Women's Six Nations: Siwan Lillicrap back from Covid-19 to lead Wales against Ireland
- Published
Wales women warmed up for the Six Nations with a friendly against USA Falcons at Parc y Scarlets on 12 March
TikTok Women's Six Nations: Ireland v Wales |
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Venue: RDS Arena, Dublin Date: Saturday, 26 March Kick-off:16:45 GMT |
Coverage: BBC Two Wales, BBC Red Button, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC Radio Wales & BBC Radio Cymru, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app. |
Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap has recovered from Covid-19 to lead Wales in their Six Nations opener against Ireland in Dublin.
Lillicrap tested positive on the day of the tournament launch last week and has been back in training since Monday.
Sioned Harries is named among the replacements having won the last of her 58 caps in 2019, while Sisilia Tuipulotu is in line for a debut.
This will be the first Six Nations where Wales have professional players.
Ten of Ioan Cunningham's starting XV became full-time athletes in January, while another four are on retainer contracts.
There are 24 contracted players in total, with more to be announced by the Welsh Rugby Union.
Former captain Carys Phillips will make her first Six Nations appearance in two years having marked her return from the international wilderness with a hat-trick against South Africa last autumn.
Kayleigh Powell slots in at full-back in what will be her first Test since last year's Six Nations, while hooker Kelsey Jones is in the matchday squad after missing the autumn internationals.
Elinor Snowsill missed the friendly against USA on 12 of March, but is back to full fitness to partner club team mate Keira Bevan in the half-backs.
Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams has named an inexperienced squad in comparison in what will be his first game in charge, with full-back Eimear Considine the most capped player at 23 appearances.
Aoibheann Reilly will make her debut at scrum-half, while there could also be first caps for Christy Haney and Anna McGann from the bench.
"We feel we have a good balance in the side with plenty of experience alongside some exciting young players," said Wales head coach Ioan Cunningham.
"It's good to have players like Kayleigh, Kelsey and Sioned back in the squad at the start of this tournament.
"Sisilia has settled in well to the training environment after taking up a retainer contract and she fully deserves to make the next step to international rugby. The more exposure we can give her at this level, the more comfortable she will be.
"The game against USA two weeks ago gave everyone a chance to stake their claim so we are certainly rewarding performance but also very conscious that we have three Test matches in three weekends.
There is now healthy competition throughout the squad which is ideal."
McWilliams said: "This is a great start for us as a group, we're really excited about the youth and experience in the team.
"We'll learn a lot from this game, but for these players to go out and represent Ireland at the RDS is going to be special. It'll be a great occasion and I'm excited to see how they perform, because we've got through a lot of work over the last couple of weeks."
I almost retired last year, but I'm glad I didn't - Wales prop Hale
Wales: Kayleigh Powell; Lisa Neumann, Hannah Jones, Kerin Lake, Jasmine Joyce; Elinor Snowsill, Keira Bevan; Gwenllian Pyrs, Carys Phillips, Cerys Hale, Natalia John, Gwen Crabb, Alisha Butchers, Alex Callender, Siwan Lillicrap (capt).
Replacements: Kelsey Jones, Cara Hope, Donna Rose, Sioned Harries, Bethan Lewis, Ffion Lewis, Robyn Wilkins, Sisilia Tuipulotu.
Ireland: Eimear Considine; Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Eve Higgins, Stacey Flood, Lucy Mulhall; Nicole Cronin, Aoibheann Reilly; Linda Djougang, Neve Jones, Katie O'Dwyer, Nichola Fryday (capt), Sam Monaghan, Dorothy Wall, Edel McMahon, Brittany Hogan
Replacements: Emma Hooban, Chloe Pearse, Christy Haney, Anna McGann, Hannah O'Connor, Kathryn Dane, Enya Breen, Beibhinn Parsons.
