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Thursday, 29th Jul, 2010
Three Highfield players in Irish Womens World Cup squad
The Irish ladies rugby team are finalising their preparation for next month's Women's Rugby World Cup, which takes place in throughout England. The tournament takes place between 20 August and 5 September and all of Ireland's first round fixtures are being played in Surrey Park, which is the host venue for the tournament with other matches being played in the alternative venue of Twickenham Stoop, home to Premiership club Harlequins.
Cork will have three players in the squad, all members of Highfield RFC. Initially two Highfield players, Helen Brosnan and Chris Fanning, were selected in the final 26-player squad. However, this has been bolstered by the additional call-up of Laura Guest.
Brosnan got her first Irish cap against England in the European Championships in May 2008 and has since gone from strength to strength with the squad with a total of 12 caps. Her versatility as a player has meant that she has featured on the wing, as a centre and most recently as out-half. She featured strongly in the 2009 Six Nations Competition where Ireland finished third for the first time ever and again in this year's Six Nations with Ireland having an excellent repeat performance.
Fanning made her Irish debut against Italy in the 2010 Six Nations and has become a regular contender for the number two spot since then, achieving three more caps in the same tournament against France, England and Wales.
Although Guest is a late call-up to replace the injured prop Lauren Day she nonetheless brings a wealth of experience to the squad. She was first capped in the Six Nations tournament in 2005 against Spain who have now been replaced by Italy in this competition with Irish women's rugby becoming fully affiliated with the IRFU. Guest has since featured regularly in various tournaments for the Irish Team having a total of nine caps altogether.
Ireland have a tough task ahead of them in their qualifying rounds of the World Cup tournament. They face host nation and heavily favoured England in their first encounter. They then move on to play former winners and three-time finalists USA in their second game with the final pool match against Kazakhstan.
The Irish team were narrowly beaten recently in a friendly against Scotland and have one more training match against Wales this Sunday 1 August.
Ireland Women's First Round Fixtures include:
Ireland V England, Surrey, Friday 20 August @ 6.30pm
Ireland V USA, Surrey, Tuesday, 21 August @ 4.30pm
Ireland V Kazakhstan, Surrey, Saturday, 28 August @ 4.30pm
The Highfield Senior Ladies team are back in action with field training beginning 11 August 2010. The under 18's will be back training in September 2010. New Players always welcome and for further details see www.Highfield-Rugby.com.
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