Monday morning reviews won’t come much sweeter than this one.

Whatever their head coach may say, Ireland did more than just “fire shots”, they sent out a warning to the rest of the pack that they are not at WXV1 to make up the numbers.

Their 29-27 five-try victory over world champions New Zealand was completely deserved and there were no complaints from the Black Ferns camp about the outcome.

Aoife Wafter (2), Erin King (2) and Neve Jones scored the tries, while Dannah O’Brien kicked a second conversion to push Ireland into the lead at the end.

Handling errors were kept to a minimum, eight in total to New Zealand’s 15.

Players were connected and the tactics were astute. The underdogs claimed 11 turnovers to their opposition’s three.

Operating off 45% possession, Ireland’s defence was near-perfect, number 8 Brittany Hogan the top tackler on the artificial pitch in BC Place with 18.

“We said we wanted to fire shots,” Bemand, whose side finished third in the Six Nations, told RTÉ Sport in a virtual press conference after the game.

“What would success look like for us in this tournament?

“We wanted to build our pressure moments. Obviously in the Six Nations we built a good few but we had games where we didn’t build enough against tier one opposition.

“They’re a good team tonight, we’ve paid them full respect really, at times they had us on the ropes and it’s been a bit of heart, soul and effort that’s kept us in the game by defending for our lives with each other.

“Being able to maximise more pressure moments, what does that look like?

“More penalties, we get a scrum, we get a penalty, [Aoife] Wafer breaks and scores. We get a penalty and it gives us an in, we’re 10 metres out and we get a bit of a drive on that creates another opportunity.

“We’re starting to build our pressure moments against tier one opposition.”

Ireland never like to single out individual players but there’s no doubt the impact of Wafer, previously known as “red headgear” by New Zealand, who scored another brace and took the player of the match award.

Replacement King (below, r), on just her second 15s international after switching from Sevens, was outstanding for her 32 minutes.

“I think we’ve got two superstars coming through but neither one can do it on their own,” said Bemand.

“Tricky’s [Edel McMahon] leadership; some of the line speed from a prop, that Niamh O’Dowd puts in is incredible, it looks slightly different to the men’s game but she can keep repeating.

“There’s performances across the board out there really.

“Not singling people out but we’ve got a couple of special players coming through. The rest of the group is giving them the platform to perform and that’s what it’s all about.”

Ireland face hosts Canada, who beat France 46-24 earlier this morning, next Saturday and take on the USA in their final game on Friday week.

“We’ll not get ahead of ourselves, we’ve won a game, it’s a really big moment for this group, it’s a really big moment for Irish women’s rugby but we’ve got to keep going after it,” said Bemand.

“There are two games left to come so we’re going to enjoy it but we’re going to go after the next two games.”

Black Ferns boss Allan Bunting looked shook in the post-match interview but was magnanimous in defeat.

“Congratulations to Ireland, they were pretty intense throughout that game and took the opportunity,” he said.

“We gave them 100% respect, I wasn’t surprised by the intensity.

“They’ve played Six Nations, we’ve been watching them quite carefully. We knew that was coming, credit to them.”