Connacht back row Jemima Adams Verling will make her senior Ireland debut in Sunday’s WXV Global Series opener against the United States in Dublin.
Adams Verling will line out at blind-side flanker in the back row alongside captain Erin King at open-side flanker and Women’s Six Nations player of the championship Aoife Wafer at number eight.
The 20-year-old’s ascension to the senior team comes after she impressed in the U18 Women’s Six Nations in 2024 and last year’s U21 Women’s Six Nations while she has also been impressive for the Clovers in the Celtic Challenge.
She was part of this year’s Six Nations squad but did not feature.
Head coach Scott Bemand has named an experienced pack with props Niamh O’Dowd and Linda Djougang and hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald in the front row.
With Sam Monaghan out injured, Dorothy Wall and Fiona Tuite-O’Sullivan line up in the second row.
In the back three, Stacey Flood starts at full-back with Robyn O’Connor and Vicky Elmes Kinlan on the wings. Right winger O’Connor was one of Ireland’s breakout players in this year’s Six Nations, scoring two tries.
Aoife Dalton and Eve Higgins start in midfield, while Dannah O’Brien and Emily Lane retain their half-back partnership from the Six Nations.
The forward replacements are Neve Jones, Sadhbh McGrath, Eilis Cahill, Jane Clohessy and Brittany Hogan, who scored five tries in this year’s Six Nations, with Aoibheann Reilly, Anna McGann and Niamh Gallagher offering backline cover.
Ireland open their WXV Global Series campaign against the United States at Dublin’s Tallaght Stadium (13:45 BST), the first women’s rugby Test match at the home of football team Shamrock Rovers.
Bemand’s side then face Japan in a double-header in Galway and Cork on 27 September and 3 October – the first of which is a WXV game – before WXV games against South Africa in Cape Town on 24 and 31 October.
Ireland: Flood; O’Connor, Dalton, Higgins, Elmes Kinlan; O’Brien, Lane; O’Dowd, Moloney-MacDonald, Djougang, Wall, Tuite-O’Sullivan, Adams Verling, King (capt), Wafer
Replacements: Jones, McGrath, Cahill, Clohessy, Hogan, Reilly, McGann, Gallagher
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