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IRFU announces two Ireland stars to join the PWR
By Nathan Johns
Niamh O’Dowd and Brittany Hogan have become the latest Irish internationals to sign for clubs in Premiership Women’s Rugby.
Prop O’Dowd has joined up this week with defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury as injury cover until the end of the season, while back row Hogan will move to the Sale Sharks in January.
O’Dowd is now the fourth Irish player in the Gloucester squad, joining Sam Monaghan, Neve Jones and Ellena Perry.
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O’Dowd and Hogan bring the total number of Ireland regulars attached to English clubs up to 11. Alongside the Gloucester contingent, Edel McMahon, Dorothy Wall, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Nancy McGillivray are at Exeter, Grace Moore is with Trailfinders while Aoife Wafer awaits a debut for Harlequins.
Both O’Dowd and Hogan impressed during this year’s World Cup as Ireland narrowly avoided upsetting France in the quarter-finals. O’Dowd, who has 20 Ireland caps to her name, started three of their four matches at loosehead as she vied for a starting berth with the newly-capped Perry. She was part of an Irish scrum which surprised many by gaining an upper hand in that France match.
Hogan, capped 38 times, is an important member of Ireland’s back row, particularly during the recent injury-enforced absence of Wafer. She started at number eight three times during the World Cup while also coming off the bench to play an important cameo against Spain in the pool stages. Hogan was named player-of-the-match in Ireland’s tournament-opening win over Spain.
With the majority of Ireland’s squad not featuring in the domestic All-Ireland League, neither O’Dowd nor Hogan have played since the World Cup. They are yet to make a debut for their respective new clubs.
Most of Ireland’s home-based internationals will return to action once the Celtic Challenge gets underway next month.
The IRFU today announced central contracts for 35 players across their Women’s High Performance Programme, with a number of high profile players who played at the World Cup turning down contracts including Linda Djougang, Meabh Deely and Siobhan McCarthy- many players deciding to return to their previous occupations or study instead of compete in the Celtic Challenge.
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