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Ireland change three following last Saturday's hammering by England
By Liam Heagney
Head coach Scott Bemand has made three changes to his Ireland Guinness Six Nations team trounced last weekend by England.
The Irish embarrassingly lost out 10-88 at Twickenham against the defending champions and the reaction for this Saturday’s third-place decider at home to Scotland in Belfast has been to alter two backs, one forward, and also include an uncapped player on the bench.
In the backs, Meabh Deely is promoted from the bench to start at full-back in place of Lauren Delany while Enya Breen also makes the jump from the subs to swap places with midfielder Aoife Dalton, who takes up a spot in the reserves alongside Katie Heffernan, a Wolfhounds player with plenty of HSBC SVNS experience with Ireland.
Up front, there is just one tweak to the pack with co-captain Sam Monaghan restored to the side in place of Hannah O’Connor.
Bemand said in an IRFU media release: "Last week was tough but we have seen a great bounce back in training. We are excited to bring Scotland to Belfast.
"It will be a large and enthusiastic crowd, and we look forward to them revving up the atmosphere to drive the home advantage. With many permutations possible, we will focus on bringing the ‘best of us’ to go after that winning performance.”
Scotland, Italy, and Ireland are all in contention to finish third on the table and the prize is attractive – participation in this year’s WXV1 and qualification for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
Ireland (vs Scotland, Saturday)
15. Meabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) 12
14. Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 4
13. Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC) 16
12. Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) 19
11. Beibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) 25
10. Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 14
9. Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) 11
1. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 36
2. Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury) 25
3. Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) 17
4. Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) 27
5. Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury) Co-Captain 20
6. Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) 6
7. Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs) Co-Captain 27
8. Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster) 22
Replacements:
16. Cliodhna Moloney (Exeter Chiefs) 33
17. Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 6
18. Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC/Ulster) 12
19. Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster) 6
20. Shannon Ikahihifo (Ealing Trailfinders/IQ Rugby) 2
21. Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster) 16
22. Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 14
23. Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC/Leinster) uncapped
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Latest Comments
Yes absolutely 👍 😁
Go to commentsTight match a few points:
-England are badly missing Felix Jones. This one was very winnable. Tactics were clueless at the end
-Andrew Brace chickened out of a yellow for SA at the end. SA brought down a driving Maul approaching the SA line. That is a yellow. No ifs no buts. He said to SA "Dont think I wont give you a yellow just because youve a man already in the bin". But that's EXACTLY what you were doing Bracey. England 9point deficit versus 13 and a penalty deep in the SA 22 is a likely winning position. Brace didn't give a yellow because SA already had a man in the bin.
-England are not bad but they need an expert with the analytical capabilities of a Felix Jones.
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