Ireland will not be able to field many of their matchday team for Sunday’s Women’s Six Nations game with England.
Seven players will not be able to play because they are part the sevens program for the World Rugby Sevens series in Canada.
Ireland cannot plan without Sam Monaghan, second row, and Aoife Wafer back rows because of injury.
France and Wales lost Ireland’s opening two games in the championship. beating Italy 29-8 Dublin.
The team that faced the Italians started with Ireland’s centre partnership. Ireland’s back-three combination and the back-three combination will all return to sevens duty. Beibhinn Parasons, Lucy Mulhall (left), Stacey Flood, Stacey Flood, Stacey Flood, Stacey Flood, and Eve Higgins will all take part in the tournament at Langford.
Greg McWilliams, the head coach, will be absent from back row Brittany Hogan (who has played in all three championship games) and second row Anna McGann.
Monaghan, Wasps’ second row, had been Ireland’s standout performer in the first rounds of the championship. McWilliams said that the injuries are a serious blow.
McWilliams, Ireland coach said that Sam was a big loss. “She is a totally different person to the one she arrived in February. She is world-class.”
“She has blossomed so much in her role and enjoys the fact that she takes on more responsibility.” She has shown improvement game-on, game.”
In Dublin, 33 players are currently training for their encounter with Welford Road’s defending champions. McWilliams has added seven players to his roster for the remaining 2022 Championship.
Laura Feely and Mary Sheehan, Shannon Touhy and Sene Naoupu were called up. The final two rounds of Six Nations provided McWilliams with an opportunity to expose more players to Test rugby and to build squad depth.
“A number of players have had to be patient through the first three rounds. Now they have an exciting chance to stake their claim. McWilliams said, “I just hope they can get out there and express themselves.”
“England is the best team in the whole world, by some distance, ahead France and ahead the countries of the southern hemisphere. It will be a huge challenge, but the players have a clear vision of what they are trying to accomplish.
“In the grand scheme of things, you want to be recognized for the rugby that you play, and not the results you achieve.
“We don’t have a lot of preparation time and are playing against professionals, but that doesn’t mean we can’t go out there believing in the things we’re going to accomplish.”
England is the top Six Nations team with three wins, a maximum of 15 from their three first matches and scoring 189 points. England conceded only 10.
McWilliams said, “We have been working on scrum set ups and we hope that we can compete in set-pieces which is pivotal to this game.”
“We must be patient defensively, and we hope that we can remain in the game and have an opportunity to puncher’s chance.”
McWilliams revealed that the squad will be embarking on a summer tour with two Tests in August. The opponents are yet to be revealed.