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Three Irish changes made for Round 4 England encounter in Cork
By Kim Ekin
Ireland Head Coach Greg McWilliams has named his Ireland Match Day Squad, for Saturday's TikTok Women's Six Nations clash against England in Cork (kick-off 2.15pm).
Three changes are made to the starting XV for the Round 4 encounter at Musgrave Park, with Vicky Irwin and Molly Scuffil-McCabe coming into the Ireland backline and Brittany Hogan replacing the injured Dorothy Wall in the back row.
Lauren Delany, Aoife Doyle and Natasja Behan are retained in the unchanged back three, with Irwin joining Aoife Dalton in midfield. Scuffil-McCabe comes into the side to partner Dannah O'Brien in the half-backs.
McWilliams has named an unchanged front row of Linda Djougang, Neve Jones and Christy Haney, with Captain Nichola Fryday and Sam Monaghan packing down in the second row.
Hogan comes in at blindside flanker, with Grace Moore continuing at openside and Deirbhile Nic a Bháird at number eight.
McWilliams said: "We are under no illusions of the size of the task ahead of us with a world class England team coming to Cork, but this is a test we will embrace and relish. We are aiming to get better week-on-week and the squad remain focused on our process, preparation and attitude.
"This is another opportunity to test our ability on the world stage. There's no doubt we want the Six Nations to be competitive. England and France are ahead at the moment, we know that.
"I've talked openly about the plan that we have in place and we're on our own journey. This is another weekend where we will find out a lot about ourselves.
When asked whether Ireland can win at the weekend, McWilliams said: "I think we can. It's a result of how prepared you are. Sport is a wonderful thing and our job is to be as competitive as possible. We will always put on the jersey and fight for every inch we can, that will never change."
Ireland:
15. Lauren Delany (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby) 20
14. Aoife Doyle (Railway Union RFC/Munster) 15
13. Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 5
12. Vicky Irwin (Sale Sharks/Ulster) 4
11. Natasja Behan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) 5
10. Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 5
9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Railway Union RFC/Leinster) 7
1. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) 27
2. Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury/Ulster) 16
3. Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) 8
4. Nichola Fryday (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht) (capt) 32
5. Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury/IQ Rugby) 13
6. Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster) 13
7. Grace Moore (Saracens/IQ Rugby) 8
8. Deirbhile Nic a Bháird (Old Belvedere RFC/Munster) 7
Replacements:
16. Clara Nielson (Exeter Chiefs/IQ Rugby) 2
17. Sadhbh McGrath (City of Derry RFC/Cooke RFC/Ulster) 3
18. Kathryn Buggy (Gloucester-Hartpury/IQ Rugby) 2
19. Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) 17
20. Jo Brown (Worcester Warriors/IQ Rugby) 2
21. Nicole Cronin (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) 22
22. Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC/Connacht) 4
23. Méabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) 5
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Latest Comments
I reckon it may be Jordan at 10 and Nohamba at 9, both players have played together alot and both have been on the Radar for a long time. After Pollard got injured in 2022 with Elton sidelined on a path of self destruction Erasmus and Nienaber indicated that the other options in the country at the time were thin but that Jordan and Manie were the 2 they were looking at. In the end Frans steyn played flyhalf, Willemse slotted in there on the end of year with Libbok as back up. Jordan was right there in the thinking back then so expect him to take the Jersey either as the starter.
Go to commentsHaha did he always say it in a sarcastic teacher sort of manor or was it the petulant English snob sort of wail?
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