Ireland Inspired By ‘Memories Of People Who Have Played In The Jersey Before Us’

Neve Jones was preparing to make the step up to the Ulster senior squad the last time the Ireland Women played Australia in a senior international fixture.

Having captained the Ulster Under-18s to a famous Interprovincial title win the previous season, Jones made her senior debut for the province at the tail end of 2017, a year in which Ireland memorably hosted the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

Ireland played Australia twice during that tournament, including in a play-off clash at Ravenhill, and the Belfast venue will host Irish Rugby’s 150th Anniversary Test match on Saturday afternoon when the teams face off for the first time since then.

Ireland v Australia kicks off at 2.30pm, with tickets available from Ticketmaster.ie, and live coverage on TG4 and TG4.ie.

Notably, when you look at Ireland’s matchday squad for the game against the Wallaroos, Jones and Brittany Hogan both featured for Ulster in the 2016 U-18 Interpro finale against Munster, whose team included Enya Breen, Dorothy Wall, and Emily Lane.

Hooker Jones, a Gloucester-Hartpury player since 2022, clearly cherishes every chance she gets to play at the home of Ulster Rugby, and feels Scott Bemand’s side are in a good place heading into the start of a busy international season.

“We’re feeling really good,” she told Irish Rugby TV, speaking at the Captain’s Run in Belfast. “There’s good vibes going, people are chilled.

“We’ve ironed out what we needed to during the Captain’s Run there. We’ll go recover and get ready for tomorrow.

“We train to play, so to be able to finally take to the field is very exciting, and all the hard work that we put in over the past couple of weeks will hopefully come to fruition tomorrow.”

As well as being a try-scoring threat from mauls, Jones continues to set a high standard with her work-rate around the pitch. During the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, she made more carries (42) and completed more tackles (63) than any other hooker in the Championship.

She was also one of just three forwards to reach double figures for dominant tackles, level with her front row colleague Linda Djougang (12 each).

🗣️ "We've loads of great memories here, so hopefully we can make more tomorrow."

Ireland's Neve Jones says the squad are ready to challenge themselves against the Wallaroos in Belfast.#IrishRugby pic.twitter.com/UjjifE52GR

— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) September 13, 2024

That defensive might was also evident during Gloucester-Hartpury’s successful defence of their Premiership Women’s Rugby crown. The 25-year-old Ballymena woman made the fifth most tackles (221) in the league, and also made at least nine more dominant tackles than any other player (33).

Adding to the occasion tomorrow, as the IRFU begin the season-long celebrations of Ireland’s inaugural international rugby match, the Ireland Women will wear a limited edition kit which honours the legacy of Irish Rugby with a design inspired by the original 1875 jersey.

“It’s always a pleasure to pull on the jersey, but to have the memories of people that have played in the jersey before to celebrate 150 years is just fantastic. For me to play at Ulster in it is even better,” admitted Jones.

“Hopefully we’ll get plenty of numbers here because having that 16th man on the field is always brilliant. Loads of great memories here at Kingspan, so hopefully (we) make many more tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Edel McMahon, who captains her country against Australia, says it is ‘great to get the opportunity’ to wear the commemorative jersey on Ireland’s return to Kingspan Stadium.

The Belfast ground has been the scene of two victories for the girls in green in recent years, with Breen converting her own try to see them past Scotland in 2022, and it was Dannah O’Brien’s left boot that secured the spoils last April, also against the Scots.

Ireland’s next four encounters, with their WXV1 debut fast approaching in Vancouver in the coming weeks, will see them come up against teams all placed in the top five of the World Rugby Rankings.

Fresh from getting some game-time with Connacht in the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship, McMahon said: “I’ve never played Australia, Canada, or New Zealand. We’ve come up against the USA a couple of times, so it’s a real tester for us.

“We’re looking now, this is our plan to build towards the Rugby World Cup next year, ticking off big teams like Canada and New Zealand will be a massive bonus for us.

“How we prepare for those games, the outcomes, and how we adapt if we meet them again. This is great preparation for us.

“It’s funny, you may do really well against one team and another team comes across and might lose and then you play them and hockey them.

“It is not a like-for-like because strategy games are completely different, so we can’t really benchmark on how our performance is against Australia.

“It is massive just getting the squad together and seeing what we can do. Can we fire shots? Can we be ambitious and build on that into WXV? Not exactly a like-for-like.”

McMahon is delighted to have fellow Kilmihil native Eimear Considine back on international duty. Her time away saw her give birth to baby Caolán in January 2023, before an ACL injury the following August postponed her comeback plans.

Having returned for Munster in recent weeks, and initially brought into Ireland camp as injury cover, Considine has been selected at full-back for the Australia Test. It will be her first international appearance since the 2022 Six Nations.

“I know back in Kilmihil, we were back at a (Gaelic) football match last Sunday,” explained McMahon. “Everyone was looking for us to tog out and I was like, ‘No, no, Eimear’s gone now, she’s in with us!’

“Obviously the parish is very proud of the two of us representing Kilmihil, but equally proud of Eimear for her journey from baby to ACL and a little set-back then in Interpros. She has been putting her hand up for selection.”