Ireland Step Up To WXV1 In Vancouver

The second edition of World Rugby’s global WXV tournament will kick-off this weekend with three levels of action across Cape Town, Dubai and Vancouver. Ireland have made the step up to the top tier WXV1 in Canada.

No stranger to hosting international rugby, BC Place in Vancouver will open proceedings on Sunday, 29 September with a triple header treating fans to a jam-packed day of rugby action that kicks off with USA against England. Hosts Canada will be facing France with the support of the home crowd with WXV 1 newcomers Ireland beginning their campaign against world champions, New Zealand (September 30, 3 a.m. Irish time).

The road to WXV1 began last year in the inaugural season of the tournament.

Ireland were in WXV3 and while there were big wins against Kazakhstan (109-0) and Colombia (64-3), the final round and decider saw Ireland edge past Spain (15-13) in a much tougher test.

From there it was on to the Guinness Women’s Six Nations with the foundations laid in Dubai providing a platform for continued improvement. Ireland’s third place finish saw them promoted into WXV1 for this season as well as securing qualification for the Rugby World Cup in England next year.

The build up to WXV1 this year included a hugely competitive Vodafone Women’s Interpro series followed by the 150 Celebration International against Australia which saw Ireland notch up a six try, 36-10 victory.

Head Coach Scott Bemand has named a squad that includes several of Ireland’s 7s Olympians as well as four uncapped players. Speaking ahead of the tournament Bemand said,

“We have spoken consistently about building strong squad depth within the group, and the performance against Australia and training intensity of the last two weeks, presented the coaching team with a number of difficult selection decisions.

The performance and result on Saturday was a really pleasing start point for our season, and as we reassemble for camp in Dublin later today, the focus now turns to WXV1.

“We want to prepare well for the challenges ahead and continue to grow our wave moving towards the tournament opener against the Black Ferns.”

IRELAND’S WXV1 FIXTURES:

• Sunday, September 29: New Zealand v Ireland, BC Place, 7pm local time/3am Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV)
• Saturday, October 5: Canada v Ireland, Langley Events Centre, 3.45pm local time/11.45pm Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV)
• Friday, October 11: USA v Ireland, BC Place, 12.30pm local time/8.30pm Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV)

For the full list of WXV1 matches, please click here.