Ireland welcome back Eve Higgins to take on Wales

Eve Higgins will start at inside centre for Ireland in the only change made by head coach Scott Bemand ahead of facing Wales in Belfast this weekend.

Higgins started the opening match of the championship at Allianz Stadium against England before dropping to the bench. Now with Nancy McGillivray out of the matchday squad entirely, Higgins returns to partner Aoife Dalton in midfield.

There is a potential new cap on the bench in Niamh Gallagher, who has impressed recently for the Ireland Under-21 side.

Another change sees Sadhbh McGrath replace Niamh O’Dowd, while Bemand has opted for a six-two split by selecting back-row Grace Moore with Katie Whelan and Gallagher the only two backs on the bench.

Despite losing 26-7 to France, Bemand was proud of the work-rate and intent showed by his side.

“I’m incredibly proud of the effort. We know where we are heading and we just want to keep on getting better,” he said.

“You can see the girls have left everything out there and they don’t really know how to feel.

“This is a cauldron of fire and for 55 or 60 minutes we’ve handled it. What we have to do is go deeper in these games and see more impact when we come off the bench.”

Ireland squad to face Wales in Belfast

15 Stacey Flood
14 Béibhinn Parsons
13 Aoife Dalton
12 Eve Higgins
11 Robyn O’Connor
10 Dannah O’Brien
9 Emily Lane
1 Ellena Perry
2 Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald
3 Linda Djougang
4 Dorothy Wall
5 Fiona Tuite
6 Brittany Hogan
7 Erin King (Captain)
8 Aoife Wafer

Replacements:
16 Neve Jones
17 Sadhbh McGrath
18 Eilís Cahill
19 Ruth Campbell
20 Sam Monaghan
21 Grace Moore
22 Katie Whelan
23 Niamh Gallagher*

*=uncapped