Bemand made 10 changes from the side that fought back to beat Scotland 27-21 last weekend.

The team lining out in Belfast looked more like the one that could take to the field against Japan in two weeks’ time, although their head coach will hope to have the likes of Aoife Wafer and Edel McMahon fit for that game.

The persistent Canadian pressure early in the game paid off for the visitors on nine minutes as Florence Symonds spotted a gap in the Irish defence and darted through for their first try.

Their second arrived four minutes later as Jasmine Pelletier raced past a couple of defenders and touched down.

Ireland were handed a lifeline when Daleaka Menin was sent to the sin-bin for a high tackle on Ivana Kiripati and the hosts took advantage.

In their first sustained spell in the Canada half, Beibhinn Parsons picked up the ball off the base of the ruck and dotted down.

Canada replied with a third try on 25 minutes as they again exploited space in the Irish defence, with Symonds holding off Aoife Dalton in a driving run to the line.

The returning Menin then powered over from close-range for Canada’s fourth try.

Ireland’s scramble defence let them down again on the stroke of half-time as Canada worked the ball from right to left with Symonds off-loading to Paige Farries in the corner.