With Kim Flood, Liz Burke and Claire McLaughlin set to make their debuts against Italy in Donnybrook tomorrow (1pm), Ireland coach Tom Tierney is continuing his development of new playing talent during this Six Nations campaign.

Presuming replacement McLaughlin is introduced at some stage, it will bring to 14 the number of new Irish caps since November 2015. And Tierney is confident that his squad will reap the rewards in next year’s World Cup.

“The bigger picture is that, all going well this Sunday, if the three new caps get a run, that will bring 14 new caps since November,” Tierney admitted yesterday.

“That is one of our strategic goals this year, to widen the player base, and to have achieved that with one game to go in a Six Nations is a massive return. It’s a huge thing for us, if we want to be competitive in a World Cup in a year’s time. It’s absolutely critical as well, because we need to have as many players playing at a high level, and experience at a high level, as much as possible.”

Tomorrow will mark the second game for the 2015 champions on Donnybrook’s 4G pitch, but even though Tierney revealed that this players have enjoyed playing in this new home venue, he does does feel that Italy’s style of play will also be suited to the ground’s state-of-the-art surface.

“The girls love playing on it. It’s a faster game, it’s a quicker game. There’s more emphasis on skills, and that’s something that we’ve been working hard on in our training camps. It’s great to have but it’s going to make it a very, very tough examination against Italy. Italy will love the surface, given the style of rugby they play. It will be a challenge.”

With Dublin ladies football star Flood making her international bow, regular full-back – and team captain – Niamh Briggs has been moved to outside centre.

The Waterford native has previous experience in this role, and she is looking forward to linking up with the in-form Sene Naoupu in midfield.

“I played a season there in the Six Nations a couple of seasons ago, because Nora [Stapleton] was injured and Lynne [Cantwell] went to 10.

“It was obviously a lot easier to play outside the likes of Grace Davitt when they have 50 or 60 odd caps, and they know the game so well,” Briggs stated.

“I’m playing outside Sene [Naoupu] now, and I’m looking forward to it. She’s had a great tournament. It’s definitely a challenge but definitely one that I’m looking forward to.”

IRELAND WOMEN:

K Flood; L Burke, N Briggs, S Naoupu, A Miller; N Caughey, M Healy; L Peat, C Moloney, A Egan; E Anthony, ML Reilly; C Cooney, C Griffin, S Spence.

Replacements:

Z Grattage, R O’Reilly, F Reidy, C Molloy, P Fitzpatrick, L Muldoon, N Stapleton, C McLaughlin.