Ireland vs England: McWilliams remains positive despite daunting assignment
Coach forced to make six changes from team that beat Italy for trip to imposing England
Daire Walsh
Women’s Six Nations: England v Ireland, Welford Road, Sunday, 12pm – Live on Virgin Media Two
It may be drastically altered from the team that defeated Italy in the previous round, but Ireland women’s head coach Greg McWilliams stressed he has picked a starting line-up that is more than capable of putting it up to England in the Six Nations Championship at Welford Road on Sunday afternoon.
Due to the reintegration of several players back into the Ireland Sevens squad ahead of their World Series tournament in Langford, Canada next weekend – and an injury to in-form lock Sam Monaghan – McWilliams has made six changes to his first 15 for the trip to Leicester.
While experienced faces like Sene Naoupu, Eimear Considine and Aoife McDermott are included, there will also be an international debut for Railway Union’s Molly Scuffil-McCabe.
Although Nicole Cronin and Kathryn Dane are the only backs who remain from the 29-8 triumph over the Italians, McWilliams is satisfied with his selection for a daunting clash against the world’s number one side.
“I’m picking players who I believe are the best players that are going to go out and put on a show, and make the people of Ireland proud. It’s always my number one thing,” McWilliams explained.
“Whether there’s Sevens players, whether there’s players injured, whether there’s players who are playing over in England who are now in Ireland. The first thing I’m thinking of is, I want to pick the best team for Ireland that are going to go out and give ourselves an opportunity of success.
“Every single player who is selected in that 23, plus the three [extra] subs who are with us, all deserve to be taking the field on Sunday. I’m really proud of them as a group.”
The return of Naoupu is noteworthy, given she was initially left out of the squad for the Six Nations and only rejoined the set-up last Saturday for a one-day training camp held at the IRFU High Performance Centre.
However, McWilliams revealed that the Leinster centre – who turned 38 in February – was close to being involved in their three previous games in this year’s championship.
“People might look at Sene and go ‘Jeepers, Sene is being selected out of nowhere’. It’s not out of nowhere. I talked to Sene every single week since we first came to camp in January. She’s very smart and she trained brilliantly last Saturday.
Tough calls
“With Sene, people can say ‘ah, she’s 38 years of age. You’re talking about development, you’re talking about pushing this group forward’. Age is a number. I still think Sene could be there for the next Rugby World Cup. If I thought that she wasn’t, I wouldn’t have her in the squad.
“She is in the shape of her life and she deserves to start. She has shown resilience, she has been set back by me, three tough calls I’ve had with her. The Welsh, the French and the Italian games, and she has come back every single time and she’s like ‘I’m going to prove you wrong’.”
Naoupu was an unused replacement when Ireland defeated England on their way to securing a Six Nations crown in 2015. The Red Roses have held the upper hand since then and are red-hot favourites to make it four bonus-point wins on the bounce in this year’s competition.
A strong set-piece will be vital if Ireland are to stand any chance of pulling off a shock victory and McWilliams will be hoping that proven lineout operator McDermott can provide his troops with an attacking platform.
Should she be introduced off the bench, Niamh Byrne will join her Railway team-mate Scuffil-McCabe in earning a first Ireland cap.
ENGLAND: H Rowland; L Thompson, E Scarratt, H Aitchison, J Breach; Z Harrison, L Infante; V Cornborough, L Davies, S Bern; Z Aldcroft, A Ward; A Matthews, M Packer, S Hunter.
Replacements: A Cokayne, H Botterman, M Muir, R Galligan, P Cleall, N Hunt, A Reed, E Kildunne.
IRELAND: M Scuffil-McCabe; A Doyle, S Naoupu, E Breen, E Considine; N Cronin, K Dane; L Djougang, N Jones, C Haney; N Fryday, A McDermott; D Wall, E McMahon, H O’Connor.
Replacements: E Hooban, C Pearse, K O’Dwyer, G Moore, M Óg O’Leary, A Reilly, M Claffey, N Byrne.