It's 10 years since Ireland won the Women's Six Nations Grand Slam for the first and only time and in the wake of Saturday's heavy loss to Wales it's hard not to wonder how it's come to this.

We knew Wales would have a strong pack, but I wasn't expecting the complete dominance they had in the first half.

Two years ago we went to Cardiff and beat Wales 45-0 but they are a totally different team now. They were running on to the ball with pace and confidence and ran great attacking lines. They had multiple attacking options at a given time.

Ireland didn't have the answers in defence in the first half. They weren't dominant in collisions and gave Wales go-forward ball and a platform to play off.

The Welsh pack had their homework done. They were driving through, kept low and used their power and with an extra 6kg per player in the pack, that made a difference.

In the second half we were more organised and kept the ball through more phases and in the second half, our players grew into the game.

Nicola Fryday's try was good because her team-mates reacted and got the push on to get her over the line, whereas in the first half there were no latches, just a lot of one-off runners going into a strong Welsh defence.

Wales ahead of Ireland in professionalism

Being together for two months for the World Cup last year has helped Wales, but not everything can be put down to that one tournament.

To me what is more significant is that they are now 15 months into their contracts, and they have double the amount of contracted players in camps this year (26) compared to last year. You could see that cohesion on the pitch.

Wales are sending their players to play in the Premier 15s in England because they see the value of it. Their players can get high quality game-time on a regular basis.

A lot has been made about the IRFU offering part-time and full-time contracts for the first time but a lot of players who were offered them didn't take them and decided to stay in England, or opt for the hybrid system.

There should be a league in Ireland the same as the Premier 15s - you shouldn't have to go to England - and that was highlighted back in 2017 when a review was carried out after our home World Cup.

That still hasn't happened but the review says they are going to address the All-Ireland League and put structures in place to get that feeder system working. It needs to happen sooner rather than later.

France game will be 'damage control'

From my own experience in the dressing room, this week I would be saying: "Look, this is not where we want to be, we have to learn from this. We have to put our learnings into action this weekend because actions speak louder than words."

The players' aim will be to right some wrongs and sort out their set piece and have a clear maul defence.

France will see how much change the Welsh got from their maul so Ireland need to set down a clean defensive maul defence to stop that go-forward ball. The French want backs against backs so Ireland need a clear policy - are we going all in or a six-two split?

And the big thing when playing France is to back yourself. Take the risks, take the chances and hopefully they will work out.

We can only hope structures are put in place for the medium and long term but in the short term, damage control is probably what we are looking for this weekend.

They must try to get early points on the board to give them confidence and nail down their defensive structure.

Ciara Griffin was speaking to BBC Sport NI's Orla Bannon.