Ireland Women’s 7s squad named for Kazan leg of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix

Four teenagers; Megan Burns, Anna Doyle, Brittany Hogan and Emily Lane, are the latest products of the IRFU’s Women’s Development pathway to take the step to senior level as they have been named on the Ireland Women's 7s side for the final round of the Rugby Europe Grand Prix, which takes place in Kazan, Russia this weekend

All four players have come through the Women’s Development Pathway which has been in operation for a number seasons and sees players identified at events such as the X7s tournaments. The players then progress to provincial development squads and are exposed to international competitions via the Ireland U18 Girls 7s squad.

Burns and Doyle were both part of the Ireland U18 Girls 7s squad last season, and had great success at the Home Nations tournament in April, where they went undefeated across both legs to claim the title. They also picked up a Bronze medal at the Rugby Europe U18s Sevens Championships in Vichy in April.

Lane and Hogan have also gained great experience over the past number of seasons, with both players picking up Bronze medals at the UK Schools games in 2016 and last year Lane was part of the squad that won Gold at the tournament. Both players also lined out for the Ireland Women’s 7s Development side at the Dubai 7s Invitational last November.

The four new caps join an ever-growing list of players who have progressed through the underage development programme to senior representative level; Claire Boles, Aoife Doyle, Katie Heffernan, Anna McGann and Emma Murphy, who are all included in the squad for Kazan are products of the system, as are the likes of Stacey Flood, Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe and 2018 World Rugby 7s Rookie of the Year Nominee Eve Higgins.

Ireland are drawn in Pool C for Kazan, alongside England, Italy and Poland and open their day at 8.44am (Irish time) against Poland.

The side will be captained by the experienced Claire Keohane.

The tournament, which will be live streamed on RugbyEurope.tv, is the second of two competitions that make up the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Series. Ireland finished in 3rd place at the opening leg in Marcoussis in France in June.

Stan McDowell will coach the side in Kazan and he is looking forward to seeing how the new-look team performs;

“It’s an exciting week for the players coming in for their first caps. They have shown their talent over the past number of seasons at underage level and have earned their opportunity to wear the senior jersey.

They will have lots of experienced players around them in the squad, as the eight capped players have all played at World Series events and have been part of the programme for a number of seasons."

IRELAND WOMEN'S SEVENS Squad (2018 Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix Series - Round 2, Kazan) Saturday, September 1 - Sunday, September 2):
Megan Burns (Tullamore RFC/Leinster) *
Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC/Ulster)
Anna Doyle (Tullow RFC/Leinster) *
Aoife Doyle (Railway Union RFC & Shannon RFC (dual status)/Munster)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC & Mullingar RFC (dual status))
Brittany Hogan (Cooke RFC/Ulster) *
Claire Keohane (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) Captain
Emily Lane (Mallow RFC/Leinster) *
Anna McGann (UCD RFC)
Emma Murphy (Railway Union RFC)
Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)