Ireland Women’s Sevens Squad Named For World Series Opener
Thirteen players have been named in the Ireland Women’s Sevens squad for the opening round of the 2018/19 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series in Glendale, Colorado this weekend.
The HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series increases from five to six rounds this season, with the addition of this new opening round which will be hosted at Infinity Park in Glendale. The following rounds take place in Dubai, Sydney, Kitakyushu, Langford and Paris.
The Ireland Women are drawn in Pool C with Canada, Fiji and European rivals France, and get their tournament underway against the French at 10.52am local time/5.52pm Irish time.
The Irish squad, captained by Lucy Mulhall, includes Mallow youngster Emily Lane, who becomes the latest player from IRFU’s Women’s Development pathway to make her World Series debut.
Lane captained the Ireland Under-18 Sevens team to gold at the UK School Games in 2017, and played in the Rugby Europe U-18 Women’s Sevens Championship on two occasions, as well as lining out for the Ireland Women’s Sevens Development side at the Dubai Sevens Invitational last season. She won her first senior Sevens cap in Kazan last month.
Eve Higgins is also named in the squad, having spent nine weeks in Australia playing Sevens rugby along with fellow international Kathy Baker. The pair lined out for Bond University in the Aon University 7s Series which boasts a high standard of competition.
Speaking ahead of the Stateside trip for the World Series opener, Anthony Eddy, the IRFU Director of Women’s & Sevens Rugby, said: “The players are looking forward to getting the new season of the World Series underway next weekend in Colorado.
“We continue to see steady improvement and depth in the squad and the more experienced players are well aware of the challenges that lie ahead. This is an important season for the team.
“The Colorado tournament will be a good challenge as we certainly have some tough opposition in our pool. The standard of all the teams on the series continues to improve, and with Canada, Fiji and France in our pool it means three big tests on day 1.”
For more information on the USA 7s tournament, or to buy tickets, please visit the tournament website. The matches will be streamed live via World Rugby on their YouTube channel and Facebook page.
The Ireland Sevens jerseys are available to buy online here from Elverys Intersport, official sports retailer of the IRFU.
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (2018/19 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series – USA 7s, Infinity Park, Glendale, Colorado, Denver, USA, Saturday, October 20-Sunday, October 21):
Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Claire Boles (Railway Union/Ulster)
Aoife Doyle (Shannon/Railway Union/Munster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Katie Heffernan (Mullingar/Railway Union/Leinster)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
Emily Lane (Mallow/Munster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum) (capt)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (Old Belvedere/Munster)
Audrey O’Flynn (Ireland Sevens Programme)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS FIXTURES – USA 7s:
Saturday, October 20 –
Pool C:
France v Ireland, Infinity Park, Glendale, 10.52am local time/5.52pm Irish time
Canada v Ireland, Infinity Park, Glendale, 1.14pm local time/8.14pm Irish time
Ireland v Fiji, Infinity Park, Glendale, 3.58pm local time/10.58pm Irish time
Sunday, October 21 –
Play-Offs
2018/19 HSBC WORLD RUGBY WOMEN’S SEVENS SERIES:
USA (Denver), Infinity Park, Glendale, October 20-21
DUBAI, Sevens Stadium, Dubai, November 29-30
AUSTRALIA (Sydney), Spotless Stadium, Sydney, February 1-3
JAPAN (Kitakyushu), Mikuni World Stadium, Kitakyushu, April 20-21
CANADA (Langford), Westhills Stadium, Vancouver Island, May 11-12
FRANCE (Paris), Stade Jean-Bouin, Paris, May 31-June 3
For more information on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, click here.