THEY MAY HAVE been part of a different set-up within the union in more recent times, but Ireland women’s head coach Scott Bemand isn’t anticipating any teething problems with his 7s cohort on their return to the 15-a-side game this weekend.
After featuring for their country at the Olympic Games in Paris this summer, Vicky Elmes Kinlan and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe have been named on the wings for Ireland’s Test encounter against Australia at Kingspan Stadium in Belfast tomorrow afternoon [kick-off 2.30pm].
Whereas Elmes Kinlan is currently uncapped at the grade, Tipperary native Murphy Crowe’s most recent appearance in an international 15s game was against Italy in the third round of the 2022 Six Nations.
That was also the last outing – until now – in the 15-a-side code for Stacey Flood, who is named on the bench tomorrow along fellow 7s compatriots Erin King, Emily Lane and Eve Higgins. The latter was a regular starter under Bemand during this year’s Six Nations Championship, but while it can take some players time to readjust after an intense period of 7s action, Bemand is confident it won’t be a major concern for Ireland’s returning Olympians.
“I think Sevens has grown, it has evolved. A good while ago there would have been a definitive 7s style. If you look at how people attack and defend now, the systems have become advanced. I’ve always believed that 7s is an absolutely outstanding tool for developing. So everything you can say might be a nuance or a problem, there’s an opportunity with it,” Bemand remarked at a pre-match press conference yesterday.
“We’ve just come off the training paddock now and we’ve seen some of the 7s girls, from the 22, rip it to an edge and go the length and score. We’ve had two really, really good training weeks in terms of what it has been like to come from a 7s pitch to a 15s pitch. Everything I’ve seen so far, they’ve taken to it like ducks to water.”
Joining Murphy Crowe in the back-three is another player who last appeared for the Ireland 15s team more than two years ago. Due to a combination of injuries and the arrival of her son Caolán into the world, Eimear Considine most recently donned the green jersey in a fourth round defeat to England in the 2022 edition of the Six Nations – an encounter that saw her sustaining a medial collateral ligament injury.
She recently returned to competitive fare for Munster in the Women’s Interprovincial Championship following another lengthy lay-off caused by an ACL issue and after initially being drafted into the squad as cover for Meabh Deely, she has forced her way into the starting line-up at full-back for the visit of Australia to Ravenhill.
On the opposite side of the fence as England’s coach when she last represented Ireland on the international stage, Bemand said that Considine has fully merited her inclusion for tomorrow’s game.
“She has been brilliant, absolutely brilliant. As the game evolves, there are certain things that you need to have. You need a full-back who is like a good goalkeeper in soccer, they need to be safe. They need to read play, they need to work with their edge players.
“They basically own that back-field space. She’s safe as houses and then the athlete that she is, she’s got a run threat, she can kick with both feet. She can pass, she can distribute, she can pick off edges.
“Eimear has earned her opportunity. It’s absolutely brilliant to be able to get her back into an environment that she left a while ago. I was actually there when she got hurt, on the other side of the coaching bench. Everything we’ve done, everything we’ve seen with her, from capability to experience, she’s adding a massive amount to the environment.”
As well as being the starting point for Irish Rugby’s 150th year celebrations, tomorrow’s game will also serve as ideal preparation for Ireland ahead of their WXV 1 campaign in Vancouver – which begins at the end of this month with a tough fixture against reigning world champions New Zealand.
A good display is undoubtedly an imperative for Bemand ahead of their forthcoming trip to Canada, but pulling off a positive result in Belfast is also something that he and his troops are aiming for.
“I think there’s a definite performance piece that I think we need to accelerate going to WXV. Do we want to win it? It’s our 150th year anniversary game on home soil and no different to the Six Nations. We want people to be proud of coming to watch us playing at home. It’s a home game and we want to put a winning performance out there,” Bemand added.