Scott Bemand has shuffled his deck ahead of Sunday’s crucial Rugby World Cup Pool C meeting with Spain, after making seven changes to his side for the game at Franklin’s Gardens.

As expected Aoife Wafer misses out, with her knee injury not yet fully healed, while co-captain Edel McMahon sits out the game having played 75 minutes last week on her own return from a knee issue.

Sam Monaghan captains the side which is heavily rotated from the 42-14 win against Japan.

Pool C after round one

Ireland know they will be guaranteed qualification for the quarter-finals with a bonus-point win, but the head coach is using Sunday’s game as an opportunity to test his wider squad, with Ellena Perry, Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Eimear Corri-Fallon, Grace Moore and Claire Boles coming into the pack, and Molly Scuffil-McCabe and Anna McGann brought into the backline.

Linda Djougang (below) starts at tighthead where the 29-year-old will win her 50th cap, with Perry and Moloney-MacDonald both rewarded for big impacts off the bench last week, replacing Niamh O’Dowd and Neve Jones, the latter of whom is on the bench.

6 August 2025; Linda Djougang during an Ireland Women Rugby squad training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Corri-Fallon swaps into the second row for Ruth Campbell, and partners Monaghan at lock.

Fiona Tuite retains her place at blindside flanker, joined in the back row by Moore and Boles, with Brittany Hogan included among the replacements.

The rotating door at scrum-half continues, with Molly Scuffil-McCabe given the starting job this week, and Aoibheann Reilly, who started against Japan, out of the matchday 23.

Dannah O’Brien continues at out-half, with Eve Higgins and Aoife Dalton also retained in the centre.

McGann comes in for Béibhinn Parsons on the right wing, with Parsons rested after playing three games in a row since returning from a broken leg.


Ireland head coach Scott Bemand (l) and wing Anna McGann

Amee-Leigh Costigan is on the left wing, with Stacey Flood continuing at full-back.

Jones, Campbell, Hogan and Enya Breen are among those named on the bench, as are Siobhán McCarthy and Nancy McGillivray who will make their World Cup debuts.

Ireland: Stacey Flood; Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O’Brien, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Ellena Perry, Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Eimear Corri-Fallon, Sam Monaghan (co-captain); Fiona Tuite, Claire Boles, Grace Moore.

Replacements: Neve Jones, Siobhán McCarthy, Sadhbh McGrath, Ruth Campbell, Brittany Hogan, Emily Lane, Enya Breen, Nancy McGillivray.

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