Ireland coach Scott Bemand has opted for an element of rotation in team selection for the final Six Nations game against Scotland at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday (2.30, live on Virgin Media One).
Promising UL Bohemian fullback Aoife Corey makes her debut in the starting XV, while her clubmate Jane Clohessy, the daughter of former Munster and Ireland prop Peter, is set for her first cap off the bench.
Corey takes over from Stacey Flood, Ireland’s standout contributor the last day against Wales, and is part of a back three that includes Vicky Elmes Kinlan, who makes her first Six Nations start, and Amee-Leigh Costigan. Enya Breen and Aoife Dalton are unchanged in the centre while the same is true of halfbacks Dannah O’Brien and Molly Scuffil-McCabe.
Should the 7-1 split be outlawed?
Niamh O’Dowd returns to the frontrow after injury while Dorothy Wall shifts from the secondrow to backrow in the absence of the injured Aoife Wafer (knee). Brittany Hogan will wear the number eight jersey.
IRELAND (v Scotland): A Corey (UL Bohemian/Munster); Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow), A Dalton (Old Belvedere/Leinster), E Breen (Blackrock College/Munster), A-L Costigan (Railway Union/Munster); D O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster), M Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster); N O’Dowd (Old Belvedere /Leinster), N Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury), L Djougang (Old Belvedere/Leinster); R Campbell (Old Belvedere/Leinster), F Tuite (Old Belvedere/Ulster); D Wall (Exeter Chiefs/Munster), E McMahon (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht, capt), B Hogan (Old Belvedere/Ulster).
Replacements: C Moloney (Exeter Chiefs), S McGrath (Cooke/Ulster), C Haney (Blackrock College/Leinster), J Clohessy (UL Bohemian/Munster), C Boles (Railway Union/Ulster), E Lane (Blackrock College), E Higgins (Railway Union), S Flood (Railway Union).
