AN IRELAND WOMEN’S U20 squad will travel to Italy to play the host nations and Scotland in a series of training matches, the IRFU have announced. 

Some 26 players will make the trip as part of the new U20 women’s programme. Recently, 44 players assembled at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin for a screening camp overseen by Katie Fitzhenry, the IRFU women’s national talent squad and talent identification manager.  

Players were selected on the basis of performances during this season’s Energia All-Ireland League, Celtic Challenge, Vodafone Interprovincial Championship, as well as the 2022 U16 and U18 Sevens Interprovincial Championships and the U18 Women’s Six Nations Festival.

The Ireland Women’s U20s side will be led by head coach Neill Alcorn and assistant coaches Matt Gill and Larissa Muldoon.

A final squad of 26 will be selected next week, with the panel coming together for a week-long camp at the IRFU High Performance Centre on 16 July before travelling to Rome on 21 July.

Ireland’s squad will train against Italy and Scotland at Stadio Tommaso Fattori in L’Aquila, before going head-to-head in two 40-minutes matches on Friday, 28 July. 

Commenting on the launch of the programme, Fitzhenry said: “We’re delighted to be adding another important layer to our women’s pathway with an Ireland Women’s U20s squad coming together for the first time this summer. 

“The national and provincial talent coaches have been working hard to identify players from all levels of our pathway structure in recent months and we had 44 players come together last weekend for a really positive screening camp.

“It is an exciting opportunity for us to further accelerate the development of our best young talent, with players not only being exposed to a high performance environment and high-quality coaching, strength and conditioning, nutritional and medical support whilst in camp in Dublin, but then being given the chance to test those skills against their peers from Italy and Scotland.”