Ahead of tonight’s Six Nations clash against Italy in Parma, Trinity student and scrum-half Kathryn Dane has been handed her first Irish start.
With Dane the only change to Adam Griggs’ side, the team are hoping to build on their 22-5 bonus point win against Scotland two weeks ago. This win came after a crushing 51-7 defeat to England.
Dane, who plays club rugby for Old Belvedere and provincial rugby with Ulster, will replace Ailsa Hughes. Dane made her first appearance for the team off the bench against England in the first round.
In a press statement in advance of the match, Griggs said the team “were pleased with the opportunities that we created and while the challenge for this group is to become even more clinical under pressure, we definitely feel each week we are improving and taking the right steps to get there”.
“The Italian game should be a cracker”, he added. “They have played well of late and are unbeaten so far in this Championship. We’ve been preparing diligently and know they have quality footballers that will put you under real pressure.”
“We’ll need to be aware of these and look to close them down early if we are to get any success on Saturday”, he finished.
Fellow Trinity student and Old Belvedere player Linda Djougang isn’t named in the squad but has appeared as a replacement in the previous two games.
In an email statement to The University Times about the call-ups, Jane Leahy, the captain of DUFC Women, said: “Everyone at DUFC is extremely proud of Linda and Kathryn’s achievements.”
“Both of the girls have worked really hard for their spot and we couldn’t be happier for them”, she added.
In an interview with The University Times prior to the announcement of the squad Djougang said “getting into the Irish women’s team is just the start of everything. Everything before was just preparing you for it”.
