Vodafone Women’s Interpros: Munster v Ulster Team News
Returning full-back Eimear Considine is pictured during Munster's training session at UL on Thursday ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Eimear Considine returns from an ACL injury to start the new season at full-back for Munster, while their first round opponents, Ulster, have eight potential new caps in their matchday squad. Tickets are available here.
VODAFONE WOMEN’S INTERPROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUND 1:
Saturday, August 10 –
MUNSTER v ULSTER, Virgin Media Park, kick-off 2.30pm (live on TG4/BBC iPlayer)
This year’s Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship will start exactly where it ended almost twelve months ago. There are mixed emotions for Munster and Ulster, looking back on last season’s finals day in Cork.
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Saturday afternoon sees Ulster returning to Virgin Media Park, the scene of their first Interprovincial win in almost 11 years. Beth Cregan led by example with a try-scoring player-of-the-match performance in last September’s unforgettable 36-14 play-off victory over Connacht.
That was good enough for a third place finish in Murray Houston’s first season in charge. Cregan, who is currently teaching in Australia, leads the list of absentees for the new campaign, but the fit-again Kathryn Dane has taken up the captaincy reins.
Having suffered a brain haemorrhage in November 2022, Dane (pictured below) has inspired many with her return to rugby. Her first competitive game back sees the Ireland scrum half pair up at half-back with fellow international Vicky Irwin, who is another player back in the white jersey.
Vice-captain Brittany Hogan has spoken about the boost that the returning pair have provided, and their experience will be needed as there are four debuts across the rest of Ulster’s starting back-line.
Suttonians’ Lauren Farrell McCabe, the older sister of Ireland Sevens international Kate, features at full-back, with the wing berths filled by Enniskillen’s Sophie Meeke, and Lauren Patterson, who has won back-to-back Energia All-Ireland Junior Cup titles with MU Barnhall.
Peita McAlister forms a new centre pairing with talented Cooke teenager Tara O’Neill, while Old Belvedere and Ireland duo Hogan and Fiona Tuite lead an Ulster pack that also has a youthful look to it.
India Daley continues her development as a converted hooker, packing down between Gemma McCamley and Sophie Barrett. A training panellist for the 2024 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, the 23-year-old Daley was born in Tralee and started playing rugby there before her family moved to Enniskillen.
Promising tighthead Barrett will be hoping to continue her impressive form from her summer stint with the Ireland Under-20s, with Tuite and Suttonians stalwart Brenda Barr completing the province’s tight five.
The two Hills, Enniskillen’s Moya and Ballymena representative Christy, make their senior provincial bows in the back row, and Houston’s bench options include two more newcomers in Paige Smyth and Lucy Thompson, who are both Ireland Universities Sevens internationals.
Like Daley and Barrett, replacement hooker Maebh Clenaghan gained experience with the Celtic Challenge title-winning Wolfhounds squad last season. She was a try scorer when Ulster hosted Munster in Armagh last August, cutting the gap to 10 points before the visitors dominated the final quarter.
Meanwhile, having guided UL Bohemian to an Energia All-Ireland League and Cup double, newly-appointed Munster head coach Fiona Hayes’ first selection is unsurprisingly dominated by Red Robins and well-oiled club combinations.
Blackrock’s Enya Breen, who previously played for the Limerick club, is the only non-UL player among Munster’s starting backs. Kate Flannery and Muirne Wall will direct operations from half-back, with Flannery helping the Ireland U-20s to victory over Scotland most recently.
Breen and Stephanie Nunan combine in the centre for the Reds, with Alana McInerney and ace finisher Chisom Ugwueru joining dual Ireland international Considine in the back-three.
This is Considine’s second comeback in successive seasons. Last year it was following the birth of her son Caolán, and this time it is after her recovery from an anterior cruciate knee injury which required an operation last October.
Fellow Clare woman Siobhan McCarthy, who plays her rugby with Gloucester-Hartpury in England, comes in for her first Munster appearance since September 2021. She joins Éilis Cahill and Ireland U-20 starlet Beth Buttimer in the front row.
Last season’s runners-up have plenty of athleticism and power in the second row and back row, with captain Chloe Pearse packing down at number 8, and Clodagh O’Halloran, more known as a flanker, linking up with club-mate Claire Bennett at lock.
Replacements Emma Dunican, Ciara O’Dwyer, Ciara McLoughlin, Annakate Cournane, and Lucia Linn are all in line to make their senior debuts for Munster, as Hayes looks to get their Interprovincial title challenge off to an encouraging start.
MUNSTER: Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian RFC); Chisom Ugwueru (UL Bohemian RFC), Stephanie Nunan (UL Bohemian RFC), Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC), Alana McInerney (UL Bohemian RFC); Kate Flannery (UL Bohemian RFC), Muirne Wall (UL Bohemian RFC); Siobhan McCarthy (Gloucester-Hartpury), Beth Buttimer (UL Bohemian RFC), Éilis Cahill (UL Bohemian RFC), Clodagh O’Halloran (UL Bohemian RFC) Claire Bennett (UL Bohemian RFC), Brianna Heylmann (UL Bohemian RFC), Jane Clohessy (UL Bohemian RFC), Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemian RFC) (capt).
Replacements: Emma Dunican (Tralee RFC), Ciara O’Dwyer (UL Bohemian RFC), Ciara McLoughlin (UL Bohemian RFC), Aoibhe O’Flynn (UL Bohemian RFC), Annakate Cournane (Shannon RFC), Abbie Salter-Townshend (UL Bohemian RFC), Lucia Linn (Loughborough Lightning), Maggie Boylan (Blackrock College RFC).
ULSTER: Lauren Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC); Sophie Meeke (Enniskillen RFC), Peita McAlister (Malone RFC), Tara O’Neill (Cooke RFC), Lauren Patterson (MU Barnhall RFC/Blackrock College RFC); Vicky Irwin (Sale Sharks), Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere RFC) (capt); Gemma McCamley (Cooke RFC), India Daley (Enniskillen RFC/Blackrock College RFC), Sophie Barrett (Enniskillen RFC/Railway Union RFC), Brenda Barr (Suttonians RFC), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC), Moya Hill (Enniskillen RFC), Christy Hill (Ballymena RFC), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC).
Replacements: Maebh Clenaghan (Queen’s University Belfast RFC), Bronach Cassidy (Queen’s University Belfast RFC), Megan Brodie (Blackrock College RFC), Cara O’Kane (Cooke RFC), Stacey Sloan (Cooke RFC), Rachael McIlroy (Queen’s University Belfast RFC), Paige Smyth (Ballynahinch RFC), Lucy Thompson (Enniskillen RFC).