The Ireland Women, led by co-captains Sam Monaghan and Edel McMahon, are pictured at Kingspan Stadium with IRFU Immediate Past President John Robinson ©INPHO/Ben Brady
There is a lot riding on the middle match in Super Saturday’s triple header, as Ireland and Scotland vye with Italy for a third place finish and automatic qualification for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Saturday, April 27 –
IRELAND WOMEN (5th) v SCOTLAND WOMEN (3rd), Kingspan Stadium, 2.30pm (live RTÉ 2/RTÉ Player/BBC Two Northern Ireland/BBC iPlayer/RTÉ Radio 1)
Team News: Co-captain Sam Monaghan is back to full fitness for the Ireland Women’s Guinness Six Nations final round showdown with Scotland at Kingspan Stadium this afternoon.
Following the record attendance at the RDS and Virgin Media Park, and with over 6,600 tickets already sold, another large crowd is expected in Belfast. Tickets are on sale from Ticketmaster.ie.
Méabh Deely and Enya Breen slot in at full-back and inside centre respectively, as head coach Scott Bemand makes three personnel changes to the Ireland team (sponsored by Aon).
Katie Heffernan is in line to earn her first Ireland 15s cap as a replacement. An impressive performer in the recent Celtic Challenge, she has played regularly for Ireland on the HSBC SVNS Series in recent years.
Monaghan packs down with Dorothy Wall, behind an established front row unit of Linda Djougang, who plays her 37th Test match, Neve Jones, and Christy Haney.
Ulster’s own Brittany Hogan anchors a back row that contains co-captain Edel McMahon and Aoife Wafer, while the back-line is again marshalled by exciting half-back duo Dannah O’Brien and Aoibheann Reilly.
Munster star Breen is restored to the midfield, having started alongside Eve Higgins in the bonus point win over Wales. Wingers Béibhinn Parsons and Katie Corrigan are joined in the back-three by Deely, who makes her first Six Nations start since the France game last year.
Clíodhna Moloney, Niamh O’Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Fiona Tuite and Shannon Ikahihifo provide the replacements up front, with Aoife Dalton, Molly Scuffil-McCabe and Mullingar Heffernan ompleting the matchday 23.
“Last week was tough (against England) but we’ve seen great bounce back in training,” admitted Bemand. “This weekend, the Six Nations reaches its climax and with some good performances, we’re in a position to compete for that World Cup qualification.
“We’re excited to bring Scotland to Belfast and a quality Kingspan Stadium. It’ll be a large and enthusiastic crowd.
“We’re looking forward to them revving up the atmosphere to really drive the home advantage. With lots of permutations possible, we’ll focus on bringing the ‘best of us’ to go after that winning performance.”
Meanwhile, Scotland boss Bryan Easson has made a total of five changes to the side that secured their first away win over Italy since 1999. The last of the alterations comes on the back of hooker Lana Skeldon’s injury-enforced withdrawal yesterday.
The 69-times capped Skeldon, a try scorer during that 17-10 victory in Parma last weekend, is replaced by Elis Martin whose Leicester Tigers club-mate, Leah Bartlett, also comes in to start in a front row reshuffle.
Loughborough Lightning’s Emma Wassell returns to the second row having had time away after her mother Pauline sadly passed away. Winning her 47th cap, Rachel Malcolm captains the Scots from blindside flanker.
Chloe Rollie, who received a three-week ban following her red card against Italy, and Rhona Lloyd, who has a pre-agreed release to Great Britain Sevens, are both absent in the back-line. Meryl Smith slots back in at full-back, and Saracens’ Coreen Grant features on the right wing.
With two potential new caps on the bench in Cieron Bell and Nicole Flynn, Easson said: “Looking at last week there was thing we were really happy with and things we can work on but we’ll take the positives.
“In the last week of the Six Nations we’re always looking to modify so we haven’t trained a lot this week, but when we have it’s been focused and at that Test match level intensity.
“Meryl played at 15 against Wales, with Coreen on the wing, so they’ve played together this season already and performed really well against the Welsh. With those two coming in it’s pretty smooth.
“They (the forwards) have been brilliant all the way through. There have been times when we haven’t been so happy with the set-piece, but we’ve been working at it, and you just look at last week, it was a real high percentage lineout and 100% at the scrum, so that experience is beginning to show through.”
Guinness Women’s Six Nations Results/Fixtures
Guinness Women’s Six Nations Table
IRELAND WOMEN: Méabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht); Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster), Enya Breen (Blackrock College/Munster), Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College/Connacht); Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht); Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), Christy Haney Blackrock College/Leinster), Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College/Munster), Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury/IQ Rugby) (co-capt), Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College/Leinster), Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs) (co-capt), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere/Ulster).
Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke/Ulster), Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere/Ulster), Shannon Ikahihifo (Trailfinders Women/IQ Rugby), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC/Leinster).
SCOTLAND WOMEN: Meryl Smith (Bristol Bears); Coreen Grant (Saracens), Emma Orr (Heriot’s Blues), Lisa Thomson (Great Britain Sevens), Francesca McGhie (Leicester Tigers); Helen Nelson (Loughborough Lightning), Caity Mattinson (Gloucester-Hartpury); Leah Bartlett (Leicester Tigers), Elis Martin (Leicester Tigers), Christine Belisle (Loughborough Lightning), Emma Wassell (Loughborough Lightning), Louise McMillan (Saracens), Rachel Malcolm (Loughborough Lightning) (capt), Alex Stewart (Corstorphine Cougars), Evie Gallagher (Bristol Bears).
Replacements: Molly Wright (Sale Sharks), Lisa Cockburn (Leicester Tigers), Elliann Clarke (Bristol Bears), Eva Donaldson (Leicester Tigers), Rachel McLachlan (Sale Sharks), Mairi McDonald (Exeter Chiefs), Cieron Bell (University of Edinburgh), Nicole Flynn (University of Edinburgh).
Referee: Natarsha Ganley (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Aurélie Groizeleau (France), Holly Wood (England)
Television Match Official: Dan Jones (England)
The game is live on RTÉ 2 in the Republic of Ireland, while viewers in Northern Ireland/the UK can watch it live on BBC Two Northern Ireland and the BBC iPlayer.
Pre-Match Quotes – Sam Monaghan (Ireland Women): “There’s been a few close games (with Scotland). That was my third cap, losing to Scotland in the last minute of the World Cup qualifier game (in Parma in 2021), and then we got them back (winning 15-14) at Kingspan.
“Last year, we weren’t performing and they came out on top of us at the Hive (Stadium, winning 36-10). It’s been some close games. I’ve played with a lot of those girls in the PWR (Premiership Women’s Rugby), so there’s an expectation of knowing what they’re like.
“Scotland are organised, but I think if we stick to our game-plan and what we’ve been doing in the last few weeks against Italy and Wales, we’ll come out on top.
“They’ve been rising up so we can’t underestimate them, but we just need to focus on our performance and how we go out there. We’re going there to win, we don’t want it to be as close as that coming into the last minute and having Enya Breen kicking the winner.
“It’s important we get off to a fast start, get on top of them. The set-piece will be crucial in this game, as (in) every game, and the breakdown. They’re big keys we want to hit this week heading into Saturday.”
Francesca McGhie (Scotland Women): “To make history again with this team would be something else. It will be a really proud moment if we do come third. Whatever happens this weekend, we’ll be proud of our campaign and how far we’ve come in the last year.
“I think it is every player’s dream to go to a World Cup, but as a team we’ve not really focused on it. We’re really just looking forward to this game and ending the campaign the way that we want to.
“It definitely will be a tough match. Ireland aren’t going to be an easy team to play against. They’re very physical and we’ve just got to bring it to them.”
Opta Facts – Ireland Women v Scotland Women:
– Ireland have lost just two of their last 16 Guinness Women’s Six Nations matches against Scotland (W14), however, one of those defeats came on the final day of last year’s Championship (36-10), with the other coming on home soil in 2018 (15-12)
– Scotland have won four of their last six Women’s Six Nations matches (L2), after losing eight in a row previously
– Ireland’s Dannah O’Brien is the only player to have made 50+ kicks in play in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations (58) and has also garnered more kicking metres than any other player in the Championship (1824)
– O’Brien also possesses the highest place-kicking success rate of any player this year (91%, min five attempts)
– Scotland’s Coreen Grant has the highest dominant carry rate of any player in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations (88%)
Recent Meetings –
2021: Women’s Rugby World Cup Qualifier: Ireland Women 18 Scotland Women 20, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma
2022: TikTok Women’s Six Nations: Ireland Women 15 Scotland Women 14, Kingspan Stadium
2023: TikTok Women’s Six Nations: Scotland Women 36 Ireland Women 10, Hive Stadium
Support Ireland on www.facebook.com/irishrugby or search #IREvSCO, #IrishRugby and #GuinnessW6N on www.twitter.com/irishrugby.
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