McWilliams backs Hogan to take chance against English
Despite acknowledging how big a blow it is to be without the services of Dorothy Wall, Ireland women’s rugby head coach Greg McWilliams is confident that Brittany Hogan can seize upon an opportunity to impress in Saturday’s Six Nations Championship clash against England at Musgrave Park.
While Wall was hopeful of recovering from an ankle injury she sustained in last weekend’s 24-7 defeat to Italy in Parma, McWilliams revealed in a virtual press conference on Thursday that time just worked against her. The Tipperary native should still be in line to feature in the final round visit to Scotland, but Hogan’s 13 previous appearances in test rugby makes her a suitable replacement at blindside flanker.
“The response earlier in the week [from Wall] was a bit slow. She trained pretty well yesterday, but it’s still a little niggly. We felt the best thing to do was to rest her for this weekend, to give her a chance to get it right. We’ve a big weekend next weekend as well. We’re just doing the right thing on Dorothy,” McWilliams said.
“I expect her to be okay for next week. Whilst it is disappointing to not have Dorothy, it’s an opportunity to give somebody else a go and I think Brittany [Hogan] came on against Italy last week and did fantastic. She brought a great energy and now it’s her turn to put the jersey on and hopefully keep it hers.”
Given all of 15 points separates them in the table, England will be red hot favourites to come away with a fourth consecutive victory in Cork and keep themselves on course for a fourth Grand Slam title in the space of just five seasons.
Additionally, the Red Roses are on a winning streak of 22 games in the tournament, dating back to the end of the 2018 Six Nations and a 33-11 win over Ireland at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. McWilliams is under no illusions about the challenge that awaits his troops two days from now, but he is nonetheless excited to see how his squad fares in their second and final home encounter of the Championship.
“Each week in terms of the performance, the bedrocks that you want in the game, we’ve seen an improvement and that’s all we can ask, always, of any team. From week to week, you’re trying to see an improvement in the areas we’re working in. We had good possession stats last week against Italy and good territory stats. Obviously it’s about maintaining our improvement.
“We’re developing as a team. It’s important that we’re very clear on the plan. We always talk about our process. You’ve got to separate the emotion and the process. Our process is to get better and improve as a team. This is now another challenge for us to test our ability to be competitive on the world stage. England are no doubt one of the best sides in the world and it’s a great opportunity for us to test ourselves against that,” McWilliams added.