Six Nations: Ireland without Sam Monaghan for England clash at Twickenham

Irish co-captain not named in the matchday 23 as Hannah O’Connor starts at lock with Edel McMahon leading the side

Daire Walsh

Despite her absence from the match day selection, Ireland women’s defence coach Declan Danaher has praised co-captain Sam Monaghan for the way she has helped her international colleagues to prepare for Saturday’s fourth round Six NationsChampionship clash with England at Twickenham Stadium (kick-off 2.15pm).

Because she was still working her way back from a head injury she sustained while on club duty with Gloucester-Hartpury over in England, Monaghan missed out on Ireland’s tournament opener against France in Le Mans on March 23rd. However, the Meath native bounced back to start their subsequent home encounters with Italy and Wales.

She made way for Fiona Tuite in the 48th minute of the latter fixture – a 36-5 victory that took place in Cork’s Virgin Media Park last weekend. Yet even though she trained with the side earlier today (Thursday), it was felt she hadn’t fully recovered from the effort she produced in the Welsh game and it is instead left for Hannah O’Connor to partner Dorothy Wall in the secondrow for their visit to Twickenham.

However, her role as joint-skipper alongside Edel McMahon is more than just an on-field endeavour and Monaghan is playing a significant part behind the scenes as Ireland aim to build on that encouraging display by the Leeside last Saturday.

“She’s just not fully recovered from the game. She put in a massive effort and she’s not hit her markers to be ready. It gives Hannah an opportunity to step in which is brilliant because it shows the depth of our squad. She’s just taking longer to recover from the effort she put in. It’s risk and reward.

“I’ve seen someone who’s gone out and helped to prepare the team, she’s trained today. She’s taken it in her stride. She’s desperate to play, but she’s prepared the team brilliantly today. It’s brilliant having her on the touchline helping some of the girls that are on the bench and preparing them with things she was seeing. She’s part of a massive effort here to get the girls ready.”

The return of O’Connor to the starting line-up – she also started that aforementioned bout away to France – is one of just two alterations that Ireland head coach Scott Bemand has made to his first 15.

As he looks to leave an impression on the side with whom he served as lead coach from 2015 to 2023, the Hereford native has also elected to bring Aoife Dalton into the team at inside centre.

Although Enya Breen misses out on a start on this occasion, the Cork native is named among the replacements and will provide cover for Dannah O’Brien at outhalf as well as for Dalton and her midfield partner Eve Higgins.

Meabh Deely is also listed among the reserves for the first time since the French game, but there is a familiar look to the Irish team aside from that.

Lauren Delany, Katie Corrigan and Beibhinn Parsons are selected in the back-three for a fourth game in succession and Aoibheann Reilly continues her half-back partnership with O’Brien. Linda Djougang has recovered from a knock she picked up in the Wales game to join Neve Jones and Christy Haney in the front-row, while the in-form Aoife Wafer, solo captain McMahon and Brittany Hogan complete the Irish pack.

Having made a long overdue return to the international test arena last weekend, Cliodhna Moloney is another who will hope to see action off the bench in southwest London.

Given their opponents have won their last 27 Six Nations games on the bounce, there is no underestimating the scale of the challenge that awaits this Irish side in Twickenham.

You have to go back to 2015 for the last competitive win that Ireland enjoyed over their cross-channel rivals, but with the principle focus up to now being on performances, Danaher acknowledged that is what he and his fellow coaches are seeking from their troops on Saturday.

“We’ve been asking for performances and we’ve done that in every game we’ve played. We’re playing England and we know the threats that come with playing against them. When the game is finished, we want to know if we’ve put in another performance that we are proud of,” Danaher added.

Ireland: Lauren Delany; Katie Corrigan, Eve Higgins, Aoife Dalton, Béibhinn Parsons; Dannah O’Brien, Aoibheann Reilly; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Christy Haney; Dorothy Wall, Hannah O’Connor; Aoife Wafer, Edel McMahon (capt), Brittany Hogan.

Replacements: Clíodhna Moloney, Niamh O’Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Fiona Tuite, Shannon Ikahihifo, Molly Scuffil-McCabe, Enya Breen, Méabh Deely.

Bemand makes two changes for Six Nations clash with England 

‘England have got to focus on England… we are trying to close that gap as quickly as we can’

Ireland women’s head coach Bemand believes his players can cause headaches for England

Damage limitation is not the message Bemand will be giving his troops for their Six Nations clash at Twickenham

Daire Walsh

While the tag of underdogs will be heavily applied to the team in the lead-up to the game, Ireland women’s head coach Scott Bemand believes his players are more than capable of causing headaches for England in their Six Nations clash at Twickenham Stadium this Saturday.

Formerly the attack coach of the English women’s side from 2015 to 2023 – a period that saw them accumulating six Championship titles and five Grand Slams – Hereford native Bemand has been at the Irish helm since July of last year.

Following earlier defeats at the hands of France and Italy, he finally recorded his first Six Nations win as a head coach in Cork’s Musgrave Park last Saturday, when Ireland claimed an emphatic 36-5 bonus point triumph over Wales.

This result came as a welcome boost for an Irish side that also claimed the inaugural WXV 3 title in Dubai last October, and although damage limitation is often spoken about whenever Ireland come up against England in a women’s rugby international, this isn’t the message that Bemand will be giving to his troops in the coming days.

“We’ll go after firing our shots, getting our game out there. Part of the stepped approach, from where we were to where we want to get to, is we’re going to need to win some moments in this game. You talk around breaking the game down and you go after your first moments,” Bemand remarked at a press conference in the IRFU’s High Performance Centre on Tuesday.

“We know some capabilities that England have got. We know our girls are advancing pretty quickly in terms of what they can do. We’ll go after our game, and we’ll go after trying to cause England some headaches.”

For the duration of Bemand’s time with England, former cross-codes rugby star Simon Middleton served as head coach of the side. In the build-up to their meeting against Ireland in Cork last year he acknowledged there was a need to make the games in the Six Nations more competitive.

The Red Roses went on to defeat Ireland 48-0 in the Leeside venue, before Middleton signed off on his reign with a 24th consecutive Six Nations victory in the final round of the tournament – at the expense of main challengers France.

There seems to be no sign of England slowing down under Middleton’s successor John Mitchell, emphasised by the fact they have amassed 140 points (and conceded just 10) in the opening three rounds of the championship.

Yet Bemand has insisted it is up to the remaining teams in the tournament to get themselves up to England’s level, and while it isn’t something that is expected to happen overnight he is hopeful Ireland will become more of a force in the next few years.

“England have got to focus on what England do. It’s not up to them to play down to other teams. They’ve got to focus on us and it’s up to us to get after our own performances, our own playing pool, our style of play, how we train for it. Are we doing that? I would say we are,” said Bemand.

“It was one of the reasons I took the job. If I didn’t think it was being gone after in a serious way I wouldn’t be here. Plaudits to the IRFU for supporting it. It has to start somewhere. It’s making ground pretty quick because we know what we’re going after. England have got to focus on England. The rest of us have got to focus on us, and we are trying to close that gap as quickly as we can.”

Dominant Ireland run in five tries to get up and running

Ireland 36

Wales 5

Daire Walsh

After a difficult opening to this year’s tournament, the Ireland women’s rugby team breathed significant life into their Six Nations Championship campaign with a resounding bonus-point victory over Wales at Virgin Media Park yesterday.

Coming into the game on the back of consecutive losses at the hands of France and Italy, Ireland comfortably bagged the maximum five points on offer thanks to tries from Aoife Wafer, Eve Higgins, Neve Jones, Katie Corrigan and Beibhinn Parsons.

The news of Cliodhna Moloney’s return to the Ireland match-day squad (following more than two years away from the international scene) grabbed the headlines in the lead-up to this fixture, but Neve Jones remains the first-choice hooker in green for the time being.

The Gloucester-Hartpury front-row picked out co-captain Sam Monaghan off a precise line-out throw in the 14th minute and at the end of an elongated attack, blindside flanker Wafer powered over superbly on the left wing.

Dannah O’Brien added the bonuses to this score from the touchline and she stepped back up to the kicking tee in the wake of Higgins crashing over the Welsh line on the stroke of 20 minutes.

Ireland now sensed additional tries were going to be up for grabs – emphasised by O’Brien’s decision to kick for touch when the home team were awarded a close-range penalty deep inside the heart of the opposition ‘22’. This proved to be a shrewd move from the Carlow woman as Jones applied the finishing touches at the base of an impressive lineout maul. O’Brien’s third successful conversion had them 21 points in front with less than half an hour on the clock and even though an outstanding Alex Callender turnover prevented a bonus-point try as the interval beckoned, it was a long time since Ireland were in such a commanding position entering the second half of a Women’s Six Nations game.

In fact, things got even better for Scott Bemand’s charges on the restart as it took them just under two minutes to breach the Welsh whitewash for a fourth occasion. After she charged down an attempted clearance by fly-half Lleucu George, Ireland’s teenage winger Corrigan saw the ball fall perfectly for her to sprint under the posts.

In addition to supplying the extras for this effort, O’Brien also contributed a 48th-minute penalty to give the partisan Leeside crowd even more reasons to be cheerful. There was also massive applause when Moloney entered the fray.

Given how lethal she is in possession, it would seem odd if a try-laden performance from Ireland didn’t include a five-pointer from Parsons. This was something the Galway native rectified on the hour mark as she burst up the left-flank at pace and dotted down.

Wales finally found a way over their line through replacement Gwennan Hopkins on her international debut in the 66th minute, but Bemand will be delighted overall ahead of a reunion with his former side England at Twickenham Stadium next Saturday.

Scorers: Ireland: Tries A Wafer (14 mins), E Higgins (20), N Jones (26), K Corrigan (42), B Parsons (60). Cons D O’Brien 3 (15, 21, 27, 43). Pens D O’Brien (48). Wales: Tries G Hopkins (66). 

Ireland L Delany; K Corrigan, E Higgins, E Breen (A Dalton 54), B Parsons; D O’Brien, A Reilly (M Scuffil-McCabe 54); L Djougang (N O’Dowd 63), N Jones (C Moloney 51), C Haney (S McGrath 63); D Wall, S Monaghan (F Tuite 48); A Wafer, E McMahon (N Fowley 67), B Hogan (S Ikahihifo 56).

Wales J Hesketh; J Joyce, H Jones, K Lake (C Keight 33), C Cox; L George (K Powell 61), K Bevan (S Jones 51); G Pyrs (A Constable 58), C Phillips (M Reardon 51), S Tuipulotu (D Rose 58); A Fleming (G Hopkins 61), G Evans; A Butchers, A Callender, B Lewis (N John 28). 

Referee S Cox (England).