A new chapter begins: Ireland women set sights on Rugby World Cup redemption

Ireland face Japan in their 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup opener, aiming to build momentum and secure a quarter-final spot

NEW BEGINNING: Ireland's Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald during training. Pic: ©INPHO/Ben Brady.

Chances are that the length of Ireland’s wait for another crack at a Women’s Rugby World Cup has caught your eye or ear in the days and weeks leading up to Sunday’s Pool C opener against Japan in Northampton.

The timer will stop just two days shy of eight years come kick-off at Franklin’s Gardens but even that stretch, brought on by the failure to make New Zealand in 2022, doesn’t fully capture the generational rebirth that is in the air here.