‘Robyn Has Fully Earned Her Opportunity’ – Bemand

Head coach Scott Bemand says rapid young winger Robyn O’Connor will bring something different to Ireland’s back-three against Italy, given her sidestepping ability, physicality, and aerial skills.

Set for her 15s international debut, O’Connor is one of three personnel changes to the Ireland team that lost to England. She comes in on the left wing, replacing Vicky Elmes Kinlan, for Saturday’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations clash with Italy in Galway (kick-off 5.40pm).

Along with those aforementioned attributes, the 20-year-old has shown a knack of beating defenders and scoring tries at every level she has played at, including this season with eight tries in four appearances for Old Belvedere, and five in six for the Celtic Challenge-winning Wolfhounds.

She has been on Bemand’s radar since 2024 when she became centrally contracted to the IRFU Women’s High Performance Programme, having impressed in age-grade action with both Leinster and Ireland, and then made an immediate impact at full-back to help Leinster retain the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship title.

A busy 2024/25 season also saw her gain international experience and exposure with the Ireland Sevens team, playing alongside fellow Wexford native Katie Whelan, a Test debutant at Twickenham just last week, and get a second Six Nations Summer Series under her belt with the Ireland Under-20s.

She now returns to Dexcom Stadium, a ground where she scored a try and assisted another just last month in a notable contribution to the Wolfhounds’ semi-final victory over Brython Thunder. She also made a team-high 92.6 metres, from 12 carries, and beat eight defenders during the game.

Confident that O’Connor can make a similar impact on the 15s international stage, Bemand said: “Robyn has been training fantastically well, been playing consistently well. Always seems to find a way to the try-line in the Celtic Challenge.

“A slightly different player with her sidestepping, and having the ability to step, beat people inside, challenge defences on the edges is going to be a big part for us. So, she fully earns her opportunity.

“We’ve actually got a lot of good players that we want to get some time into, and it is kind of a natural fit, isn’t it? Post a World Cup, the start of the next squad cycle, you want to see what people can do on the international scene.

“She is a really tough player. She’s got physicality, change of direction. She’s a great, great stepper, and in the Women’s game, that is perhaps not as prevalent as with the guys.

“But she’s got a great change of direction and that creates attacking moments and opportunities for us either to line-break or get some momentum. She has a way to the try-line and she’s an excellent fielder of a rugby ball.

“She played quite a bit of full-back over her formative years. So anything going up in the air, we know she’s incredibly competent and confident under, and the Italians bring with them a pretty strong box kicking game. So again, a slightly different challenge. She’s got aerial prowess and she has the ability to sort of dominate that space.”

O’Connor, who received her first Ireland senior call-up in August 2024, came up through the ranks at Wexford Wanderers RFC, first wearing their colours when an Under-14 girls team was formed at Park Lane. Prior to that her sporting focus had been on Gaelic football and camogie.

She was encouraged by her dad James, a coach and youth rugby founder at the club based just outside Wexford town, and her back-three-playing brother Josh, a proud Wexford Wanderer who won caps for the Ireland Under-20s in 2021 and spent three years in the Connacht Academy.

Wexford Wanderers also previously produced an Ireland Women’s 15s and Sevens star in Katie Fitzhenry. Fittingly, Fitzhenry, the Women’s National WNTS and Talent Identification Manager with the IRFU, has had a close role in Robyn’s development, coaching her with the Ireland Under-18s in both 15s and Sevens.

One of four Wexford players in the squad selected for Saturday, O’Connor’s direct rival on Italy’s right wing will be Gaia Buso, who herself is only 23 and with five caps to her name. She has come up against the likes of Sara Mannini, Elettra Costantini, and Alia Bitonci before in the 2024 Six Nations Summer Series.

Bemand is obviously keen to give opportunities to emerging players, particularly with an eye towards the 2029 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Even with Amee-Leigh Costigan’s absence due to her pregnancy, the competition for back-three places is nearing an all-time high at present.

Vicky Elmes Kinlan edged out Anna McGann for a wing berth in London last week, but this time misses out on the matchday 23 as O’Connor comes in as a starter, and McGann, a try scorer shortly after her introduction against England, will be utilised in the impact role again.

The uncapped Alana McInerney is very much in the selection conversation too, while two more senior squad members and back-three talents, Chisom Ugwueru and Niamh Gallagher, will be aiming to impress for the Ireland Under-21s in Saturday’s curtain raiser at Dexcom Stadium.

“Tuesday night was busy for me, in terms of selections,” admitted Bemand. “In this scenario, we’re not talking about people being dropped – we’re talking about selections.

“Vicky Elmes Kinlan is unlucky not to get another go. She’s an unbelievable player. Some of the work she did off the ball against England, there were some really impressive moments.

“What we’ve done with Vicky, she is absolutely in the mix to be selected against France (in the third round). What we are doing is we’re selecting a group appropriate for a game, and a group where we need to see what players can do on the international stage.

“Anna’s impact off the bench is undisputed. She is on a really good run of form actually, in terms of she always finds her way to the try-line. She has got capability, she’s six foot. She’s fast, she’s powerful.”

He added: “Vicky has been so consistent in the Celtic Challenge (with the Wolfhounds). She scored a lot of tries in that and she’s been brilliant in training.

“Things we see from her physicality, pace, gear shift, Robyn’s been doing that as well. I’ve got four wingers that are vying for those positions at this point. There’s more coming through as well and I’ve got room for three of them in a matchday squad.

“It’s really tough. Vicky understands the scenario that she finds herself in. I thought yesterday she trained the house down again, and she’s got every opportunity to play her way in for the France game next week.”