Ireland Women’s Sevens Squad Confirmed For Langford
The Ireland Women’s Sevens squad for the fifth leg of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series has been named by IRFU Director of Women’s and Sevens Rugby, Anthony Eddy. The tournament takes place in Langford, Canada next Saturday and Sunday.
The Ireland Women finished ninth overall at the Kitakyushu 7s tournament in Japan, and are in ninth place in the current World Series standings.
The squad of 13 players will be captained by Lucy Mulhall. Ashleigh Baxter, Kim Flood, Stacey Flood, Louise Galvin, Claire Keohane, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Sene Naoupu, Audrey O’Flynn and Hannah Tyrrell who all competed in Japan, are all once again selected for Sevens duty.
Mullingar’s Katie Heffernan, who was the 13th squad member in both Las Vegas and Japan, will make her World Series debut this weekend should she be named in the matchday squad, as will UCD player Anna McGann (pictured below), who will be aiming to make her first appearance for the senior side.
Both players have come through the Ireland Sevens development programme, and were on the Irish Development side that played in Dubai last December and in the recent Dublin 7s. Chloe Blackmore of St. Mary’s completes the squad.
Ireland’s Pool C opponents in Langford are Australia, Fiji and Spain. It will be the fifth consecutive tournament that Ireland will meet Fiji, while it will be the fourth time this season that they come up against the Australians. They have also played Spain twice already this season, winning both of those encounters.
Ahead of the squad’s departure for Vancouver Island, Anthony Eddy said: “We’re looking forward to travelling to Canada for the fifth event of the World Series. Victoria is a great location and I know the players have enjoyed being based there in previous years.
“We will be looking for a positive start and a good team performance on day one. We’re up against three teams who we’re very familiar in Fiji, Australia and Spain. They’re going to be three tough games, so we really need to be on our game and look to get some good results to set us up for a good day two.”
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series – Canada Sevens, Westhills Stadium, Langford, British Columbia, Canada, Saturday, May 27-Sunday, May 28):
Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Chloe Blackmore (St. Mary’s/Munster)
Claire Keohane (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Kim Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Katie Heffernan (Mullingar/Railway Union (dual status)/Leinster)
Anna McGann (UCD/Leinster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum/Leinster) (capt)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
Sene Naoupu (Aylesford Bulls)
Audrey O’Flynn (Ireland Sevens Programme)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Fixtures –
Canada 7s – Pool C:
Saturday, May 27
Fiji v Ireland, Westhills Stadium, 11.14am local time/7.14pm Irish time
Australia v Ireland, Westhills Stadium, 2.20pm local time/10.20pm Irish time
Ireland v Spain, Westhills Stadium, 4.42pm local time/12.42am Irish time
Sunday, May 28
Play-Offs
For more information on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, visit here: http://www.worldrugby.org/womens-sevens-series.