Ireland Under-18 Women’s Sevens Squad Announced

An extended Ireland Under-18 Women’s Sevens squad of 22 players, supported by PwC, has been announced to commence preparations for the Rugby Europe U-18 Women’s Sevens Championship in Prague on July 23-24.

The extended squad will take part in two weekend camps at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre in Dublin on the weekends of June 18-19 and 25-26.

A reduced squad will then travel to France for a two day camp at Marcoussis (July 2-3), the FFR’s training facility, where they will train against their French counterparts.

There will be two further one-day camps on July 10 and 17 before the squad is finalised to travel to Prague for the Rugby Europe Championship.

Twelve of the players selected for the training squad were involved earlier this year in the U-18 Women’s Six Nations Festival in Edinburgh – Clara Barrett, Molly Boote, Ellen Boylan, Beth Buttimer, Katie Corrigan, Kate Flannery, Jane Neill, Éabha Nic Dhonnacha, Robyn O’Connor, Amy O’Mahony, Eva Sterritt and Orla Wafer.

Katie Fitzhenry, IRFU Women’s Performance Pathway coach, commented:

This is the first time in a number of years that we have been able to compete in this tournament due to Covid, but it has proven to be the starting point for many of our future stars as players such as Beibhinn Parsons, Kate Farrell McCabe, Megan Burns, Aoibheann Reilly and Dorothy Wall all started their international careers in this tournament.

“There is a strong cohort in the group that gained their first experience of international rugby back in April at the U-18 Women’s Six Nations Festival, while the recent Underage Interprovincials allowed us to identify new talent in the system.

“We have a good number of camps over the coming weeks which will help the players prepare for the tournament in Prague, and we are really looking forward to getting this programme back up and running.”

The countries competing in the Rugby Europe U-18 Sevens Championship are France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Czechia, Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Ukraine.

IRELAND UNDER-18 WOMEN’S SEVENS TRAINING SQUAD:

Clara Barrett (Ballina RFC/Connacht)
Molly Boote (Connemara RFC/Connacht) WNTS
Ellen Boylan (Carrick-on-Suir RFC/Munster)
Beth Buttimer (Fethard RFC/Munster)
Hannah Clarke (Tuam/Oughterard RFC/Connacht) WNTS
Katie Corrigan (Tullow RFC/Leinster)
Mia Ferguson (Malone RFC/Ulster)
Caitriona Finn (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) WNTS
Kate Flannery (Fethard RFC/Munster) WNTS
Zara Hutchinson (Clogher Valley RFC/Ulster)
Prudence Isaac (Arklow RFC/Leinster)
Amy Larn (Athy RFC/Leinster)
Lucia Linn (Dolphin RFC/Munster)
Cara Martin (Navan RFC/Leinster)
Emma McArdle (City of Armagh RFC/Ulster)
Jane Neill (Arklow RFC/Leinster)
Éabha Nic Dhonnacha (Galway Corinthians RFC/Connacht) WNTS
Robyn O’Connor (Wexford Wanderers RFC/Leinster)
Amy O’Mahony (Greystones RFC/Leinster)
Tara O’Neill (Cooke RFC/Ulster)
Eva Sterritt (Greystones RFC/Leinster) WNTS
Orla Wafer (Enniscorthy RFC/Leinster)

WNTS = member of Women’s National Talent Squad