Ireland make seven changes for World Cup clash with Spain

Head coach Scott Bemand has shuffled the pack for Sunday's game.

SPANISH TEST: Anna McGann is set to start on Sunday. Pic: INPHO/Ben Brady

Ireland have made wholesale changes to the starting line-up and squad that will face Spain in their second Rugby World Cup pool game in Northampton this Sunday, though there is still no sign of key back row Aoife Wafer.

Head coach Scott Bemand has made seven changes to the 15 that began the tournament with the 42-14 defeat of Japan at Franklin’s Gardens five days ago and the bench has undergone a facelift with it.

Wafer, the 2025 Six Nations player of the year who only joined up with the squad in England seven days ago having stayed behind in Dublin to continue knee rehab, will have to hope she is good to go to face the world champion New Zealanders next week.

Also sitting this one out are wing Beibhinn Parsons and co-captain and flanker Edel McMahon, both of them key players in this Irish setup and star performers against the Japanese on day one.

Spain were well beaten by the Black Ferns in their opener and Bemand clearly sees this is an opportunity to build game time into the wider squad while, at the same time, baking the win that would book Ireland’s place in the quarter-finals with a pool game to spare.

Anna McGann comes in for Beibhinn Parsons on the wing while Molly Scuffil-McCabe, unused against Japan, leapfrogs into the No.9 shirt, continuing the trend of utilising all three scrum-half options this season.

The other five alterations are in the pack.

Ellena Perry, the former England prop, makes her first start in a green jersey after two runs off the bench, Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald comes in at hooker, Eimear Corri-Fallon relieves Ruth Campbell in the second row.

Claire Boles is another to get her first taste of the tournament, in her case at back row, while Grace Moore swaps in for last week’s player of the match Brittany Hogan at No.8.

Siobhan McCarthy and Nancy McGillivray will make their World Cup bows off the bench at some point.

Sunday's match kicks off at 12 noon and is live on RTÉ2 and BBC Two.

Ireland (v Spain): S Flood; A McGann, A Dalton, E Higgins, AL Costigan; D O’Brien, M Scuffil-McCabe; E Perry, C Moloney-MacDonald, L Djougang; E Corri-Fallon, S Monaghan; F Tuite, C Boles, G Moore.

Replacements: N Jones, S McCarthy, S McGrath, R Campbell, B Hogan, E Lane, E Breen, N McGillivray.