Women's Hockey Weekend previewThe Irish squad complete their build-up to the World Cup Qualifier in Rome later this month with games against England and Italy in Manchester this weekend. The match against the Italians (tomorrow, 4.0) will be of particular interest to coach Riet Kuper, with the teams drawn in the same qualifier pool.

Italy's build-up to the tournament took them to Baku last month where they drew twice with Azerbaijan (who are in Ireland and Italy's Qualifier pool, with New Zealand, Korea and the US) - Ireland lost twice to the same opponents in South Africa in February.

"We haven't played Italy since the European Nations Championship Qualifier in 2002 (when Ireland won 1-0), so it will be important to have a good look at them," said Ireland captain Linda Caulfield. "We're keen to get results in these fixtures to boost morale and confidence going in to the World Cup Qualifier, but our main focus will be to continue working on our team strategy and tighten up important game areas, particularly set-pieces."

"At this point, the players are feeling physically and mentally prepared and are itching to get out to Rome and start the tournament," she said.

While England will field a developmental team against Italy this evening most of the players who won bronze at the Commonwealth Games last month will be selected for the game against Ireland on Sunday morning. Coach Danny Kerry has only named 12 players so far for his World Cup Qualifier squad and will make a final decision on the six remaining vacancies after the game against Ireland.

Ireland will be without Bridget McKeever this weekend as the Ballymoney player continues her recovery from the fractured cheekbone she suffered in Argentina last month. McKeever, who is replaced in the squad for Manchester by Loreto's Nikki Keegan, intends travelling to the Netherlands to be measured up for protective headgear in the hope she will be able to make it to the qualifier.

The Irish Hockey Association have appointed Paul Varian to a permanent position of chief executive, with immediate effect. Varian, who became the IHA's first chief executive in November, 2004, had been appointed on a two-year contract but now joins high performance director Dave Passmore on the permanent payroll.

INTERNATIONALS (at Manchester) - Tomorrow: Ireland v Italy, 4.0. Sunday: Ireland v England, 11.0.