IRFU President Greg Barrett joined the Ireland squad for the traditional pre-match photograph at the Captain's Run in Cork ©INPHO/Ben Brady
The middle round of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations sees Ireland and Wales both gunning for their first victory of 2024, as Scott Bemand’s side (sponsored by Aon) look to make home advantage count at Virgin Media Park.
Saturday, April 13 –
IRELAND WOMEN (5th) v WALES WOMEN (6th), Virgin Media Park, 4.45pm (live Virgin Media Two/BBC iPlayer/RTÉ Radio 1)
Team News: Co-captain Edel McMahon returns to the back row as Ireland head coach Bemand makes one change to the team that lost 27-21 to Italy. Tickets are on sale on Ticketmaster.ie, and will be available from the Ticketmaster booth at the Dolphin end of the ground.
Lauren Delany has come through the return-to-play protocols to start again at full-back, while Tullow youngster Dannah O’Brien (20) continues to lead the back-line alongside Connacht ace Aoibheann Reilly.
Neve Jones, the scorer of Ireland’s second try against the Italians, packs down with Linda Djougang and Christy Haney in the front row, with Dorothy Wall, who now has 25 caps to her name, and co-captain Sam Monaghan completing the tight five.
Aoife Wafer shifts to blindside flanker to accommodate McMahon’s inclusion at openside, and Ulster’s Brittany Hogan makes her sixth successive start at number 8 under Bemand.
The uncapped Shannon Ikahihifo, who has come through the IQ Rugby pathway, has been added to the replacements bench, along with 31-times capped hooker Clíodhna Moloney who was recalled to the squad this week.
With a vocal home crowd set to get behind the girls in green in Cork, Bemand said: “This game is another opportunity for us to perform in front of our home support. We want to get the tide of support and noise behind us.
“The hard work has gone in and now we’re ready to go after that winning performance. There was a lot of good stuff that went on against Italy, so we reminded the girls of that, and they’ve got to tap into that.
“Perhaps, rather than making it harder for ourselves to win games, we’re going to give ourselves permission to go and convert some of that pressure into points.
“We’ve always said that we want to be a group that is honest. We looked pretty hard at it (the defeat to Italy) and we saw some areas of the game that we need to go after.
“We’ve done plenty of reflecting on it. We obviously had that fallow week, which lets us roll our sleeves up and put some stuff right.”
Meanwhile, Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham has made four changes to the side that lost 46-10 away to England, including the return of Great Britain Sevens flyer Jasmine Joyce on the right wing.
Keira Bevan, the scorer of the only Welsh try in the last round, slots in at half-back alongside Lleucu George, while Gloucester-Hartpury pair Hannah Jones and Kerin Lake continue their centre partnership, with the former as captain.
20-year-old tighthead Sisilia Tuipulotu, a try-scoring player-of-the-match when Ireland visited Cardiff last year, joins Carys Phillips and Gwenllian Pyrs in the front row, with the experienced Alisha Butchers the final change at blindside flanker.
Uncapped 19-year-old Gwennan Hopkins, who features among the replacements, is poised to become the fourth player to make their Wales debut during this year’s Six Nations.
“We have put the fallow week to good use and had a thorough debrief of where we are after the first two games in this Six Nations campaign,” commented Cunningha.
“The focus has been on putting the hard work in and looking at the good things we have done and what we need to tighten up on against Ireland in Cork.
“We produced an impressive performance against England, and we just need to be more clinical and finish of what we are creating in games.
“We know Ireland at home will be a real challenge, but it is one we are looking forward to and we are determined to produce a performance to make everyone proud.”
Guinness Women’s Six Nations Results/Fixtures
Guinness Women’s Six Nations Table
IRELAND WOMEN: Lauren Delany (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby); Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster), Enya Breen (Blackrock College/Munster), Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College/Connacht); Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht); Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Christy Haney Blackrock College/Leinster), Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College/Munster), Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury) (co-capt), Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College/Leinster), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs) (co-capt), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere/Ulster).
Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke/Ulster), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere/Ulster), Shannon Ikahihifo (Ealing Trailfinders/IQ Rugby), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster), Nicole Fowley (Galwegians/Connacht), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere/Leinster).
WALES WOMEN: Jenny Hesketh (Bristol Bears); Jasmine Joyce (Bristol Bears/GB Sevens), Hannah Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury) (capt), Kerin Lake (Gloucester-Hartpury), Carys Cox (Ealing Trailfinders); Lleucu George (Gloucester-Hartpury), Keira Bevan (Bristol Bears); Gwenllian Pyrs (Bristol Bears), Carys Phillips (Harlequins), Sisilia Tuipulotu (Gloucester-Hartpury), Abbie Fleming (Harlequins), Georgia Evans (Saracens), Alisha Butchers (Bristol Bears), Alex Callender (Brython Thunder), Bethan Lewis (Gloucester-Hartpury).
Replacements: Molly Reardon (Cardiff Met), Abbey Constable (Gloucester-Hartpury), Donna Rose (Saracens), Natalia John (Brython Thunder), Gwennan Hopkins (Gwalia Lightning), Sian Jones (Sale Sharks), Kayleigh Powell (Bristol Bears/GB Sevens), Courtney Keight (Bristol Bears).
Referee: Sara Cox (England)
Assistant Referees: Aurelie Groizeleau (France), Chelsea Gillespie (Scotland)
Television Match Official: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)
The game is live on Virgin Media Two in the Republic of Ireland, while viewers in Northern Ireland/the UK can watch it live on the BBC iPlayer.
Pre-Match Quotes – Sam Monaghan (Ireland Women): “A few of us knew what was coming (from Wales) last year. I play with 11 or 12 of them in Gloucester and they have a good few playing in Bristol. They’re quite cohesive because a lot of them play in big groups with their clubs together.
“But I think the preparation we’ve had this year is just steps above. So how we’re going to move them around and play around them and then tire them out and go through them. So look, it’s what we’re going to do, stick to our game-plan.
“We did stick to the game-plan against Italy, it was just about finding those execution bits that can finish this game off in our favour.
“Hopefully we continue to create opportunities like we did against Italy and actually just execute that, get some scores on the board.
“We’re starting to see that in our campaign, we’re getting tries. It’s something we’ve really been going after, our savage set-piece. We want the crowd screaming for us and we want to entertain them.”
Abbie Fleming (Wales Women): “We’ve got a good strong pack, and we are really confident in our power game so we believe we can take those strides forward to win.
“We’re starting to develop real strength in depth, and we’ve seen real impact coming off the bench at key moments during games so far. As a squad we’re very disappointed with the performance against Scotland but there were lots of positives against England.
“That fills us with confidence ahead of Ireland, and we’re excited to show what we’ve been working on over the last two weeks.
“Ireland are physical and have really developed but we’ve been looking at specific plays using our power game and how we can get some front-foot ball, but also how we can get the ball wide and attack different areas.”
Opta Facts – Ireland Women v Wales Women:
– Wales have won each of their last two Guinness Women’s Six Nations matches against Ireland, as many wins as in their previous 12 meetings since 2010 combined (L10)
– Wales’ most recent win over Ireland in the Championship came by a margin of 26 points (31-5 last year), which was their largest victory in this fixture this century
– Ireland have lost each of their last seven Women’s Six Nations matches, their longest losing run in the Championship since 2006-2007 (also 7). However, their most recent defeat came by a margin of just six points (27-21 v Italy), their narrowest loss in that period
– Wales have alternated between wins and losses across their last seven Six Nations away matches, winning three and losing four during that period. Each of their last three away games in the Six Nations have been decided by margins of 25+ points
– Wales have stolen or otherwise won possession from 28% of their opponents’ lineouts in the 2024 tournament, the second highest such rate of any team in the Championship (France, 31%). Ireland have won a lesser percentage of their own lineouts than any other side (63%)
– Ireland have completed 68% of their attacking rucks in under three seconds during this year’s Championship, the highest such rate of any team, while Wales have retained possession from a greater share of their attacking rucks than any other side (96.6%)
– Ireland are the only team to have been successful from 100% of their place-kicks in this year’s Six Nations (5/5). Wales have the second best success rate from the tee of any side in the Championship (83%, 5/6)
Recent Meetings –
2021: Women’s Six Nations: Wales Women 0 Ireland Women 45, Cardiff Arms Park
2022: TikTok Women’s Six Nations: Ireland Women 19 Wales Women 27, the RDS
2023: TikTok Women’s Six Nations: Wales Women 31 Ireland Women 5, Cardiff Arms Park
Support Ireland on www.facebook.com/irishrugby or search #IREvWAL, #IrishRugby and #GuinnessW6N on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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