‘Scotland Games Are Fun To Play, We’ve A Similar Style’ – Hogan

Brittany Hogan is soaking up the excitement and positive vibes surrounding Sunday’s historic Aviva Stadium match against Scotland, as Ireland (sponsored by Aon) aim to finish the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations on a high. Tickets are on sale here.

Hogan’s 43rd cap for her country will always hold a special place in her heart as it came on the day that the Ireland Women played their first ever standalone international fixture at the home of Irish Rugby, drawing what is set to be a record crowd of over 30,000.

Scott Bemand’s side are hoping for the perfect end to this year’s Championship, which would see them mark this special occasion with their third win of the campaign – something an Irish Women’s team has not achieved since 2020 – and a third consecutive third place finish in the Six Nations.

For back rower Hogan, one of the most experienced members of the current squad, playing in the green jersey at the Aviva Stadium seemed out of their reach until the progress that has been made, both on and off the pitch, during the last couple of years.

Recalling her first time at the Lansdowne Road ground as a spectator, she said: “I went to a November international game, in 2018, where the Ireland Men were playing the USA. Never had it in my mind that it was possible (for us to play there).

“At that moment I was just playing for the Ulster Women, and never thought that this could have been something for us. I thought it was the home base of Irish Rugby, but there was never girls playing, there was never women playing on that pitch.

“There was the double header in 2014 but after that, it was Donnybrook Stadium was our pitch or the RDS. We always moved about and we didn’t have that kind of natural way to the Aviva.

“But the past couple of years, the way that Women’s rugby has grown, it has become more prevalent that it could be a possibility and yeah, we’re getting prepared to play there now.”

Of course, dealing with the historic nature of this weekend’s game and the increased crowd size – Ireland’s biggest home attendance to date was 9,206 in Galway just last month – has been helped by the proximity of last year’s Rugby World Cup and the group’s recent away trips to England and France.

At the World Cup across the Irish Sea, Bemand’s charges played three times in front of five-figure crowds, including 30,017 for their rematch with New Zealand in Brighton. A Six Nations record attendance of 77,120 watched last month’s opener against England at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham.

Hogan believes Ireland have grown from those experiences with more eyeballs on them now than ever before. She had a taste of it herself too at club level recently, getting to play in front of 16,001 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when Sale Sharks, whom she joined in January, faced Saracens.

“We’re so lucky and privileged in the position that we are that we’re playing in these stadiums. Like I’d be sending videos and photos to my family and our group chats and stuff, being like, ‘Oh look, we’re in the NFL away changing room in Tottenham Hotspur’, or ‘we’ve got 77,000 people in the crowd’.

“It’s just so nice to say, and like whenever you’re chatting to people afterwards and stuff, the atmosphere is class. But at the end of the day, it is the rugby that’s on the pitch as well, that is what people are coming to watch.

“The fact that the rugby is getting better, and the rugby is becoming more of an importance, I think is the big change.”

While frustrated not to get closer to England and France, particularly les Bleues having had three first-half tries disallowed, there is still plenty of evidence to suggest that Ireland are closing the gap on the Six Nations’ top two, and showing why they are ranked above their Celtic rivals and Italy.

Coming into the final round, their 2026 report card features their highest score and best result against England since 2018’s 37-15 defeat, and a Dexcom Stadium debut that saw them rack up over 50 points against Italy for the second year running – the 57-20 win represented the most points and tries they had scored in a Six Nations match in 11 years.

The Irish attack was also fluent in Belfast last week, with a third bonus point success against Wales in as many years – another first for the current crop. Hogan scored two tries against the Welsh, and is clearly relishing these heady times for the girls in green on the back of last year’s World Cup exploits.

“Whenever I first started playing rugby for Ulster even, there would be maybe 100 people coming to support you, and that was mostly your family and your friends.

“The fact that we’ve got that 30,000 hit for this weekend is just out of my expectations. I think a lot of that comes down to the World Cup in England, they did such a good job with the visibility. They did such a good job with their media side of things, and promoting it.

“Our Irish rugby media got on top of that, making the most out of this sport – that is the number one fastest growing sport in the world – so I can’t believe it, but we deserve it. So I’m grateful for it.”

The 27-year-old, who hails from the County Down village of Killinchy, is part of one of the best back row combinations operating in this Six Nations. She will have her fifth successive start on Sunday alongside captain Erin King and Aoife Wafer, the 2025 Player of the Championship.

Given their influence to date, it was no surprise to see that all three players have been shortlisted for places in the Capgemini Team of the Championship for 2026. Hogan is the third leading ball carrier in the competition, and also ranks in the top 10 for successful tackles and attacking ruck arrivals.

She was frustrated to be held up and then have a try disallowed against France, admitting that it has been a work-on since then to make sure they do better to capitalise on those situations just a few metres out. They are preparing for one big last push against an equally hungry Scotland outfit.

“Scotland and Ireland games are very, very fun to play,” she noted. “We have such a similar style of play, we’re very structured in our defence and attack.

“We kind of know each other inside out, we’re two very well coached sides, so the games are high ball-in-play minutes, high number of phases, so they’re tough to break down.

“Scotland are a very good side, they play to the edges, their ship is run very well by Helen Nelson, so we’re going to need our support.

“We’ve had 9,000 in Galway and then crowd there in the Affidea last week was class. That is going to be multipled when we go to the Aviva, so it’s going to be unreal.”

Ireland were missing both King and Wafer last year when they closed out the Six Nations with a disappointing 26-19 loss to Scotland in Edinburgh. Twelve months prior to that, they had to battle all the way for a 15-12 win over the Scots in Belfast which booked their World Cup berth.

The teams also met in Cork in a World Cup warm-up clash, which saw the hosts require final quarter tries from Niamh O’Dowd and Deirbhile Nic a Bháird to prevail 27-21 in another tight contest. Encouragingly, Ireland have won eight of their last nine Six Nations home games against Scotland.

Playing at the Aviva Stadium, in front of a record home crowd, brings high expectations and a pressure of its own. There are sure to be increased nerves and tension in the build-up, but Hogan is determined to enjoy the group’s last week together and all that Sunday brings.

“I suppose the build-up to a game like this is one that you can’t hide from, in my mind anyway. I like to live my life as happy and as positive as I can, so the fact that you’re going to be walking around Dublin with however many people coming round, and you have your family texting you being like, ‘Oh, train tickets booked to come down to Dublin’.

“That kind of just drives me a little bit more than it drives the nerves. Because there’s been quite a few of those bigger attendances, I’m kind of used to that noise, I suppose, so I just use it as energy.

“Me, personally, I just love it and I bounce off the girls. I bounce off the team bus going in, like walking in and seeing all the people. They’re there to support you and that’s it, so you just kind of have to take that, it drives you.”

She added: “It is just about making sure that we enjoy this last week and enjoy each other’s company. We always say that each last week of the campaign might be the last week that we play in this exact squad.

“The squad is so fluid. It’s a young squad, yeah, but we have people coming in, we have people coming out. So this is the last time that we might be having this week together, so let’s enjoy it.

“We’ve tried to put a smile on our faces and have fun the whole way, even though the bodies are a little bit sore five weeks in.

“The days are tough, we train very, very hard. Our training ID is we try and train harder than the game, so the game feels a bit easier.”