WIN IN NORTHAMPTON today and Ireland will have achieved the first main goal set for this World Cup campaign.
Beat Spain with a bonus point at Franklin’s Gardens [KO 12pm, RTÉ2/BBC2] and Scott Bemand’s side will book their place in the quarter-finals, ensuring the pressure is largely off as they head into their third and final pool game in Brighton next week. Given that game sees them take on a New Zealand team who will be hungry for revenge following last year’s result in WXV1, the fixtures have undoubtedly fallen nicely for Ireland.
That is, once they don’t fluff their lines. Today’s Pool C clash is one Ireland should win, as the fifth ranked team in the world take on the 13th.
Ireland were in a very different place when they last faced Spain in 2023, a game in which Ireland fell 10-0 down before recovering to win 15-13 and claim the WXV3 title. Two years previously Spain had shocked Ireland 8-7 in a 2021 World Cup qualifier. These are not experiences long parked and forgotten by the current group – 11 of the 32 players in Ireland’s World Cup squad were involved in that 2021 meeting. Yet in the years since, Ireland have been rewired and reinvigorated.
Spain continue to operate in the shadows below the game’s elite tier. Las Leonas are largely an amatuer side but were handed six-month playing contracts to cover this World Cup window across March to September, with a mix of full-time and part-time contracts awarded. The players would like to make that a more permanent arrangement and nothing would argue that case better than an upturn in performances.
This is a team who would desperately love more opportunites to mix it at a higher level. Spain played in the Women’s Five/Six Nations from 2000-2006, but were dropped in 2007 as Italy took their place. At that point Spain were ranked ninth in the world, with Italy 11th, but the change was made to allow the women’s tournament mirror the men’s version. Italy currently play in the Rugby Europe Championship, alongside the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. They’ve won that competition eight times in a row.
If they did intent to take a few scalps at this tournament, Spain’s approach to this game is an interesting one. During the week Spain captain Laura Delgado described Ireland as one of her “favourite” opponents, adding “Ireland is improving and growing year by year, and we would love to see where we are. Obviously we go with the mentality to win the game, we want to compete.”
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Ireland scored six tries against Japan. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Yet Delgado, by some distance the most-capped player in Spain’s 23, drops to the bench. Head coach Juan Gonzalez Marruecos has made nine changes to the team that battled hard but ultimately went down 54-8 to New Zealand. Only one starting forward survives. Spain have also shifted one of their first-choice centres to out-half, their out-half to fullback, and have brought their youngest squad member in at centre. Their team has an average age of 23 and seven of the starting XV have 15 caps or less to their name.
Some of that may be a result of the effort expended against the Black Ferns. Physical training has been dialed down ahead of the Ireland game, with Marruecos explaining a greater focus was instead put on “defensive organisation”, “toughness” and “intensity”.
The Spanish will come to Northampton with intent, but Ireland must be targeting a second bonus-point win on the bounce.
Bemand has also rotated in changing seven from last Sunday’s defeat of Japan, the head coach deciding to let some firepower rest with one eye on New Zealand next week, a game which should decide whether Ireland face France or Italy in the last eight. Today’s selection suggests Ireland will go all out to beat the Black Ferns for a second time in the space of a year.
The rotation threatens to disrupt momentum, but can also be viewed through the lens of offering more players an opportunity to state their case. In a strong back three, Anna McGann will look to have the type of impact both Amee-Leigh Costigan and Béibhinn Parsons brought in round one, with Parsons taking a well-earned day off this weekend.
Molly Scuffil-McCabe is in at nine as a competitive three-way scrum-half battle continues, while former England international Ellena Perry will be determined to impress on her first start at loosehead for Ireland, and Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald is an experienced and quality operator at hooker.
Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald starts at hooker. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Eimear Corri-Fallon gets promoted to the second row, while Claire Boles and Grace Moore refresh the back row, as Fiona Tuite gets a second run-out in her new six jersey.
Ireland will feel confident as they step onto the pitch but know there are areas they must target for improvement. Bemand’s team left scores behind them, dealt with first-half lineout issues and had a few defensive lapses again Japan. Clean those up, come through today unscathed, and that New Zealand date will be shaping up as the high-stakes contest it long promised to be.
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 (capt); Fiona Tuite, Claire Boles, Grace Moore.
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Much-changed Ireland out to book quarter-final place against Spain
WIN IN NORTHAMPTON today and Ireland will have achieved the first main goal set for this World Cup campaign.
Beat Spain with a bonus point at Franklin’s Gardens [KO 12pm, RTÉ2/BBC2] and Scott Bemand’s side will book their place in the quarter-finals, ensuring the pressure is largely off as they head into their third and final pool game in Brighton next week. Given that game sees them take on a New Zealand team who will be hungry for revenge following last year’s result in WXV1, the fixtures have undoubtedly fallen nicely for Ireland.
That is, once they don’t fluff their lines. Today’s Pool C clash is one Ireland should win, as the fifth ranked team in the world take on the 13th.
Ireland were in a very different place when they last faced Spain in 2023, a game in which Ireland fell 10-0 down before recovering to win 15-13 and claim the WXV3 title. Two years previously Spain had shocked Ireland 8-7 in a 2021 World Cup qualifier. These are not experiences long parked and forgotten by the current group – 11 of the 32 players in Ireland’s World Cup squad were involved in that 2021 meeting. Yet in the years since, Ireland have been rewired and reinvigorated.
Spain continue to operate in the shadows below the game’s elite tier. Las Leonas are largely an amatuer side but were handed six-month playing contracts to cover this World Cup window across March to September, with a mix of full-time and part-time contracts awarded. The players would like to make that a more permanent arrangement and nothing would argue that case better than an upturn in performances.
This is a team who would desperately love more opportunites to mix it at a higher level. Spain played in the Women’s Five/Six Nations from 2000-2006, but were dropped in 2007 as Italy took their place. At that point Spain were ranked ninth in the world, with Italy 11th, but the change was made to allow the women’s tournament mirror the men’s version. Italy currently play in the Rugby Europe Championship, alongside the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden. They’ve won that competition eight times in a row.
If they did intent to take a few scalps at this tournament, Spain’s approach to this game is an interesting one. During the week Spain captain Laura Delgado described Ireland as one of her “favourite” opponents, adding “Ireland is improving and growing year by year, and we would love to see where we are. Obviously we go with the mentality to win the game, we want to compete.”
Yet Delgado, by some distance the most-capped player in Spain’s 23, drops to the bench. Head coach Juan Gonzalez Marruecos has made nine changes to the team that battled hard but ultimately went down 54-8 to New Zealand. Only one starting forward survives. Spain have also shifted one of their first-choice centres to out-half, their out-half to fullback, and have brought their youngest squad member in at centre. Their team has an average age of 23 and seven of the starting XV have 15 caps or less to their name.
Some of that may be a result of the effort expended against the Black Ferns. Physical training has been dialed down ahead of the Ireland game, with Marruecos explaining a greater focus was instead put on “defensive organisation”, “toughness” and “intensity”.
The Spanish will come to Northampton with intent, but Ireland must be targeting a second bonus-point win on the bounce.
Bemand has also rotated in changing seven from last Sunday’s defeat of Japan, the head coach deciding to let some firepower rest with one eye on New Zealand next week, a game which should decide whether Ireland face France or Italy in the last eight. Today’s selection suggests Ireland will go all out to beat the Black Ferns for a second time in the space of a year.
The rotation threatens to disrupt momentum, but can also be viewed through the lens of offering more players an opportunity to state their case. In a strong back three, Anna McGann will look to have the type of impact both Amee-Leigh Costigan and Béibhinn Parsons brought in round one, with Parsons taking a well-earned day off this weekend.
Molly Scuffil-McCabe is in at nine as a competitive three-way scrum-half battle continues, while former England international Ellena Perry will be determined to impress on her first start at loosehead for Ireland, and Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald is an experienced and quality operator at hooker.
Eimear Corri-Fallon gets promoted to the second row, while Claire Boles and Grace Moore refresh the back row, as Fiona Tuite gets a second run-out in her new six jersey.
Ireland will feel confident as they step onto the pitch but know there are areas they must target for improvement. Bemand’s team left scores behind them, dealt with first-half lineout issues and had a few defensive lapses again Japan. Clean those up, come through today unscathed, and that New Zealand date will be shaping up as the high-stakes contest it long promised to be.
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 (capt); Fiona Tuite, Claire Boles, Grace Moore.
Replacements: Neve Jones, Siobhán McCarthy, Sadhbh McGrath, Ruth Campbell, Brittany Hogan, Emily Lane, Enya Breen, Nancy McGillivray.
SPAIN: Amalia Argudo; Claudia Pérez, Claudia Peña, Claudia Cano, Clara Piquero; Zahía Pérez, Anne Fernández de Corres; Gemma Silva, Marieta Román, Éider García; Lourdes Alameda, Elena Martínez; Lía Piñeiro, Ana Peralta, Valentina Pérez.
Replacements: Cristina Blanco, Laura Delgado, Mireia de Andrés, Anna Puig, Mónica Castelo, Nerea García, Bingbing Vergara, Lea Ducher.
Referee: Kat Roche.
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