Ireland Women Team To Face England Women

The Ireland Women’s Team to face England in the 2020 Women’s Six Nations has been named.

Munster’s Eimear Considine, Aoife Doyle, Claire Keohane and Captain Ciara Griffin have all been named in the starting line-up, including Mallow native Anna Caplice.

Dorothy Wall, Nicole Cronin and former Munster prop Leah Lyons are among the replacements.

Adam Griggs has made two changes to the opening side that overcame wales 31-12 in the last outing of the tournament.

Doyle starts on the wing, replacing Beibhinn Parsons, who is taking time away from rugby to concentrate on her Leaving Cert preparation, while Katie Fitzhenry, who makes her first appearance of the tournament, is named in the centre.

Speaking ahead of the game, Head Coach Adam Griggs said “We are really looking forward to traveling over to Doncaster for this match. We have had a solid start to the tournament with two wins and are happy with the step up in our performance from week to week so far.

England are the defending champions and are coming into this game unbeaten too so It’s going to be a real challenge, However we intend to focus on what we can control within our own game and believe if we get our systems right that we should be able to really put them under pressure.

We have no intention of giving them anything easy and are relishing the opportunity to test ourselves against one of the best in the world.”

Ireland will travel to Doncaster for their first away game of this year’s Women’s Six Nations.

This game will be broadcast on RTE 2 with coverage starting from 12.30pm

Ireland Women Team & Replacements (v England, Women’s Six Nations Championship 2020, Castle Park, Doncaster, Sunday, 23rd February, kick-off 12.45pm) (Caps in Brackets)
15 – Eimear Considine (UL Bohemian/ Munster) (14)
14 – Lauren Delany (Firwood Waterloo/ IQ Rugby) (10)
13 – Sene Naoupu (Old Belvedere/ Leinster) (36)
12 – Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/ Leinster) (12)
11 – Aoife Doyle (Railway Union/ Munster) (5)    
10 – Claire Keohane (Railway Union/ Munster) (2)        
9 – Kathryn Dane (Old Belvedere/ Ulster) (8)    
1 – Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/ Leinster) (29) 
2 – Cliodhna Moloney (Wasps/ IQ Rugby) (21)
3 – Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere/ Leinster) (7)            
4 – Aoife McDermott (Railway Union/ Leinster) (12)        
5 – Judy Bobbett (Blackrock/ Leinster) (2)         
6 – Ciara Griffin (UL Bohemian/ Munster) (31) Capt.
7 – Edel McMahon (Wasps/ Connacht / IQ Rugby) (8) 
8 – Anna Caplice (Harlequins/ IQ Rugby) (13)    
  
Replacements:
16 – Victoria Dabanovich O’Mahony (Old Belvedere/ Leinster) (2)        
17 – Laura Feely (Galwegians/ Connacht) (14)    
18 – Leah Lyons (Harlequins/ IQ Rugby) (23)
19 – Ciara Cooney (Railway Union/ Leinster) (19)
20 – Dorothy Wall (Railway Union/ Munster) (2)         
21 – Nicole Cronin (UL Bohemian / Munster) (15)
22 – Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union/ Leinster) (46)         
23 – Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere RFC/ Leinster) (15)

Ireland Fixtures and Results, Women’s Six Nations 2020
Sun, 2nd Feb, Ireland Women 18 v 14 Scotland Women
Sun, 9th Feb, Ireland Women 31 v 12 Wales Women
Sun, 23rd Feb, England Women v Ireland Women, Castle Park, Doncaster, KO 12.45hrs
Sun, 8th Mar, Ireland Women v Italy Women, Energia Park, Donnybrook, KO 13.00hrs
Sun, 15th Mar, France Women v Ireland Women, Le Stadium, Lille, KO 15.35GMT/16.35 Local Time