Ireland Women’s 7s Coach Stan McDowell has named the 13-player squad ahead of this weekend’s Rugby Europe 7s Grand Prix in Marcoussis, France.
Anna McGann comes into the squad and Lucy Mulhall returns to captain the side in the first round of the Grand Prix Series, which serves as the seeding tournament for the European Olympic Qualifier which takes place in Kazan, Russia on the 13th-14th July.
When are the games?
Ireland are placed in Pool C alongside Scotland, Italy and Spain. The matches on Saturday 29th June are as follows.
Ireland v Spain – (Ireland 15 Spain 0)
Ireland v Italy – 15:41 UK/IRE
Ireland v Scotland – 18:26 UK/IRE
Note – Original times shown have been corrected to reflect amended running time.
The tournament will be live streamed on RugbyEurope.tv.
Why is it important?
It’s been four years in the planning for Ireland Women to get to this stage of the Olympic Qualifying process, with the Olympics seen as the ultimate goal for this squad.
They will want to get a high seeding in this leg and record good results against the other top European sides with France, Spain, England and Russia the main competition.
Who’s playing?
Ulster are represented once again by Claire Boles and Brittany Hogan. The full squad and their experience at this level is shown below.
| PLAYER | ALL TIME PLAYED | ALL TIME POINTS | ALL TIME TRIES | 2019 PLAYED | 2019 POINTS | 2019 TRIES |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cathy Barker | 14 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Claire Boles | 32 | 10 | 2 | 16 | 5 | 1 |
| Megan Burns | 14 | 5 | 1 | 14 | 5 | 1 |
| Stacy Flood | 95 | 125 | 25 | 14 | 15 | 3 |
| Louise Galvin | 75 | 90 | 18 | 26 | 20 | 4 |
| Eve Higgins | 58 | 111 | 19 | 34 | 96 | 16 |
| Brittany Hogan | 26 | 5 | 1 | 26 | 5 | 1 |
| Emily Lane | 21 | 10 | 2 | 21 | 10 | 2 |
| Lucy Mulhall | 103 | 331 | 20 | 23 | 82 | 3 |
| Anna McGann | 25 | 20 | 4 | 21 | 20 | 4 |
| Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe | 112 | 420 | 84 | 33 | 175 | 35 |
| Deirbhile Nic A Bhaird | 50 | 25 | 5 | 31 | 15 | 3 |
| Hannah Tyrrell | 82 | 72 | 14 | 27 | 42 | 8 |
What happens next?
It’s all focusing on those Olympic qualifiers after this tournament before returning to the second leg of the Grand Prix.
13th – 14th July 2019 » Rugby Europe Olympic Qualifier – Kazan, Russia.
20th – 21st July 2019 » Rugby Europe Grand Prix – 2nd Leg – Kharkiv, Ukraine
Corrections, comments or questions?