McDermott is eager for Six Nations test
WOMEN’S RUGBY: Ireland begin their Women’s Six Nations campaign this Saturday with an away game against Wales (Cardiff Arms Park, 5pm). The Ireland women’s rugby squad features Riverstown’s Aoife McDermott, who plays in the second row.
Railway Union and Leinster player McDermott, who has 13 international caps, is one of 19 forwards chosen by Ireland head coach Adam Griggs. There are 16 backs picked in the 35-strong panel, a group that has five uncapped players.
Speaking this week to www.irishrugby. ie, McDermott outlined how she can’t wait to get back on the pitch for a competitive fixture. “There’s a great buzz around camp. I’ve been waiting 13 months [for this], some of the girls have been waiting six months.
“Preparations have gone well and we’re just excited to get out there and put on the jersey. Training has been going really well, we’ve been incredibly sharp.
“I think we’re the fittest, strongest and fastest we’ve ever been. We’ve come a huge way in the last 12 months so we may not have had a game but we now have that opportunity to see what they’re about.
McDermott, a former women’s basketball international, continued:
“Wales haven’t seen us play in a while so hopefully we’ll be able to catch them on the hop on Saturday.
“We’re just really excited to go. I think most teams are in the same position and they only have one game up on us. It’s not a huge amount that it’s going to have a massive impact.”
Ireland’s upcoming game against
Wales will be televised on RTÉ2. The Welsh were hammered 53-0 away to France last weekend. The winners, who notched eight tries, were 31-0 ahead at half-time.
There is another Sligo link to the squad in Ballybofey’s Laura Feely, the former Sligo RFC women’s player whose dad is from Ballymote. Feely’s club is Dublin’s Blackrock and she also represents Connacht.
Ireland play France in their second pool fixture on Saturday week, April 17 – this game takes place at Energia Park, Donnybrook (2.15pm). The tournament concludes with a final round of games on Saturday, April 24, with these fixtures determined by results over the first two rounds.
While Ireland’s women rugby team have at least three Six Nations games coming up, there are no Rugby World
Cup qualifiers this year. The tournament has been deferred until 2022 because of Covid-19 concerns.