Women’s Match Preview: Italy
Our Women’s International side will face Italy on Saturday 11th June 2022 in Udine, in just the second International test match for Ireland. The match takes place in the first of the European Championship B, the other team in the group is Wales.
Ireland got their International life off to a good start as the Women’s side ran out 26-24 winners in their inaugural match against Wales at Colwyn Bay in October 2021 and this will be just their second Test Match, just a year after the formation of the team.
Squad News
Earlier in the week, Head Coach John Whalley named his travelling 19-player squad. There are eight uncapped players in the list with players come from a range of Irish Championship, Betfred Women’s Super League & Super League South, as well as Premier 15s Rugby Union.
11 players who featured in the inaugural Test match against Wales in October 2021 have retained their places for the latest test match.
Injury News
Captain Pip Birchall (St Helens) and Syphonia Pua (Dublin City Exiles) are late omissions from the squad following respective knee injuries.
Coach Quotes
Speaking to RLI, Women’s Head Coach John Whalley gave his thoughts ahead of the fixture: “We are really excited as a group to go and play Italy at their place. It will be great experience and it’s something we must enjoy, making these memories and friendships are key. We are expecting a tough battle, we have prepared very well we have had camps in both the UK and Ireland and we have worked hard on the detail off the game and piecing it together.
“We have 8 uncapped players in the squad, which just shows the quality of the strength within our performance squad that these players step straight in, I am looking forward to the qualities they all bring.”
He added: “I think these Test matches are massively important, not just for the playing squad but for the sport as a whole. To have the opportunity to play in the European Championships is fantastic, we will learn a lot as a group from this experience. Lastly, I would like to thank Italy for working so hard to get this fixture on, I know they have had some tough times over the last few months and it is a credit to themselves – it will be a special occasion one I am extremely proud to be a part of.”
Match Details
This weekend’s match will be played at Rugby Club Pasian di Prato in the province of Udine. The game takes place on Saturday 11th June 2022, and will kick off at 5:30pm local time.
How to follow
Please note that the fixture is not being streamed live, however, you can keep up to date with updates on our Rugby League Ireland Social Media pages including half time and full time results, as well as match report and plenty more behind-the-scenes content as we make the journey over to Italy!
Ní neart go cur le chéile
