6 Nations (Women)

[blockhead]

Time for a thread about the Ladies (the real ones)

29/01/2016
The defending Six Nations Champions, sponsored by Aon, Ireland's women will play their home matches in Donnybrook this season, once again led by Niamh Briggs

They will open their campaign at the Dublin 4 venue when they face Wales on Saturday, 6th February. They will also take part in a double header in Twickenham, when they play England directly after their male counterparts on February 27th.

There are a number of players who will be looking to win their first Ireland cap during the championship. Tralee and Munster players Zoe Grattage and Ciara Griffin are joined by Tralee teammate Ciara O'Connor, who plays provincially with Connacht and St.Mary's and Connacht flanker Grainne Egan as the uncapped players in the pack.

In the backs, U.L Bohs and Munster wing Liz Burke and centres Elise O'Byrne-White (Old Belvedere and Leinster) and Claire McLaughlin (Queen's University and Ulster) are also uncapped.

Niamh Briggs will again captain the side from full-back.

Speaking on the selection, Ireland Women's coach, Tom Tierney said:

"We have named a squad full of talent for this year's championship. There is a nice blend of youth and experience and the vibe in the camp has been very positive over the last few weeks.

We've had the opportunity to see a lot of the girls play and we've looked at a number of combinations. The newer members of the squad are doing really well, so we're looking forward to getting the campaign underway against Wales in Donnybrook and seeing what the girls can do”.

Director of Women's Rugby, Anthony Eddy added:

"This is an exciting time for women's rugby in Ireland. In November we saw the team play their first ever Autumn International against England and they've had a number of weekend camps at their base in DCU over the last number of months.

As well as that, with the move to Donnybrook stadium this year, we will hopefully see even more supporters come out to watch the women play.

There will be some new faces involved in this year's campaign, which is important as we are constantly looking to develop our squad and build our strength in depth going forward”.

Tickets for Ireland's home Six Nations games in Donnybrook are available now via Ticketmaster.ie - http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Ireland-tick ... st/1056338
Ireland Women's Six Nations 2016 Squad

Forwards:

Elaine Anthony (Munster / Highfield)
Ciara Cooney (Leinster / Railway Union)
Ailis Egan (Leinster/ Old Belvedere)
Grainne Egan (Connacht / St.Mary's)*
Paula Fitzpatrick (Leinster / Stade Toulousain)
Orla Fitzsimons (Leinster / St.Mary's)
Zoe Grattage (Munster / Tralee)*
Ciara Griffin (Munster / Tralee)*
Claire Molloy (Bristol)
Cliodhna Moloney (Leinster / Railway Union)
Heather O'Brien (Munster / Stade Toulousain)
Fiona O'Brien (Leinster/ Old Belvedere)
Ciara O'Connor (Connacht / Tralee)*
Ruth O'Reilly (Connacht / Galwegians)
Lindsay Peat (Leinster / Railway Union)
Fiona Reidy (Munster / U.L Bohemians)
Marie-Louise Reilly (Leinster / Old Belvedere)
Sophie Spence (Leinster/ Old Belvedere)

Backs:

Niamh Briggs (Munster / U.L Bohemians)
Liz Burke (Munster / U.L Bohemians)*
Nikki Caughey (Ulster / Railway Union)
Mairead Coyne (Connacht / Galwegians)
Aine Donnelly (Leinster/ Cill Dara)
Mary Healy (Connacht / Galwegians)
Claire McLaughlin (Ulster / Queen's University)*
Larissa Muldoon (Skewen)
Sene Naoupu (Connacht / Galwegians)
Elise O'Byrne-White (Leinster/ Old Belvedere)*
Jackie Shiels (Richmond)
Nora Stapleton (Leinster / Old Belvedere)

*denotes uncapped player
Ireland Women's XV Management

Anthony Eddy - Director of Sevens and Women's Rugby
Tom Tierney - Head Coach
Declan O'Brien - Assistant Coach
Derek Dowling - Scrum Coach
Ross Martin - Video Analyst
Jean Casey - Team Manager
Marian Earls – Strength and Conditioning Co-ordinator
Ed Slattery – Strength and Conditioning Coach
Alan Farrell - Team Doctor
Ulrik McCarthy - Physiotherapist
Dom Hoban - Physiotherapist
Nóra Ní Fhlannagáin– Nutritionist
Carmel O'Dwyer - Squad Co-ordinator
Sam O'Byrne - Media Officer
Six Nations Ireland Women's Fixtures:

Sat 6 Feb 13:00
Ireland v Wales
Donnybrook Stadium

Sat 13 Feb 21:00 (LT)
France v Ireland
Stade Aimé Giral, Perpignan

Sat 27 Feb 19:15
England v Ireland
Twickenham

Sun 13 Mar 13:00
Ireland v Italy
Donnybrook Stadium

Sun 20 Mar 13:00
Ireland v Scotland
Donnybrook Stadium

Defending champs, very impressive when you consider the giant English team is in the comp.
3 games in Donnybrook this year, hopefully we can fill it for each game and roar on the girls.

[kermischocolate]

Good luck to them- hope they retain the title.

[Ruckedtobits]

More good news for Ireland women - but only a confirmation of reality. World Rugby have just released their first Womens World Rankings and Irelan feature in 4th place, behinf NZ, France and England, with Canada in 5th place.

Totally justified and mathematically calculated, should give the wo,en a lift as they prepare to face Wales at the weekend. A great acheivement and encouragement to Niamh and the Squad.

[Dexter]

Very convincing win for the women today, much more than the 21-3 scoreline suggests. They completely dominated Wales and left a lot of scores behind. First time I've seen them live and they were really impressive! Still a fair amount to work on (lineout wasn't great) but I guess that's a good thing. Best of luck to them in the rest of the campaign.

[blockhead]

Does anyone know where you can get up to date info on the Womens team? The IRFU website is not that good at all. Out of date, some of the players who played last week are not even mentioned in it.

[kermischocolate]

Does anyone know where you can get up to date info on the Womens team? The IRFU website is not that good at all. Out of date, some of the players who played last week are not even mentioned in it.

What kind of info are you looking for?

There's a women's 6 nations twitter account with match reports, highlights etc. Scrumqueens is quite a good website/ social media thingy.

[blockhead]

Does anyone know where you can get up to date info on the Womens team? The IRFU website is not that good at all. Out of date, some of the players who played last week are not even mentioned in it.

What kind of info are you looking for?

There's a women's 6 nations twitter account with match reports, highlights etc. Scrumqueens is quite a good website/ social media thingy.

I was looking for info om caps/points/tries etc, also game stats like Opta provide for the mens game. Does anyone do this?

[simonokeeffe]

Has Sophie Spence been dropped (IIRC)? Thought she was a world player of the year nominee only recently

[ormond lad]

Has Sophie Spence been dropped (IIRC)? Thought she was a world player of the year nominee only recently

Was 2015 she was nominee and could she be injured? Didnt play in the november internationals either

[ormond lad]

Does anyone know where you can get up to date info on the Womens team? The IRFU website is not that good at all. Out of date, some of the players who played last week are not even mentioned in it.

What kind of info are you looking for?

There's a women's 6 nations twitter account with match reports, highlights etc. Scrumqueens is quite a good website/ social media thingy.

I was looking for info om caps/points/tries etc, also game stats like Opta provide for the mens game. Does anyone do this?

scrumqueens might. Try contact them perhaps?

[kermischocolate]

Does anyone know where you can get up to date info on the Womens team? The IRFU website is not that good at all. Out of date, some of the players who played last week are not even mentioned in it.

What kind of info are you looking for?

There's a women's 6 nations twitter account with match reports, highlights etc. Scrumqueens is quite a good website/ social media thingy.

I was looking for info om caps/points/tries etc, also game stats like Opta provide for the mens game. Does anyone do this?

Hmmm that I don't know.

I do know Ireland had their own media manager (not sure the technical title), some press there and analyst(s). Not sure there was independent 6 nations staff to produce the equivalent of opta stats.

[simonokeeffe]

Has Sophie Spence been dropped (IIRC)? Thought she was a world player of the year nominee only recently

Was 2015 she was nominee and could she be injured? Didnt play in the november internationals either

read a passing headline she wasnt included, so no idea if its injury or not

[Dave Cahill]

She had a concussion and had to sit out the interpros, so she hadn't played much rugby

[simonokeeffe]

She had a concussion and had to sit out the interpros, so she hadn't played much rugby

Hat

[blockhead]

She had a concussion and had to sit out the interpros, so she hadn't played much rugby

Hat

Spence has returned to the bench for this weekends game.

reland Women v Italy, Sunday 12th Feb, 1.00pm (local time) / 12.00pm (Irish time), Stadio Tommaso Fattori, L'Aquila (Live on RTE)
1. Lindsay Peat (Railway Union / Leinster)
2. Leah Lyons (Highfield / Munster)
3. Ailis Egan (Old Belvedere / Leinster)
4. Elaine Anthony (Highfield / Munster)
5. Marie-Louise Reilly (Old Belvedere / Leinster)
6. Ciara Griffin (UL Bohemians / Munster)
7. Claire Molloy (Bristol / Connacht)
8. Paula Fitzpatrick (St. Mary's College / Leinster) Captain
9. Ailsa Hughes – (Railway Union / Leinster)
10. Nora Stapleton (Old Belvedere / Leinster)
11. Alison Miller (Old Belvedere / Connacht)
12. Sene Naoupu (Aylesford Bulls)
13. Jenny Murphy (Old Belvedere / Leinster)
14. Niamh Kavanagh (UL Bohemians / Munster)
15. Mairead Coyne (Galwegians / Connacht)

16. Jennie Finlay (Old Belvedere / Leinster)
17. Ilse Van Staden (Cooke / Ulster)
18. Ciara O Connor (Galwegians / Connacht)
19. Ciara Cooney (Railway Union / Leinster)
20. Sophie Spence (Old Belvedere / Leinster)
21. Mary Healy (Galwegians / Connacht)
22. Claire Mc Laughlin (Cooke / Ulster)
23. Eimear Considine (UL Bohemians / Munster)

[simonokeeffe]

Theres an impact sub for ya

[Dave Cahill]

Irish women playing some brilliant length of the field stuff

[LeRouxIsPHat]

Yeah, nearly making up for how bad the first half was to watch! Handling much better now.

[Dave Cahill]

Sure isn't that why matches are 80 minutes long!

[LeRouxIsPHat]

I should have excused Fitzpatrick and Miller from that. They were superb throughout. Naoupu was also really good, wouldn't blame her for some of the errors in the first half, they were caused by others.