Match Preview – Ireland vs USA

The Women’s Eagles will close out their 2018 campaign with a match against Ireland in Dublin on Sunday. After two heavy defeats in a row to the world’s top two teams – New Zealand and England – the USA will face a more conservative challenge in the 8th-ranked Irish, a team they last met when Ireland took a 23-17 result at the 2014 World Cup.

Rob Cain has made seven changes to the team that fell to the Red Roses in London, one enforced. Catie Benson switches to loosehead prop in the absence of suspended Megan Rom, with Nick James starting at tighthead. Katy Augustyn is recalled at hooker and Kristine Sommer comes in at lock.

A change at scrumhalf sees Carly Waters replacing AnnaKaren Pedraza and there is a new midfield pair in Kimber Rozier and Meya Bizer. Jennine Duncan is the last change, the winger earning her first test start after impressing in the mid-week victory over England Academy. Tiana A’au is set to make her senior international debut as a replacement.

Ireland will hand debuts to outside backs Laura Sheehan and Lauren Delany, with first starts for hooker Sarah Mimnagh, flanker Edel McMahon, and center Michelle Claffey. Two further uncapped players are named on the bench in reserve hooker Emma Hooban and 16-year-old outside back Beibhinn Parsons.

With both teams looking to rebuild their rosters at the start of a new World Cup cycle the final result will be of lesser importance to individual performance to the respective coaches. It does hold more value for the Eagles, however, who will be dead set on ending their tour on a high. Look for that extra motivation to be enough to get the job done against a challenging but vulnerable Ireland team.

Kick-off is set for 1pm local time, 8am Eastern. A live stream will be available on Irish Rugby TV.

IRELAND
1 Lindsay Peat, 2 Sarah Mimnagh, 3 Fiona Reidy, 4 Aoife McDermott, 5 Ciaran Cooney, 6 Edel McMahon, 7 Claire Molloy, 8 Ciara Griffin (capt.), 9 Ailsa Hughes, 10 Nikki Caughey, 11 Laura Sheehan, 12 Michelle Claffey, 13 Sene Naoupu, 14 Eimear Considine, 15 Lauren Delany

Replacements: 16 Emma Hooban, 17 Laura Feely, 18 Leah Lyons, 19 Nichola Fryday, 20 Jeamie Deacon, 21 Nicole Cronin, 22 Claire McLaughlin, 23 Beibhinn Parsons

USA
1 Catie Benson, 2 Katy Augustyn, 3 Nick James, 4 Stacey Bridges, 5 Kristine Sommer, 6 Rachel Johnson, 7 Kate Zackary (capt.), 8 Jordan Gray, 9 Carly Waters, 10 Gabby Cantorna, 11 Jennine Duncan, 12 Kimber Rozier, 13 Meya Bizer, 14 Kelsi Stockert, 15 Kaitlyn Broughton

Replacements: 16 Tiana A’au, 17 Azniv Nalbandian, 18 Nick James, 19 Alycia Washington, 20 AnnaKaren Pedraza, 21 Evan Hoese, 22 McKenzie Hawkins, 23 Megan Foster

Date: Sunday, November 18
Kick-off: 13:00 local (05:00 Pacific, 08:00 Eastern)
Venue: Donnybrook, Dublin
Referee: Rebecca Mahoney (NZRU)
Assistants: Paul Haycock (IRFU) & Cilian Hogan (IRFU)
TMO: n/a
Broadcasts: Irish Rugby TV