WXV1: USA v Ireland

It has already been an autumn block to remember for the Ireland Women (sponsored by Aon), with winning performances in Belfast and Vancouver, but a second WXV1 victory would top it off nicely for Scott Bemand’s side.

WXV1 – ROUND 3:

Friday, October 11 –

USA (6th) v IRELAND (3rd), BC Place, Vancouver, 12.30pm local time/8.30pm Irish time (live on RugbyPass TV/BBC iPlayer)

Team News: With Edel McMahon still sidelined, Skibbereen native Enya Breen once again captains Ireland as they bid to finish their inaugural WXV1 campaign on a winning note at BC Place.

Stacey Flood, Eimear Considine and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe continue in an unchanged back-three from the opening two rounds of the tournament. Aoife Dalton comes into the starting XV to partner captain Breen in midfield.

In the second of three changes to the team that lost 21-8 to Canada, Connacht out-half Nicole Fowley features at half-back alongside Emily Lane. It is the Sligo woman’s first start for Ireland since last March’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations opener in France.

Winning her 30th Test cap, Neve Jones returns at hooker in an otherwise unchanged pack. Niamh O’Dowd, Linda Djougang, Dorothy Wall, and Fiona Tuite complete the tight five.

Ireland Sevens Olympian Erin King makes it back-to-back starts for the 15s team, continuing at blindside flanker alongside Aoife Wafer and Brittany Hogan. King and Wafer are Ireland’s join-top try scorers in WXV1 in with two tries each.

Head coach Bemand has strong options on his bench, and Old Belvedere lock Ruth Campbell is poised to win her second cap and first in an away international.

Andrea Stock, a debutant against Canada, Clíodhna Moloney, Siobhán McCarthy, and Deirbhile Nic a Bháird are also standing by as forward reinforcements, while Molly Scuffil-McCabe, Dannah O’Brien, and Eve Higgins are the back-line replacements.

Speaking ahead of Ireland’s last game of the calendar year, Bemand said: “We want to be coming home having picked up wins. If we get to the end of this competition and we leave this autumn block, if you include the Australia game in that, if we go home winning three and losing one, we’d have been moving momentum in the right direction.

“Enya mentioned about us wanting to leave these shores feeling respected. I think we’re earning that. Even the game against Canada, the Canadians were complimenting our players afterwards, saying how physical it was.

“We’ve got to keep backing that up. It’s not about winning and going to sleep. We want to back up what we’ve done thus far in this series.

“We’re in a good position to do it. We’ve got the bodies fresh, the minds are eager, and we’ve just got to produce that performance on Friday.”

Meanwhile, USA head coach Sione Fukofuka has made two changes to his matchday squad, bringing Cassidy Bargell in at scrum half and adding Emily Henrich to the replacements bench.

The US Eagles are chasing their first win in WXV’s top tier, having lost 61-21 to England and 22-14 to France. Sevens star Alev Kelter is their leading try scorer after touching down twice against the Red Roses.

Prop Hope Rogers, a familiar face to her Exeter Chiefs team-mates in the Ireland squad, reaches the 50-cap mark. She is only the second American Women’s player to do so, after former team-mate Jamie Burke, who is still their most-capped international (51 caps).

US captain Kate Zackary is not far behind, winning her 40th cap in the back row. Rogers played against Ireland at the 2014 Rugby World Cup and last time out, at the RDS in 2021, while Zackary led the team for their last two clashes with the girls in green.

“For me, it’s always been trying to enjoy every moment you get,”admitted Rogers. “You don’t always know when your last cap will be. I am a girl with big aspirations, so it was definitely something I wanted but I’m just enjoying each moment.”

USA: Bulou Mataitoga (Loughborough Lightning); Cheta Emba (USA Sevens), Alev Kelter (Loughborough Lightning), Gabby Cantorna (Exeter Chiefs), Lotte Sharp (Saracens); McKenzie Hawkins (Colorado Gray Wolves), Cassidy Bargell (Beantown RFC); Hope Rogers (Exeter Chiefs), Kathryn Treder (Loughborough Lightning), Charli Jacoby (Exeter Chiefs), Erica Jarrell (Sale Sharks), Hallie Taufoou (Loughborough Lightning), Tahlia Brody (Leicester Tigers), Kate Zackary (Trailfinders Women) (capt), Rachel Johnson (Exeter Chiefs).

Replacements: Paige Stathopoulos (Beantown RFC), Maya Learned (Colorado Gray Wolves), Keia Mae Sagapolu (Leicester Tigers), Rachel Ehrecke (Colorado Gray Wolves), Tessa Hann (Colorado Gray Wolves), Taina Tukuafu (Lindenwood University), Emily Henrich (Leicester Tigers), Tess Feury (Leicester Tigers).

IRELAND: Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC); Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) (capt), Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union RFC/Munster); Nicole Fowley (Galwegians RFC/Connacht), Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC); Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Dorothy Wall (Exeter Chiefs/Munster), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster), Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC), Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster).

Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), Siobhán McCarthy (Gloucester-Hartpury/Munster), Andrea Stock (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby), Ruth Campbell (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Deirbhile Nic a Bháird (Old Belvedere RFC/Munster), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster), Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC).

Referee: Maggie Cogger-Orr (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Aurélie Groizeleau (France), Emma Gallagher (Canada)
TMO: Andrew McMenemy (Scotland)

Pre-Match Quotes – Enya Breen (Ireland): “There’s a great buzz around the camp, people are loving the challenge and people are rising to the challenge every week in training and every weekend in games.

“It’s huge for us. We’ve backed ourselves the whole way along. We take lumps out of each other in training every week and we know we’re moving in the right direction.

“We’ve had full belief in ourselves the whole way through this campaign. We knew we could put in performances, and we knew we were capable of winning performances, but just putting those out on the pitch at the weekend, that was what mattered.

“Results were secondary, as long as we could put in what we felt was a good performance.”

Sione Fukofuka (USA): “I just wanted to acknowledge the milestones in this game, with Kate (Zackary) and Hope (Rogers) celebrating 40 and 50 Test matches, which is an amazing achievement from two very special players.

“We are looking forward to putting in a team performance that reflects the respect that the entire playing group and management have for both these players.

“We’ve looked to speed the game up with Cass (Bargell) coming in at 9, while the two changes to our bench with Taina (Tukuafu) and Emily (Henrich) reflect the manner in which we want to finish the game with our ‘bomb squad’ adding impact off the bench.

“Ireland are playing with confidence after beating Australia and New Zealand, so we know that it will be an 80-minute contest with set piece and the collision zone a feature.

“Ireland have a good kicking game and are tactically smart, so we’re looking to turn that pressure into opportunities with ball in hand and expressing ourselves with and without the ball.”

Match Facts – USA v Ireland:

• Five of their eight previous meetings have been at a Rugby World Cup (1994, 2006, 2010 (twice), and 2014). The USA edge it with three wins to Ireland’s two on the sport’s biggest stage
• One of those Rugby World Cup meetings came on Canadian soil in 2006, the USA winning 24-11 in their pool encounter in Edmonton thanks to a brace from Phaidra Knight, and other tries from Erin Carter and Kristin Baja
• The margin of victory has been 10 points or fewer in the last three meetings, with Ireland coming out on top twice
• The last meeting was the first ever Women’s international at the RDS in Dublin, the hosts winning 20-10 thanks to tries from Béibhinn Parsons, Leah Lyons, and Lindsay Peat
• Stacey Flood added a last-minute penalty to an earlier conversion to make sure of the home win
• Bulou Mataitoga scored the USA’s first try five minutes before half-time, but then blotted her copybook by being sin-binned nine minutes into the second half
• The yellow card came shortly after Elizabeth Cairns had given the US Eagles hope with their second try, closing to the gap to just two points (12-10)

Bemand: We Want To Back Up What We’ve Done So Far

Nic A Bháird ‘So Delighted’ To Be Back In The Green Jersey

Recent Meetings –

2014: Rugby World Cup Pool B: USA 17 Ireland 23, FFR Centre National du Rugby, Marcoussis

2018: November Test: Ireland 10 USA 19, Energia Park

2021: November Series: Ireland 20 USA 10, the RDS

Support Ireland on www.facebook.com/irishrugby or search #USAvIRE and #IrishRugby on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.