Ireland head coach Adam Griggs has selected a strong team for the Six Nations opener against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday (kick-off 5pm - live on RTÉ Two).
Considering the Welsh skills coach Rachel Taylor stepped aside before last weekend’s 53-0 humiliation in France, Ciara Griffin’s Irish side are expected to hit the ground running after six months of camps and internal games.
“We definitely want to start off with a win,” said Griggs, who gives Eve Higgins her Test debut at centre with the 21-year-old making the tricky transition from Sevens to 15-a-side. “There will be times when there will be mistakes and Wales will have their purple patch, but we have been successful against them before.
“Going over to a wounded team playing at home I am sure they will be targeting us but we got the talent in the squad to do a job this week.”
The other uncapped converts - Emily Lane and Stacey Flood provide halfback cover - are also contracted by the IRFU while the 15s players are completely amateur.
Interestingly, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, an electric performer on the Sevens circuit, does not make the squad.
“Eve has been fantastic throughout training,” said Griggs. “She’s one that certainly grabbed the bull by the horns and really stood out, so she earns her spot there.
“Amee-Leigh is still a work in progress. We think that no doubt, she has the skills, there’s just a few adjustments to the 15-a-side game that she’s still learning.”
Uncompromising
Griffin is joined in the Irish backrow by Dr Claire Molloy, winning her 71st cap, and uncompromising Tipperary flanker Dorothy Wall.
“She has a real physical edge to her,” said Griggs of the 20-year-old blindside. “She is quick and very dynamic. And obviously in that backrow position, that is key. And the combination there with Claire and Ciara, it’s definitely a dangerous trio.”
Eimear Considine returns at fullback, having missed the Italy win in October due to Covid protocols, to complete a rapid back three beside Beibhinn Parsons and Sale’s Lauren Delany that will seek to profit from Hannah Tyrrell’s continued adjustment to life at outhalf (Tyrrell began her elite sporting career at goalkeeper for the Dublin footballers).
Wales coach Warren Abrahams has made four changes from the France game, three in the front five, with new props Cara Hope and Cerys Hales joined by Natalia John at lock. Jasmine Joyce has been called up to a Great Britain Sevens camp so Courtney Keight comes on to the left wing.
Only one member of their squad plays club rugby in Wales, with the rest featuring regularly in the Allianz Premier 15s in England. That, in itself, is an enormous advantage. Griggs has named three English-based players in Delany, Molloy and hooker Cliodhna Moloney as the crossover from the amateur era to professionalism continues to mirror the men’s transition during the late 1990s.
“I guess for the likes of Cliodhna and Claire at Wasps but also Lauren Delany at Sale it has given them valuable game time,” Griggs admitted. “It gets you physically conditioned for contact which is a bonus for them and an aspect we know will be one of the bigger work-ons for us on Saturday in that we got to get up to speed quickly with the full contact of a Test match.
“It is valuable in that side of things but also through December we couldn’t have those players with us. But they are game hardened and ready to go.”
Mix of both
Griggs was asked what will make Ireland successful in the future; his players featuring in the best club competition in the world or being exclusively available for national weekend camps.
“I think it is a mix of both, to be honest. It is just about getting the balance right at the moment. Those players over there have their livelihoods as well, so it is not as simple as they are there just for rugby.”
Meanwhile, The Daily Telegraph has branded BBC Two “a disgrace” for Saturday’s television schedule showing a 2014 episode of ‘Flog It!’ instead of England’s Six Nations match in Italy, which is available in the UK on iPlayer. Last week the BBC showed the 1978 film Death on the Nile, albeit starring Mia Farrow and Bettie Davis, instead of England versus Scotland.
“If the country’s national broadcaster can’t give the respect female athletes deserve, who will?”
RTÉ Two are broadcasting all of Ireland’s matches live.
Ireland: Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian/Munster, 15 caps); Lauren Delany (Sale Sharks, 12), Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)*, Sene Naoupu (Old Belvedere/ Leinster, 38), Beibhinn Parsons (Ballinasloe/Blackrock College/Connacht, 8); Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster, 17), Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere/Ulster, 10); Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/Leinster, 31), Cliodhna Moloney (Wasps, 23), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster, 9); Aoife McDermott (Railway Union/Leinster, 13), Nichola Fryday (Blackrock College/Connacht, 15); Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College/ Munster, 4), Claire Molloy (Wasps, 70), Ciara Griffin (capt, UL Bohemian/Munster, 33).
Replacements: Neve Jones (Malone/Ulster, 1), Katie O'Dwyer (Railway Union/Leinster, 1), Laura Feely (Blackrock College/Connacht, 16), Brittany Hogan (DCU/Old Belvedere/Ulster, 1), Hannah O'Connor (Blackrock College/Leinster, 2), Emily Lane (Blackrock College/Munster)*, Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)*, Enya Breen (UL Bohemian/Munster, 4). *denotes new cap
Wales: Robyn Wilkins (Gloucester-Hartbury); Lisa Neumann (Sale Sharks), Hannah Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Kerin Lake (Gloucester-Hartpury); Courtney Keight (Bristol Bears); Elinor Snowsill (Bristol Bears), Jess Roberts (Sale Sharks); Cara Hope (Gloucester-Hartpury), Kelsey Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Cerys Hales (Gloucester-Hartpury); Natalia John (Bristol Bears), Gwen Crabb (Gloucester-Hartpury); Georgia Evans (Saracens), Manon Johnes (Bristol Bears), Siwan Lillicrap (Bristol Bears, capt).
Replacements: Molly Kelly (Sale Sharks), Caryl Thomas (Worcester Warriors), Donna Rose (Saracens), Teleri Wyn Davies (Sale Sharks), Bethan Dainton (Harlequins), Megan Davies (Exeter Chies), Niamh Terri (Exeter Chiefs), Caitlin Lewis (Cardiff Met).
