Scott Bemand leaves door ajar for Cliodhna Moloney Ireland recall

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand refused to rule out a future recall for Cliodhna Moloney despite leaving the exiled hooker out of his initial Women’s Six Nations squad.

Although a regular for high-flying Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) side Exeter Chiefs, Moloney has not played for Ireland in more than three years.

Moloney won the last of her 31 Test caps against Japan on 20 November 2021, 11 days after she accused Anthony Eddy of “slurry spreading” on social media in the wake of comments made by the ex-IRFU women’s director of rugby.

The former Wasps and Railway Union forward was also a signatory on a letter sent by a group of players to an Irish government minister that said they had “lost all trust and confidence in the IRFU and its leadership”.

Those actions came after Ireland failed to qualify for Rugby World Cup 2021 and amid fears that the women’s 15s national team were being left behind by their rivals.

Despite IRFU CEO Kevin Potts denying in 2022 that Moloney’s absence from the Ireland squad was related to her earlier comments, Bemand has not called her up since becoming head coach in July 2023.

At Wednesday’s Women’s Six Nations 2024 launch in London, Bemand admitted he had spoken to Moloney and while he stated the “status quo” remained for now, he left the door ajar for a potential return in future.

“I know Cli from being based in the UK, going around the clubs,” the former England women’s attack coach said.

“I’ve spoken to Cli informally, just around wider stuff. There’ll be a time, you never know, when it’s right for both parties, but at the minute, it sits as it sits. So, status quo at the moment.”

Speaking to the BBC, Bemand described the situation as “an ongoing conversation piece” and went as far as suggesting that a return could “potentially” come during the Six Nations.

“She’s a good player,” he added. “She’s produced some performances of late in the UK that have been good. We’ve given her some things we’d like to see from a playing performance piece.

“Obviously it helps when you know somebody from before anyway and I live in the UK still, I’m present at games and I come across her.

“She knows what she’s got to work on and what we’re looking for and when the group is ready we can look at it again.

“It’s got to be right for all parties, that’s all I can say on that at the minute.”

Ireland head into the 2024 Championship buoyed by claiming the inaugural WXV 3 title in Dubai in October, while Irish side the Wolfhounds won the recent Celtic Challenge.

The momentum building behind the national team is therefore in stark contrast to the last Six Nations, in which the side lost all five matches to end the campaign with the wooden spoon.

Co-captain Edel McMahon missed last year’s Championship through injury and is in no doubt of what the target for her side is this time around.

“Qualify for the World Cup, simple as that,” she said. “The next best team outside England and France will more than likely qualify so if we finish third that will hopefully be enough to do it.

“We’ve spoken as a squad and that is what we are desperate to achieve, World Cup qualification. That is so important for us.”