Ambitious Ireland out to make their mark at Twickenham

A new Guinness Women's Six Nations, a new World Cup cycle, a couple of new faces, but thankfully we are no longer talking about a new start for Irish women’s rugby.

The highest compliment you could give Scott Bemand’s side at the moment is that their short-term goal is to just keep doing what they’re doing; closing the gap, bit by bit by bit.

This will be the Englishman’s third Six Nations as head coach, and the strides the team have taken since his appointment in the summer of 2023 have been significant.

From playing the likes of Kazakhstan and Colombia in WXV3 in 2023, Ireland now have their sights set on breaking up the Anglo-French stranglehold on the Six Nations championship.

After crawling and then walking, they’re now ready to run.

A few weeks ago, when Bemand (above) confirmed his new contract up until the next World Cup in 2029, the head coach proudly declared his belief that this Irish group can travel to Australia in three-and-a-half years as genuine contenders, and if that is the true goal, then every international between now and then is an opportunity to chip away at the gap between themselves and England.

In two previous games against the side he previously coached as an assistant, there have been signs of growth.

The 88-10 defeat at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in 2024 was a tough one to take on its own, particularly with close to 50,000 in attendance for that mauling, but they made lemonade from those lemons a week later when they ended their campaign with the win that mattered against Scotland, securing World Cup qualification and a place in WXV1, from where they really kicked on.

On paper, last year’s 49-5 defeat to England in Cork appears to be another heavy one, but it was a scoreline that flattered England, who trailed 5-0 with just over 30 minutes played.

Bemand’s frustration after that game stemmed more from not giving England more of a deficit to chase, rather than what happened after the break.

Sixteen of this afternoon’s Irish squad featured that day, an illustration of how settled the group has become across the last two seasons.

Like every team, there have been changes since the World Cup, although in Ireland’s case it’s been minor tweaks rather than major surgery.

Alex Codling has departed as forwards coach, with the hugely popular Englishman replaced by the recently retired Ulster second row Alan O’Connor.

Nicole Fowley and Eimear Corri-Fallon have both retired, while Amee Leigh Costigan is sitting out this campaign due to her pregnancy, but the most significant on-field change comes at captain, where Erin King takes on the leadership role from previous co-captains Sam Monaghan and Edel McMahon, the latter of whom misses this championship due to injury.

It’s a remarkable show of faith in a young player, who has played just seven games of Test rugby, but it’s a further nod towards the forward planning under this current regime, with 24 of the 36-player squad named by Bemand last month being 26-years-old or younger.

"I might only be 22 but by the next World Cup I'll be 26," King said, after she was named captain in January.

"We're a tight group and we want to keep that tight group and we want to build relationships and everything over these next four years, and go to that next World Cup and win it."
It’s almost a full year – 364 days, to be precise – since King (above) last played a Test match, suffering a complicated knee injury against England in Cork, which sidelined her for eight months, while Dorothy Wall is also back in the squad after missing the World Cup due to an achilles injury.

Vicky Elmes Kinlan is recalled on the left wing to take Costigan’s place, and Emily Lane starts at scrum-half, with Aoibheann Reilly injured.

Up front, Bemand has picked a front row with last year’s defeat in mind, Ellena Perry and Clíodhna Moloney MacDonald starting alongside Linda Djougang in the front row, as they look to avoid a repeat of the six scrum penalties given up to the English last year.

For Moloney MacDonald, this will be a special day.

The hooker, who spent more than two years out of international rugby after publicly criticising former IRFU women’s rugby head Anthony Eddy in 2021, will win her 50th cap for Ireland this afternoon, although it’s a stain on Irish rugby that she didn’t reach the milestone sooner.

'They'll know that these are teams we should be beating' - World champions England are first up but Ireland should be confident taking on the rest of their #WomensSixNations rivals, says @HannahOConnor22 on the #RTERugby podcast pic.twitter.com/wYPIWAUhvf — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 8, 2026
If that wasn’t enough, her wife and Exeter Chiefs team-mate Claudia starts on the left wing for England.

There are two new caps on the bench, with Eilís Cahill hoping to bring her prolific try-scoring record up to Test level, while scrum-half Katie Whelan is the latest number nine to come into the XVs game via Sevens.

This afternoon’s opponents are experiencing more of a transition than Ireland, although that would be expected of a side who had chased World Cup glory for so long.

John Mitchell’s all-conquering Red Roses have a lengthy list of absentees heading into 2026; Abby Dow - who scored a hat-trick in this fixture two years ago – has retired along with Emily Scarratt, while Zoe Stratford, Abbie Ward, Lark Atkin-Davies and Rosie Galligan will all miss this championship due to pregnancy.

Hannah Botterman, arguably the most complete player in women’s rugby, is sidelined with a knee injury, as is centre Tatyana Heard.

Sixteen of this afternoon’s matchday squad featured in the World Cup final, with seven of those starters retained, as England look to win the championship for the eighth time in a row.

That World Cup final win against Canada was their 34th in a row dating back to the World Cup final defeat to New Zealand in 2022, while the Black Ferns are the only team to have beaten the Red Roses since 2018.

It’s Ireland’s job to make their own mark on the occasion, and not just be a character in England’s story.

England: Ellie Kildunne; Jess Breach, Meg Jones (capt), Helena Rowland, Claudia Moloney-MacDonald; Hollie Aitchison, Lucy Packer; Kelsey Clifford, Amy Cokayne, Sarah Bern, Morwenna Talling, Lilli Ives Campion; Maddie Feaunati, Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews.

Replacements: Connie Powell, Mackenzie Carson, Maud Muir, Haineala Lutui, Abi Burton, Natasha Hunt, Zoe Harrison, Emma Sing.

Ireland: Stacey Flood; Béibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Vicky Elmes Kinlan; Dannah O'Brien, Emily Lane; Ellena Perry, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Brittany Hogan, Erin King (capt), Aoife Wafer.

Replacements: Neve Jones, Niamh O’Dowd, Eilís Cahill, Ruth Campbell, Grace Moore, Katie Whelan, Nancy McGillivray, Anna McGann.

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