Neve Jones
By Richard Bullick
IRELAND sevens skipper Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe will lead her country in XVs for the first time when Scott Bemand’s side face France in this Saturday’s Six Nations opener at Ravenhill.
With regular skipper Edel McMahon starting on the bench, boss Bemand needed a matchday captain and wing wizard Murphy-Crowe, now officially listed under her married name of Costigan, fitted the bill perfectly.
An exceptionally experienced professional, Olympian Murphy-Crowe has recently captained the Clovers some in the Celtic Challenge and, with her composed presence, the Tipperary woman is someone who will take the extra responsibility in her assured stride.
Her vice-captain in a starting team which is along largely predictable lines is Ulsterwoman Neve Jones, who represented Ireland at the official Six Nations launch earlier this month, and won Player of the Match in the victory over Scotland in Belfast three years ago.
Jones is one of two Ulsterwomen in the run-on team, with the other being her fellow 26-year-old Brittany Hogan, though the Killinchy native switches to blindside flanker having started all of Bemand’s 12 matches at the helm to date at No 8.
Ireland’s Player of the Year Aoife Wafer will pack down in the middle of a dynamic and very versatile back row, with the No 7 jersey regularly worn by McMahon going to World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year Erin King.
Munster centre Enya Breen skippered Ireland in the injured McMahon’s absence in their last two matches at the WXV1 tournament in Vancouver last October but the Clovers captain will be on the bench initially in Belfast.
Eve Higgins has been preferred in the No 12 jersey alongside Aoife Dalton in a centre combination which was very effective for Wolfhounds in the recent Celtic Challenge, while Breen’s regular Clovers midfield partner Anna McGann will start on the right wing.
With the brilliant Beibhinn Parsons not yet back to full fitness after breaking her leg for the second time in four months at the start of December, there was a wing berth up for grabs and McGann has got the nod over Katie Corrigan, Vicky Elmes Kinlan and Amy Larn.
Then aged just 18, Corrigan scored a try in each of Ireland’s three home matches in last spring’s Six Nations on the back of prolific form for Wolfhounds in the Celtic Challenge and she has shown her cutting edge in that competition again this time round.
Wicklow’s Elmes Kinlan won her first cap in Ireland’s comprehensive victory over Australia at Ravenhill last September, but the rangy McGann has scored nine tries for Clovers, playing a mixture of outside centre and wing.
Sevens player McGann and Ulsterwoman Vicky Irwin of Sale Sharks alternated as the then teenage Dalton’s centre partner in the 2023 Six Nations after Breen picked up a serious injury in the opening game away to Wales.
With Breen capable of filling in at outhalf as well as inside centre, Connacht captain Nicole Fowley not only misses out to Dannah O’Brien for the No 10 jersey but also a place in the matchday squad with Bemand not regarding specialist cover as a necessity.
Stacey Flood, who has made a rapid recovery from last month’s ankle surgery to take her place at fullback has also played outhalf at international level so Fowley, who started at outhalf in last year’s corresponding game against France, is surplus to requirements now.
With the adaptable Higgins capable of covering the back three as well as outside centre, the only other back on the bench is Fowley’s Connacht halfback partner Aoibheann Reilly, who recently returned to action after nine months out injured.
Reilly started all five Six Nations matches last season but tore her cruciate at the last World Series sevens tournament of the season thereafter, resulting in her missing both the Paris Olympics and Ireland’s autumn campaign.
One of Ireland’s Olympics contingent, Emily Lane, who was in possession of the Ireland No 9 jersey at the end of WXV1, will start at the base of the scrum again on Saturday with Reilly as back-up meaning no place for Molly Scuffil-McCabe.
Scuffil-McCabe has been an ever-present in Ireland’s matchday squad over the past few seasons and her absence now simply underlines the excellent competition for places in Englishman Bemand’s own specialist position.
As against Australia in Belfast last autumn, when she won her first cap, abrasive young Leinster lock Ruth Campbell gets the nod over Ulster’s Fiona Tuite to partner Dorothy Wall in the Ireland engineroom in the absence of injured squad co-captain Sam Monaghan.
Despite Ireland opting for six forwards on the bench, there is surprisingly no place in the matchday squad for dynamic Munsterwoman Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird with the extra bulk of English-based Grace Moore preferred alongside Tuite and McMahon.
Experienced prop Christy Haney returns to Ireland duty after missing the trip to Canada through the knee injury sustained against Australia, and will be back-up tighthead to the squad’s most capped player Linda Djougang, who is set for her 42nd Test appearance.
The all-action Niamh O’Dowd will wear the No 1 jersey
Moloney made a welcome return from international exile midway through last season’s Six Nations and, despite missing the end of Exeter Chiefs’ PWR campaign with a calf problem, she has been passed fit for Ireland’s Six Nations opener.
A team-mate of Wall and McMahon at Exeter Chiefs, Moloney has happy memories of her last two visits to the Kingspan Stadium, having scored tries at the back of driving mauls in the victories over Scotland and Australia.
Hogan got Player of the Match for the Scottish clash, while Breen had picked up the individual award for the corresponding game two years earlier when she scored a try with the clock red and then landed the last-kick conversion to snatch victory for Ireland.
Meanwhile, France have also announced their team on Thursday, including star scrumhalf Pauline Bourdon-Sansous and inside centre Gabrielle Vernier.
It will be jointly captained by lock Manae Feleu and left wing Marine Menager.
IRELAND (v France): Stacey Flood; Anna McGann, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe; Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane; Niamh O’Dowd, Neve Jones, Linda Djougang, Ruth Campbell, Dorothy Wall, Brittany Hogan, Erin King, Aoife Wafer. Replacements: Cliodhna Moloney, Siobhan McCarthy, Christy Haney, Grace Moore, Fiona Tuite, Edel McMahon; Aoibheann Reilly, Enya Breen
