and more raw excitement at the prospect of playing on the global stage. And then there were the countless individual back stories and micro-motivations that would fuel each of them in their own way. Too many of them have had to overcome injuries, more than one in some cases. Rugby has had to be juggled with studies and jobs. Sacrifices have been made to be here. All that goes into the pot when days like these dawn. Hannah Lawton provided another. A liaison officer with the Irish team at this tournament, Lawton had spent three months at seas attempting to row the Atlantic with her college friend Lauren Morton after their friend Eleanor Rose Ellis died of cervical cancer at the age of 23. It was Lawton who presented the players with their jerseys on the night before their 42-14 defeat of Japan in Northampton. And it was Lawton whose story struck such a chord with a team that has embraced the ‘Green Wave’ as one of its mottos, and a squad whose teammate Shannon Ikahihifo has just last week gone public with her own cancer diagnosis. “Her story was moving,” said Amee-Leigh Costigan. “What she'd done for over 100 days, trying to row across the Atlantic to raise awareness for cervical cancer, is extra special. I'm sure you've seen our Shannon has been diagnosed with breast cancer. “It really touched us closely because her friend… That's what she did for her. On that note, I'd like to wish Shannon all the best with her recovery, and we love her so much and we're behind her every step of the way.” It was Costigan who claimed the game’s first, calming score when she blazed past a featherweight tackle attempt by Komachi Imakugi down the left wing and Costigan’s break and pass that set Beibhinn Parsons up for the side’s third. With Stacey Flood offering solidity and threat at full-back, and Anna McGann impressing at wing off the bench, Ireland have real danger in that back three area and they showed here what they are capable of when in receipt of enough quality ball. “Yeah, and it's not just us four. Maebh Deely is there [in the 32-strong squad]and we've got players back home — our wingers, Katie Corrigan, Vicky [Elmes-Kinlan] — who are playing inter-pros at the minute. “They've pushed us on massively in training and pushed us to want to be better. It's down to them the way we perform out there and they've been a huge part of our program. They've been a huge part of our pre-season.” Tougher tests are still to come but Costigan was entitled to drink this one in. She spoke of the “privilege” that came with wearing that jersey on this occasion, of a day that proved again how the conversation around women’s sport has “flipped”. The trick now is building on this. Spain next week in Northampton offers the opportunity to add to this momentum but only after the adrenalin and the eight years of built-up angst that fed into this one is filtered from the system. “Getting the first one out of the way is big, you know? It's tough. You're waiting for so long for this Japan game. All our eyes were on Japan for the past two or three months. It's actually really nice now to look back on those two/three months, what we did was absolutely what was needed. “We'll turn our eyes on Spain [now]. We will want to kick on, that’s for sure. There'll be plenty to review and to grow, but we'll also take our strengths out of today, because that's what we are best at doing. And when we bring our strengths, that's the best of us. It'll be a good week again.”