Winger Galvin starts for Ireland as Griggs reshuffles
Women’s Six Nations
Daire Walsh
Ireland coach Adam Griggs has made three changes to his starting line-up for tonight’s Six Nations Women’s Championship finale against England at the Ricoh Arena (5.30pm, RTE Two).
Following a fleeting appearance off the bench in their defeat to Scotland last Sunday, Louise Galvin replaces Kim Flood in the Irish back-three.
The Kerry winger’s selection sees Hannah Tyrrell switching to full-back, while Paula Fitzpatrick has moved to the second-row to accommodate Ashleigh Baxter at openside flanker.
Nicole Cronin has also been named at scrum-half for her first start since last year’s World Cup campaign. Despite accepting they are underdogs heading into this round five clash with the defending champions, Griggs wants his side to play the game on their own terms.
“The biggest thing is probably putting some of the things we’ve spoken about into action. Looking at some of the other games and within camp, a lot of our messages would be the same,” Griggs said.
“I just want to see us really give it to England. We’re certainly the underdogs in this, so we’ve got nothing to lose. We have to show that we’re better than what we were last week and more so the week before against Wales [a 35-12 victory].”
IRELAND: H Tyrrell; M Williams, K Fitzhenry, S Naoupu, L Galvin; N Briggs, N Cronin; L Peat, C Moloney, L Lyons, A McDermott, P Fitzpatrick, A Baxter, C Molloy, C Griffin.
Replacements: C O’Connor, L Feely, F Reidy, C Cooney, A Caplice, A Hughes, M Claffey, K Flood.
ENGLAND: E Kildunne; K Smith, L Tuima, R Burford, D Waterman; K Daley-Mclean, C Mattinson; V Cornborough, A Cokayne, S Bern, A Scott, P Cleall, R Burnfield, M Packer, S Hunter.
Replacements: L Davies, R Clark, J Lucas, C O’Donnell, S Brown, L Riley, Z Harrison, A Reed.