Eddy Confirms Ireland Women’s Sevens Squad For World Cup
Anthony Eddy, IRFU Director of Women’s and Sevens Rugby, has revealed the Ireland Women’s Sevens squad to play at the upcoming Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in San Francisco.
The eagerly-awaited 2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens features the world’s top 24 Men’s and 16 Women’s teams and will be played on July 20-22 at AT&T Park in San Francisco’s Bay Area. The tournament format is a knock-out style draw, meaning teams will have to win every match to be crowned World Cup winners.
The Ireland Women face old rivals England in the opening round of 16 match, with the winners progressing to the Championship quarter-final against either Mexico or New Zealand, while the losing side will go into the quarter-finals of the Challenge competition.
Captain Lucy Mulhall, who most recently led Ireland to a bronze medal finish in the opening leg of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Series, finished this season’s HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series with a total of 85 points. The Wicklow play-maker scored five tries and 30 conversions in 27 games.
Ireland’s record try scorer Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe notched 18 tries on the World Series circuit this season, helping the girls in green claim first ever wins over Canada and Russia and break new ground with a sixth place finish in Langford. The Tipperary speedster also touched down eight times in Marcoussis last time out.
Scrum half Stacey Flood, who made the Dream Team in Langford, is set for her 23rd consecutive appearance in green. The ever-influential Railway Union player has featured at every senior tournament Ireland have been involved in since the summer of 2015.
Ashleigh Baxter, a key forward and Irish Rugby’s most-capped Sevens international, is set to feature in her fourth World Cup tournament, having played in the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in 2013 and two 15s World Cups in France in 2014 and Ireland in 2017.
Also featuring in their second World Cup this season are Katie Fitzhenry, Louise Galvin and Hannah Tyrrell, the three players all having lined out at the 15s tournament last August in Dublin and Belfast. Talented youngsters Kathy Baker, Eve Higgins and Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird, who all made their Ireland Sevens debuts this season, are also selected for San Francisco along with Enniskillen native Claire Boles, Limerick woman Aoife Doyle and Cork-born Audrey O’Flynn.
With the tournament drawing ever closer, Anthony Eddy, the IRFU’s Director of Women’s and Sevens Rugby, said: “The players have all been looking forward to the Sevens World Cup for a number of months and they are all excited to make the journey to San Francisco.
“The team put in a number of good performances at the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Series in Marcoussis in France recently and they’ll be looking to build on that going into the first game of the World Cup on Friday week.
“We have had several close games with England this season so it is set to be a challenging way to start the tournament, but the players are very focused and know what’s needed of them to get a result.”
The Ireland Sevens jerseys are available to buy online here from Elverys Intersport, official sports retailer of the IRFU.
IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (2018 Rugby World Cup Sevens, AT&T Park, San Francisco, USA, Friday, July 20-Saturday, July 21):
Kathy Baker (Blackrock/Leinster)
Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Claire Boles (Railway Union/Ulster)
Aoife Doyle (Shannon/Railway Union/Munster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemian/Munster)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum) (capt)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Audrey O’Flynn (Ireland Women’s Sevens Programme)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
IRELAND WOMEN’S RWC SEVENS Fixtures –
Friday, July 20:
Round of 16: Ireland v England, AT&T Park, San Francisco, 12.12pm local time/8.12pm Irish time
Quarter-Finals
Saturday, July 21:
Finals
More details on the Rugby World Cup Sevens are available here. Tickets are available to purchase here via the tournament website. There are single-day tickets in all seating categories and three-day tickets.