THERE’S MIXED NEWS on the injury front for Ireland Women ahead of their Six Nations showdown with Wales on Sunday afternoon [KO 1pm].
One of Adam Griggs’ top stars, Eimear Considine, is “making good progress” and could be involved at Energia Park after missing out on Ireland’s opening win over Scotland. A knock had kept the experienced back-three operator out of the squad for that one.
Sunday’s 18-14 at Donnybrook came at the cost of injury for Wasps hooker Cliodhna Moloney (HIA) and out-half Ellen Murphy (calf).
Defence coach Kieran Hallett today confirmed that Murphy won’t make it back for this weekend, which opens the door for Munster’s Claire Keohane — who won her first 15s cap on Sunday — at 10.
There’s also good news for another key player, Moloney, who’s on course to be named in the round two squad, which will be announced tomorrow.
“Eimear’s making good progress,” Hallett said this afternoon from the squad’s base at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Abbotstown. “There’s a chance that she might come into the reckoning for this week.
“Cliodhna has passed all her HIAs to this point, the return to play protocols, so as long as she continues on that path, she’ll come back into the mix as well which is obviously good news for us.
I think the only one we’ve really lost is Ellen. Ellen’s been ruled out for the weekend, which again is a big loss. I thought she played very well last week, but it’s an opportunity for Claire to step up and show what she can do.
Ireland are chasing a repeat of their 2018 Six Nations win over Wales. They have only beaten Scotland (twice) in spring action since.
Griggs’ side met Wales twice over the past few months. Their November Test clash ended in a late defeat, while Ireland came out on top in an uncapped game across the water in January.
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