Ireland Touch Rugby Teams Representing at World Cup

The 2024 Touch Rugby World Cup takes place in Nottingham, UK from 15 – 21 July and the Ireland Touch Association (ITA) are sending seven squads to the competition. This will be the biggest Touch World Cup in history with 39 participating nations sending over 180 teams to compete across 13 different divisions from Men’s and Women’s Open all the way up to Women’s over 40s and Men’s over 55s. All the Irish teams have been preparing assiduously for the last 12 months for this competition and hopes are high that some of them can bring home silverware.

Ireland has seen a growth in the game of touch rugby and with the ITA entering so many teams to the competition from Open level up to Men’s over 45s is an indication of the strength of the game here.

Touch Rugby is one of the Non-Contact offerings the IRFU has available to it’s stakeholders.  Touch Rugby is a seen as a great way to stay involved in the game and also people who wish to try rugby without the contact element.

The IRFU and ITA signed a memorandum of understanding recently committing to work together to develop the game of Touch Rugby in Ireland.

More details on Touch Rugby can be found here.

Ireland Open Squads Traveling to Touch Rugby World Cup:

Men’s Open: Seán Balance (Old Wesley Touch – Captain), Andrew Mays (DSC Wanderers Touch), Ben O’Connell (Old Wesley Touch), Cathal MacGearailt (DSC Wanderers Touch), Cillian Daly (Old Wesley Touch), Darragh Forster (Old Wesley Touch), Fergus Flood (Old Wesley Touch),  Flynn Leaver (Balmain Tigers), James O’Donnell (Old Wesley Touch), Kiran Byrne (DSC Wanderers Touch), Kyle Leaver (Balmain Tigers), Luke DeRenzy (Old Wesley Touch), Mark Phelan (Old Wesley Touch), Ollie DaSilva (Old Wesley Touch), Sam Bewley (Old Wesley Touch), Ben Layden (DSC Wanderers Touch).
Head Coach: Matt Kennerson
Coaches: Chris Jonson, Lachlan Rayner Badior
Managers: Noel Cuddy, Jamie Maher

Women’s Open: Lianna Prizeman (Old Wesley Touch – Captain), Airmid Devitt O’Byrne (Old Wesley Touch), Aisling Gill (Old Wesley Touch), Annabel Redmond (Old Wesley Touch), Caitlin Gill (Old Wesley Touch), Charlotte Nagle (East Coast Touch), Ellie Boyce (Old Wesley Touch), Faye St. Leger (Old Wesley Touch), Kate Balance (Old Wesley Touch), Lucy Nagle (East Coast Touch), Niamh Summerbell (Old Wesley Touch), Rachel Duggan (Old Wesley Touch), Rebecca Phelan (Old Wesley Touch), Róisín Bolt (Old Wesley Touch), Shannon Gill (Old Wesley Touch/Durham University Touch), Wiktoria Dolguruki (Old Wesley Touch).
Head Coach: Kelsi McGrath
Coaches: Rebecca Phelan, John Dalton
Manager: Rachel Speer

Mixed Open: Andrew Haslett (Glasgow Centurions – Co-Captain), Eileen Russell (Bristol Jets – Co-Captain), Alex Cassidy (Old Wesley Touch), Alexander Nolan (Hills Hornets Sydney), Andy King (Old Wesley Touch), Annie Russell (Old Wesley Touch), Caelen Brown (Durham University Touch), Charlotte Hall (Old Wesley Touch), Conor Fitzpatrick (Old Wesley Touch), Tighe Brennan (Old Wesley Touch), Eimear Murphy (Racoon West), Fionn McAlister (Cooke Warriors Belfast), Gary Hynes (Old Wesley Touch), Georgia Codyre (Racoon West), Louis Lalor (DSC Wanderers Touch), Ria Plunkett (Nottingham Touch).
Head Coach: Paul Brown
Coaches: Matt Lawson, Jamie Pearson Evans
Managers: Anika Kuzova, Michael Donaghy

Four more Irish squads will take part in the Masters’ divisions.

• Mens over 30s
• Mixed over 30s
• Women’s over 35s
• Men’s over 45s

Live streams of many of the games can be seen on the International Touch YouTube channel. Updates and results from the games can also be found at Ireland Touch Instagram and on the Ireland Touch Association Facebook page.