Nancy McGillivray takes a road less travelled to Ireland honours

While Saturday’s five-try, six-point warm-up defeat of Scotland in Cork served an obvious and immediate purpose, it also fed into that longer-term goal with Ivana Kiripati, McGivillray and Ailish Quinn all making their debuts.

Ireland's Nancy McGillivray with her first cap after the game. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady.

Ireland 27 Scotland 21

Planning for one World Cup should be plenty for anyone’s plate. Not Scott Bemand’s. If first priority for the Ireland head coach is the upcoming tournament in England then Australia’s hosting in 2029 never seems far from his thoughts.

It was the global gathering in four years’ time that was uppermost in the Englishman’s mind when he took over the girls in green, and he has referenced the tournament more than once in recent weeks even as England 2025 gets more real with every passing day.

So, while Saturday’s five-try, six-point warm-up defeat of Scotland in Cork served an obvious and immediate purpose, it also fed into that longer-term goal with Ivana Kiripati, Nancy McGivillray and Ailish Quinn all making their debuts. The first two are 22, Quinn is still a teenager at 19.

For McGivillray, this was the peak point to date on a rugby journey that began as an eight-year old in Hong Kong and playing for the Discovery Bay Pirates. It was only when she was 18 and left for uni in England that XVs became a thing.

Her potential led to Exeter Chiefs and a transition contract with England’s RFU that concluded at the end of June. That allowed the centre to make the switch to Ireland and make a debut which peaked with a try shortly after half-time.

So, why Ireland?

“Well, my dad [Raymond] is Irish so start off there,” said a player once labelled as a ‘huge talent’ by England legend Emily Scarratt. “I'm not actually English at all. I just have an English passport. So a big part of it was also family and culture.

Ireland debutant Nancy McGillivray scores her side's third try. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile.

“I was in and around England, but I kind of had two years to figure out what I want, and I think, for me, that's to put on the green jersey. And a big part was family. My granddad would dream about that all the time, and he's not here today, but that's a big part.”

Her granddad is Donald McGivillray, from Balbriggan in Dublin. Ireland’s new recruit, whose mum Phatcharin is Thai, spent plenty of summers in Cong as a child. Other disparate strands played their part in this story too.

Ireland head coach Scott Bemand was still an assistant with England when McGivillray was coming through that system and the player had gone through the Irish union’s IQ pathway system when she first moved to the UK.

All those lines were kept open.

What impact she, or the other rookies, can make in the here and now remains to be seen. Back row is an area of serious depth, even with injury absentees, while Aoife Dalton excelled in the 13 shirt in the Six Nations and played every single minute.

“They're going to be big hitters for not just this World Cup but the one after,” said Bemand.

Every shoulder is welcome against this wheel.

Ireland, without Erin King and Dorothy Wall in their pack for the World Cup, and with Aoife Wafer n onlooker here and a doubt for at least some of the tournament, will have been thrilled to come through this first prep match unscathed.

Captain Sam Monaghan, Eimear Corri-Fallon and Beibhinn Parsons all made reappearances in Irish shirts after long-term injuries and the manner in which a much-changed and relatively inexperienced Irish team recovered from 14-0 down bodes well.

Only four of this starting side had been named to kick off their last game, the round five Six Nations trip to Scotland, and that had been over three months previously. Early rust was no surprise, but they largely bossed the Scots for long periods after it.

The hope will be that more impressive auditions are the order of the day when Ireland play their second and last warm-up next week against Canada before the squad is named two days later and a World Cup opener against Japan on August 24th.

For McGivillray it will also be an opportunity to catch up with Florence Symonds who was a teammate growing up with the Pirates and is now on the Canadian XVs squad having won a silver medal in sevens at last year’s Olympics.

“Someone like her, it's an inspiration just to see one of my best mates go to Olympics and now she's in the World Cup squad as well. We grew up playing rugby together.”

And look at them now.

Ireland: M Deely; B Parsons, N McGillivray, E Higgins, A-L Costigan; D O’Brien, M Scuffil-McCabe; S McCarthy, C Moloney-MacDonald, S McGrath; E Corri-Fallon, S Monaghan (capt); G Moore, I Kiripati, B Hogan.

Replacements: D Nic a Bhaird for Moore (3-14) and for Hogan (60); F Tuite for Monaghan (36); L Djougang for McGrath and N O’Dowd for McCarthy (both 50); E Lane for Scuffil-McCabe and E Breen for O’Brien (both 60); A Quinn for Kiripati and N Jones for Moloney-MacDonald (both 70).

Scotland: C Rollie; R Lloyd, E Orr, L Thomson, L Scott; H Ramsay, C Mattinson; A Young, L Skeldon, E Clarke; E Wassell, R Malcolm; R McLachlan, A Stewart, E Gallagher.

Replacements: E Martin for Skeldon (32); L Bartlett for Young (HT); L Brebner-Holden for Mattinson (51); M Poolan for Clarke (55); B Blacklock for Ramsey (57); A Ferrie for Wassell and E Donaldson for Malcolm (both 65); C Grant for Brebner-Holden (71).

Referee: C Munarini (FIR).