Seven uncapped players named in Ireland women's squad for WXV Global Series
Ireland women's head coach Scott Bemand has named seven uncapped players in his 36-strong squad for the WXV Global Series, a World Rugby competition that pits the top international women's teams against each other across graded divisions.
Forwards Jemima Adams Verling, Sophie Barrett, Beth Buttimer and Kate Jordan, and backs Caitriona Finn, Lucia Linn and Alana McInerney are the fresh faces hoping to earn their first caps (a cap is the traditional recognition a player receives for representing their country in a Test match). The squad was announced on 24 August 2026, per BBC Sport.
Not all seven are arriving cold. Buttimer, Finn and McInerney, all of Munster, were part of Ireland's wider Six Nations squad earlier this year, as were Connacht's Adams Verling and Ulster prop Barrett. They have been knocking on the door. Second row Jordan and centre Linn, however, have been called into the Ireland set-up for the first time.
Munster's dominant form in the Women's Interprovincial Championship — three wins from three and a place in the final against Leinster — has clearly caught Bemand's eye. McInerney has been in scintillating provincial form, notching a hat-trick in a Galway victory recently highlighted on the IRFU website.
Connacht wing Beibhinn Parsons is included despite missing her province's first three interprovincial games through injury. Her return would be a significant boost for a backline looking to build on Ireland's 54-5 thrashing of Scotland in their most recent Six Nations outing at the Aviva Stadium in May.
Bemand has also looked across the Irish Sea, calling on eight players based in England. The Gloucester Hartpury trio of Neve Jones, Niamh O'Dowd and Sam Monaghan are included, along with Sale Sharks' Brittany Hogan and Trailfinders' Niamh Gallagher. Exeter's Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Dorothy Wall are also in the 36-player panel, though their Chiefs teammate Nancy McGillivray misses out.
The fixture list gives Ireland a busy autumn. They open the WXV Global Series against the United States at Tallaght Stadium on Sunday 20 September, before facing Japan at Dexcom Stadium a week later. A second Japan match follows on 3 October at Virgin Media Park, though that game sits outside the WXV competition. Two Tests against South Africa in October complete the international window.
Ireland's last WXV campaign saw them face New Zealand in the 2024 opener, a tournament in which Bemand handed a first match-day squad place to uncapped prop Andrea Stock, according to the IRFU. His willingness to blood new talent in high-stakes fixtures has been a consistent thread of his tenure.
What makes this squad interesting is the balance. Experienced England-based professionals sit alongside in-form interprovincial players who have forced their way in through domestic performances. With the Women's Rugby World Cup looming, every Test between now and then doubles as an audition.
