Women’s Six Nations: Ireland ambition against England comes with spousal milestone

Women’s Six Nations: England v Ireland, Twickenham, Saturday, 2.25pm – Live on RTÉ2 & BBC One

Saturday brings a number of notable occasions, one of the more novel being the presence of two Moloney-MacDonalds in the starting line-ups. Ireland frontrow Cliodhna married Exeter and England wing Claudia last summer. Team-mates at Sandy Park, they will now play against each other at international level for the first time.

Given the positional differences, it isn’t altogether likely that we’ll see too many marital one-on-one battles. Should Claudia get the ball in any sort of space, well we’re talking about a wing running at a hooker. Good luck.

If it’s in a more narrow exchange closer to the ruck, maybe Cliodhna will back her extra power when leaving a shot on her spouse.

“It’s a strange concept playing against your wife in an international rugby game,” acknowledged Claudia. “The times we’ve trained against each other can even get heated. That’s what happens when you’re both fiercely competitive and know each other so well.

“Let’s just hope we can remember we’re still married once the final whistle goes!”

Aside from the spousal milestone, Saturday is the Irish Moloney-MacDonald’s 50th international cap. She becomes just the 16th Irish woman to reach the mark. Given she spent some time in exile following the infamous “slurry-spreading” remark in the messy aftermath of Irish players past and present complaining about the Irish Rugby Football Union’s (IRFU) handling of women’s rugby, the achievement is all the more poignant.

This is an Ireland team not entirely dissimilar to the group that came oh so close to pipping France in a World Cup quarter-final six months ago. Any changes are almost exclusively down to availability.

Wing Amee-Leigh Costigan is expecting twins, allowing Vicky Elmes Kinlan to come into the back three. Aoibheann Reilly is injured, meaning Emily Lane starts at scrumhalf. El Perry and Niamh O’Dowd swap places as the starting and bench looseheads, as do Moloney-MacDonald and Neve Jones at hooker.

Aoife Wafer has recovered from the knee and collarbone injuries picked up in that devastating French loss to shift back to number eight. Given the performance she put in while on one leg and with one arm at Sandy Park, let’s see what can be achieved while fully fit following a run of games for new club side Harlequins.

[ Will return of the King herald a new dawn for Ireland’s women’s team?Opens in new window ]

Dorothy Wall is also healthy after cruelly missing the World Cup and starts at secondrow. Joining her in vacating the physio room is Erin King, Ireland’s new 22-year-old captain. On the occasion of just her eighth cap, already armed with a World Rugby breakthrough player of the year award from 2024, King has been tasked with leading her country out at a packed Twickenham. Clearly, great things are expected from the backrow.

Just perhaps not this weekend. It is King’s first international outing in almost exactly a year. She scored two tries in the recent Celtic Challenge final, but that was largely an intersquad game between the competition’s two Irish sides minus the glut of forwards playing over the water in Premiership Women’s Rugby. As first outings go, this is a Test match in every sense of the word.

A raucous HQ crowd is ready to re-coronate England in their first game since becoming world champions. Ireland’s pack may well have six (with three more on the bench) players battle-hardened by their neighbour’s domestic game, but England’s group is baying for set-piece and collision blood. Should they earn space, fullback Ellie Kildunne – a true superstar who finished second in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year to Rory McIlroy – is chief among the suspects ready to exploit an Irish backline shorn of top quality game time.

Ireland have ambitions of winning their three home games, running France close again and improving on last year’s 44-point defeat to England. They may well do all of those things. All while head coach Scott Bemand – newly extended to the next World Cup in 2029 – looks to build depth.

That task will largely come later in the tournament. Twickenham is not a suitable church for an inevitable baptism of fire. At the start of a new World Cup cycle, there are just two debutants off the bench in prop Eilís Cahill and scrumhalf Katie Whelan. There will be more as the weeks progress.

Saturday is largely a free hit for Ireland. Arrive with ambition of making history while shackled with little pressure given low expectations. Firing any sort of shot will lead to external praise and build internal confidence. Attack the remaining games with rust scraped off.

Any raise on that return would be an achievement of monumental proportions.

[ Ireland focused on daunting task of facing England at TwickenhamOpens in new window ]

ENGLAND: Ellie Kildunne; Jess Breach, Megan Jones (captures), Helena Rowland, Claudia Moloney-MacDonald; Holly Aitchison, Lucy Parker; Kelsey Clifford, Amy Cokayne, Sarah Bern; Morwenna Talling, Lilli Ives Campion; Maddie Feaunati, Sadia Kabeya, Alex Matthews (capt). Replacements: Connie Powell, Mackenzie Carson, Maud Muir, Haineala Lutui, Abi Burton, Natasha Hunt, Zoe Harrison, Emma Sing.

IRELAND: Stacey Flood; Béibhinn Parsons, Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins, Vicky Elmes Kinan; Dannah O’Brien, Emily Lane; El Perry, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Linda Djougang; Dorothy Wall, Fiona Tuite; Brittany Hogan, Erin King (capt), Aoife Wafer. Replacements: Neve Jones, Niamh O’Dowd, Eilís Cahill, Ruth Campbell, Grace Moore, Katie Whelan, Nancy McGillivray, Anna McGann.

2026 Six Nations fixtures

Round 1 – Saturday, April 11th

France v Italy, 12.25pm, Stade des Alpes

England v Ireland, 2.45pm, Twickenham

Wales v Scotland, 4.40pm, Principality Stadium

Round 2 – Saturday, April 18th

Scotland v England, 1.30pm, Murrayfield

Wales v France, 3.35pm, Cardiff Arms Park

Ireland v Italy, 5.40pm, Dexcom Stadium

Round 3 – Saturday, April 25th

England v Wales, 2.15pm, Ashton Gate

Italy v Scotland, 4.30pm, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi

France v Ireland, 8.10pm, Stade Marcel-Michelin

Round 4 – Saturday, May 9th

Italy v England, 2pm, Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi

Scotland v France, 4.15pm, Hive Stadium

Ireland v Wales, 6.30pm, Affidea Stadium

Round 5 – Sunday, May 17th

Wales v Italy, 12.15pm, Cardiff Arms Park

Ireland v Scotland, 2.30pm, Aviva Stadium

France v England, 4.45pm, Matmut Atlantique

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