Following last year's underwhelming and disappointing Women's Six Nations, a campaign of hope and intrigue gets underway on Saturday. Since replacing Greg McWilliams as Ireland head coach, Scott Bemand has been quick to introduce a new regime for Irish women's rugby.
From the introduction of a host of young talent and managing to lure the 7s stars back into contention despite the upcoming Olympics, both fans and players seem to be excited at what the future could hold.
On Saturday, Ireland start the 2024 campaign away to France and after a heavy 53-3 defeat at home to Les Bleus last year, few are expecting Scott Bemand's squad to cause an upset, but an improved performance and competitive clash would show signs of improvements.
1 April 2023; France players celebrate after Agathe Sochat, 2, scored their fifth try during the TikTok Women's Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and France at Musgrave Park in Cork. Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Ireland team to play France
Here's the Ireland side that will face the strong French outfit.
15. Lauren Delany (Sale Sharks/IQ Rugby)
14. Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
13. Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
12. Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
11. Béibhinn Parsons (Blackrock College/Connacht)
10. Nicole Fowley (Galwegians/Connacht)
9. Aoibheann Reilly (Blackrock College/Connacht)
1. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
2. Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury)
3. Christy Haney Blackrock College/Leinster)
4. Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College/Munster)
5. Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College/Leinster)
6. Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College/Leinster)
7. Edel McMahon (Exeter Chiefs) Captain
8. Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere /Ulster)
Replacements:
16. Sarah Delaney (Blackrock College/Leinster)
17. Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
18. Sadhbh McGrath (Cooke/Ulster)
19. Fiona Tuite (Old Belvedere/Ulster)
20. Grace Moore (Saracens/IQ Rugby)
21. Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster)
22. Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
23. Méabh Deely (Blackrock College/Connacht)
Leinster winger Kate Corrigan will make her first appearance in a green jersey this weekend, while co-captain Sam Monaghan misses out due to return to play protocal. Scott Bemand has named Edel McMahon as the stand alone captain for this weekend.
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Beibhinn Parsons returns to the 15s side on the other wing and will make her first Six Nations start in nearly two years. Her fellow 7s stars Eve Higgins and Aoibheann Reily are also picked to start, with the highly rated Dannah O'Brien returns after picking up a ligament injury in a Celtic Challenge game in January.
18-year-old hooker Sarah Delaney is in line to win her third cap from the bench.
Scott Bemand on his tenure so far
Speaking to the media earlier this week, Scott Bemand was adamant that he doesn't want his side to fear this week's opponents despite the heavy defeats in recent years.
I want this group not to fear anyone,
You know everybody in France is going to have flags and some sort of musical instrument. There's going to be loads of noise.
Getting excited to go and partake in an occasion like that is why we're involved in rugby. I don't want us to fear going to France, I want us to be excited by that.
We're going to pay France the respect they deserve, but one of our outcomes is we're going to fire some shots. We want to get over there and get our game going.
Scott Bemand also spoke about success would look like from the campaign.
Qualifying for the World Cup, as a bare minimum, that's really important for Ireland. We want to give people something to go and cheer. We've said from the beginning there's a product we want to put on the pitch that will get people excited.
The Six Nations is an unbelievable competition, it's great. We're not interested in finishing bottom of that. We want to perform, we want to pick up wins, but ultimately, we want to qualify for the World Cup.
Ireland can achieve World Cup qualification that by finishing third in the table or qualifying for Tier 2 of the WXV, which would require a fourth or fifth-place finish or win the play-off if they finish sixth.
The side have enjoyed an early taste of success so far under the guidance of Scott Bemand and showed their strength during the WXV 3 tournament, all be it against lesser opposition than they will face in the coming weeks.
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