Ulster and Connacht U18 teams meet again for the second time in two weeks, in the Women’s Interprovincial Semi Final at St Mary’s College RFC, Dublin on Saturday afternoon. Kick off 12:00.
Both teams welcome back their 7s players who, by virtue of poor organisation, were involved in the Home Nations and Rugby Europe 7s tournaments.
Connacht have five changes to their squad with Westport duo Grace Browne Moran and Ava Ryder returning from 7s duty and they are joined by Eva McCormack, who captains the side, Caoimhe English McNamara and Nina McVann. They have also made some positional changes swapping round some of the starters and finishers from last time out.
Ulster’s returnees offer head coach Charlie Farrell several option to add a touch more variety from from the last meeting.
The Front Row Union spoke to Farrell on his selection:
There were a few tough decisions to be made but I believe we’ve a squad that’ll do well.
I’m really excited for this weekend, we’ve a very strong 23 which provides us with a number of different dynamics to our attack through the starting XV and the quality bench we can call on. Charlie Farrell, Ulster U18 Coach
Lucy Turkington, Amanda McQuade and India Daley all come into the starting line up with starlet Mya Alcorn to be released from the bench later in the game. It’s the strength of Ulster’s bench, with Alcorn joined by the impressive Rachel McGee and Moya Hill, that gives the Ulster side the edge and I expect to see them progressing to the final next weekend.
Ulster won their last meeting 19 -12 at the Queen’s University Sports Arena on 31st August, the win leaving Ulster as 2nd seeds for the knock out game, Connacht finished as 3rd seeds.
| TEAM | PL | W | PD | BP | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leinster U18 | 3 | 3 | 59 | 2 | 14 |
| Ulster U18 | 3 | 2 | (6) | 1 | 9 |
| Connacht U18 | 3 | 1 | (26) | 1 | 5 |
| Munster U18 | 3 | 0 | (27) | 1 | 1 |
Teams
| ULSTER U18 | CONNACHT U18 | |
|---|---|---|
| Lucy Turkington | 15 | Caoimhe English McNamara |
| Sophie Kinghan | 14 | Hannah Gullane |
| Zara Flack | 13 | Fodhla Ni Bhraonain |
| Amanda McQuade | 12 | Meghan Walsh |
| Farrah McCloskey | 11 | Katie Hogan |
| Toni Macartney | 10 | Caoimhe Geraghty |
| Sarah Shrestha | 9 | Olivia Haverty |
| Ella Garland | 1 | Mary McLoughlin |
| Aoife Cahill | 2 | Emily Gavin |
| Ava Fannin (c) | 3 | Zara Grehan |
| Kim Johnston | 4 | Eva McCormack (C) |
| Taryn Schutzler | 5 | Aisling Hahessy |
| Sophie Barrett | 6 | Katelyn Bourke |
| Erin Carson | 7 | Hannah Johnston |
| India Daley | 8 | Grace Brown Moran |
| Cara O’Neill | 16 | Molly Ager |
| Hannah Cooney | 17 | Aimee Kelly |
| Delyth Cook | 18 | Leah Hogarty |
| Rachel McGee | 19 | Mollie Starr |
| Lauren Kilfedder | 20 | Aishling Browne |
| Moya Hill | 21 | Alana Roche |
| Mya Alcorn | 22 | Nina McVann |
| Lucy Thompson | 23 | Ava Ryder |