{"id":379644,"date":"2025-08-28T06:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T06:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/379644\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T06:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T06:33:17","slug":"ireland-living-the-world-cup-dream-ahead-of-spain-clash-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/379644\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland living the World Cup dream ahead of Spain clash \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland<\/a> star Eve Higgins has described her try scoring display against Japan as \u201ca cool experience\u201d as her side gear up for Spain on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media on Wednesday afternoon, the Irish centre has long since been marked out as one to watch alongside Aoife Dalton, and she cut a satisfied figure with the squad\u2019s experience in England to date:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when we look back, these are moments that you might not live again. Playing in a World Cup, it\u2019s huge, we couldn\u2019t play in the last World Cup, so these come around every four years and it\u2019s extremely special to be in that position so why not enjoy it?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brilliant, we saw driving to the stadium, driving past green jerseys. It\u2019s a great feeling and the fact that the IRFU have supported us, flying family and some friends over is huge for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kenny<\/a>\"Thursday’s<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ireland co-captain Sam Monaghan is revelling in the World Cup experience, stating she is \u201cgrateful\u201d she has been afforded the opportunity by both head coach Scott Bemand and by injury.<\/p>\n

After a resounding 46-14 win over Japan in their opener, Ireland face another Northampton fixture against Spain, with both sides boasting six wins over the other in the historical standings.<\/p>\n

\"IrelandIreland head coach Scott Bemand (Joe Giddens\/PA) <\/p>\n

Read More: <\/b>Ireland can handle Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup pressure – former captain Fiona Coghlan<\/a><\/p>\n

A major boost to Ireland in the here and now is the return of Aoife Wafer, with the bruising back rower returning from injury.<\/p>\n

Others haven\u2019t been so fortunate, namely Dorothy Wall – who has taken on the challenge of becoming a television pundit for the duration of the tournament – and Erin King.<\/p>\n

Monaghan ruptured her own ACL in 2024, while Edel McMahon is another who has retuned just in the nick of time, and the former knows that at this level of the game fitness can be a blessing as much as injury is a curse:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very grateful that the times aligned and allowed me to play at the World Cup\u201d, Monaghan told RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome players weren\u2019t. Dorothy Wall was in there in the changing-room afterwards and it was great to see her. She is a huge part of this group.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am grateful to be here, to have the support staff around me to get me this far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having beaten Spain four times in their last five clashes, another Irish victory will be anticipated at Franklin\u2019s Gardens, and a big one at that.<\/p>\n

Read More: <\/b>Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup: Everything you need to know before Ireland take on the best for the title of world champions<\/a><\/p>\n

After a bonus point win in their opener, the bookmakers have Bemand\u2019s charges down as 34 point favourites. <\/p>\n

Monaghan feels there are plenty of positives to dwell on from that 32-point win, with tries coming from Higgins, Beibhinn Parsons, Amee-Leigh Costigan, Neve Jones, Fiona Tuite and Enya Breen, while Dannagh O\u2019Brien\u2019s kicking game was on form en route to converting all six scores:<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud of the group. It was never about just the 23. That\u2019s what has gotten us this far because some girls are at home that might have done a job here. Really proud of the staff and the group as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can underestimate the Japanese. They are a very strong and clinical side. Some of the defensive pressure we were under was tough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland star Eve Higgins has described her try scoring display against Japan as \u201ca cool experience\u201d as her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379645,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,4207,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-379644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-ireland-rugby","11":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115104999766920164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}