Shannon and UL Bohs club women in Ireland 7s action in Paris

Four Munster players are named in the squad, including Shannon/Railway Union’s Aoife Doyle, Tipperary’s Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe and UL Bohemians’ Louise Galvin and Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird.

The Stade Jean Bouin, home to Stade Francais hosts the final round of the World Rugby Sevens Series and it will be the first ever World Series event to feature both the Ireland Women’s and Men’s teams together.

Ireland are drawn in Pool A with England, New Zealand and invitational side Wales. They take on Wales, England and New Zealand in their Pool on Friday.

Limerick woman, Doyle, who missed the last two stops on the Series through injury returns to the team.

Captain Lucy Mulhall has scored 77 points this season and she sits in fifth position on the DHL Performance tracker. Her half-back colleague Stacey Flood sits in fourth place on the tracker, and the Railway Union scrum-half is set for her 21st consecutive appearance in green. Flood has played in every senior tournament Ireland have been involved in since summer 2015.

Ashleigh Baxter will become Ireland’s most capped Sevens player this weekend. She will win her 27th Sevens Cap in Paris. The Ulster woman has also won 24 caps in 15s game.

Ireland’s top try scorer Murphy-Crowe has touched down on 14 occasions this season on the series, and has scored 45 tries since her series debut in 2013.

Kathy Baker, Katie Fitzhenry, Galvin, Katie Heffernan, Eve Higgins, Nic a Bhaird and Hannah Tyrrell were all selected for the Canada leg last month.

Ahead of the weekend, Director of Sevens Rugby, Anthony Eddy said:

“The team is looking to build on the performance from Canada.

We are again in a tough pool, but there are no easy games on the World Series and the players are confident of finishing this series season on a good note.

The team has shown great improvement during the year and it would be only fitting for them to have a performance that reflects all the hard work and commitment they demonstrate.”

World Rugby will broadcast the games via www.worldrugby.org and the World Rugby Sevens Facebook page – www.facebook.com/worldrugby7s. The Paris 7s is the final stage of the World Series, and Ireland sit in 9th place on the overall table with 25 points, 1 behind pool rivals England.

Follow the Ireland Women’s and Men’s Sevens teams this season in our exclusive behind-the-scenes series – On The Road with the Ireland 7s.

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS Squad (2017/18 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series – Paris 7s, Stade Jean-Bouin, Paris, France, Friday, June 8-Sunday, June 10):
Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Kathy Baker (Blackrock/Leinster)
Aoife Doyle (Shannon/Railway Union/Munster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum) (capt)
Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)

IRELAND WOMEN’S SEVENS FIXTURES – PARIS 7s
Friday, June 8
POOL A
Ireland v Wales, 2.22pm local time/1.22pm Irish time
Ireland v England, 5.06pm local time/4.06pm Irish time
New Zealand v Ireland, 7.28pm local time/6.28pm Irish time

Saturday, June 9
PLAY-OFFS

Sunday, June 10
FINALS