{"id":401440,"date":"2026-04-16T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401440\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T10:50:11","slug":"ireland-womens-rugby-side-named-ahead-of-six-nations-visit-of-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/401440\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland women’s rugby side named ahead of Six Nations visit of Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

All Sport
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\/
\n Via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n Head Coach Scott Bemand has named the Ireland lineup for Saturday\u2019s Guinness Women\u2019s Six Nations clash against Italy at Dexcom Stadium (Kick-off 5.40pm).\n <\/p>\n

Following last weekend\u2019s Championship opener in London, Ireland return home for their first Six Nations outing in Galway, with the new Clan Stand now sold out as ticket sales pass the 8,000 mark.<\/p>\n

Erin King leads the side into the Round 2 encounter with Italy, as Leinster winger Robyn O\u2019Connor is named in Bemand\u2019s starting team for her debut appearance in green.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor is joined in the Ireland back three by Stacey Flood at full-back and B\u00e9ibhinn Parsons on the right wing, with Nancy McGillivray partnering Aoife Dalton in midfield.<\/p>\n

There is an unchanged half-back pairing for Ireland as Emily Lane and Dannah O\u2019Brien link up once again.<\/p>\n

In the pack, Ellena Perry, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Linda Djougang are selected in the front row, with Ruth Campbell coming into the side to join Fiona Tuite in Ireland\u2019s engine room, while the back row of Brittany Hogan, captain King and Aoife Wafer remaining unchanged.<\/p>\n

Bemand has experienced options on the bench to call upon as Neve Jones, Niamh O\u2019Dowd, Sadhbh McGrath, Dorothy Wall and the fit again Sam Monaghan providing the forward replacements, while backs Katie Whelan, Eve Higgins and Anna McGann complete Ireland\u2019s Match Day 23.<\/p>\n

Ireland:\u00a0
15. Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC\/Leinster)(25)
14. B\u00e9ibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College RFC\/Connacht)(32)
13. Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)(29)
12. Nancy McGillivray (Exeter Chiefs\/IQ Rugby)(4)
11. Robyn O\u2019Connor (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)*
10. Dannah O\u2019Brien (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)(31)
9. Emily Lane (Blackrock College RFC\/Munster)(21)<\/p>\n

1. Ellena Perry (Gloucester-Hartpury\/IQ Rugby)(5)
2. Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald (Exeter Chiefs)(50)
3. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)(53)
4. Ruth Campbell (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)(13)
5. Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere RFC\/Ulster)(21)
6. Brittany Hogan (Sale Sharks)(39)
7. Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)(8)(captain)
8. Aoife Wafer (Harlequins)(17)<\/p>\n

Replacements:<\/p>\n

16. Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury)(42)
17. Niamh O\u2019Dowd (Gloucester-Hartpury)(21)
18. Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke RFC\/Ulster)(19)
19. Dorothy Wall (Exeter Chiefs)(38)
20. Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury\/IQ Rugby)(27)
21. Katie Whelan (Old Belvedere RFC\/Leinster)(1)
22. Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC\/Leinster)(33)
23. Anna McGann (Railway Union RFC\/Connacht)(15).
\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Sport Via Getty Images Head Coach Scott Bemand has named the Ireland lineup for Saturday\u2019s Guinness Women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,608,611,607,610,609,612,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-401440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-limerick-radio","11":"tag-limerick-today","12":"tag-limericks-live95fm","13":"tag-live-95","14":"tag-live95fm","15":"tag-live95fm-homepage","16":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}