Given the positional differences, it isn\u2019t altogether likely that we\u2019ll see too many marital one-on-one battles. Should Claudia get the ball in any sort of space, well we\u2019re talking about a wing running at a hooker. Good luck. <\/p>\n
If it\u2019s in a more narrow exchange closer to the ruck, maybe Cliodhna will back her extra power when leaving a shot on her spouse. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a strange concept playing against your wife in an international rugby game,\u201d acknowledged Claudia. \u201cThe times we\u2019ve trained against each other can even get heated. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re both fiercely competitive and know each other so well.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s just hope we can remember we\u2019re still married once the final whistle goes!\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from the spousal milestone, Saturday is the Irish Moloney-MacDonald\u2019s 50th international cap. She becomes just the 16th Irish woman to reach the mark. Given she spent some time in exile following the infamous \u201cslurry-spreading\u201d remark in the messy aftermath of Irish players past and present complaining about the Irish Rugby Football Union\u2019s (IRFU) handling of women\u2019s rugby, the achievement is all the more poignant. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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\u2019Dowd swap places as the starting and bench looseheads, as do Moloney-MacDonald and Neve Jones at hooker. <\/p>\n
![\"Vicky](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/WOSITT5XONA6RIDSHLWNS7AEZY.jpg\")
Vicky Elmes Kinlan for Ireland during warm up at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin. Photograph: INPHO\/Gavin Cullen <\/p>\n
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\u2019s see what can be achieved while fully fit following a run of games for new club side Harlequins. <\/p>\n
[\u00a0Will return of the King herald a new dawn for Ireland\u2019s women\u2019s team?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n 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\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n Just perhaps not this weekend. It is King\u2019s 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\u2019s two Irish sides minus the glut of forwards playing over the water in Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby. As first outings go, this is a Test match in every sense of the word. <\/p>\n A raucous HQ crowd is ready to re-coronate England in their first game since becoming world champions. Ireland\u2019s pack may well have six (with three more on the bench) players battle-hardened by their neighbour\u2019s domestic game, but England\u2019s group is baying for set-piece and collision blood. Should they earn space, fullback Ellie Kildunne \u2013 a true superstar who finished second in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year to Rory McIlroy \u2013 is chief among the suspects ready to exploit an Irish backline shorn of top quality game time. <\/p>\n Ireland have ambitions of winning their three home games, running France close again and improving on last year\u2019s 44-point defeat to England. They may well do all of those things. All while head coach Scott Bemand \u2013 newly extended to the next World Cup in 2029 \u2013 looks to build depth. <\/p>\n 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 Eil\u00eds Cahill and scrumhalf Katie Whelan. There will be more as the weeks progress. <\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n Any raise on that return would be an achievement of monumental proportions. <\/p>\n![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/NMXG7F73MBB3DNFLA7WPF3NFLE.jpg\")
It is Irish captain Erin King\u2019s first international outing in almost exactly a year. Photograph: INPHO\/Ben Brady <\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/67P3MVWFGRH4RTWHUUGF5JCJAI.jpg\")
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