Ireland hooker Moloney-MacDonald finds smaller trial ball 'challenging'
Ireland hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald says the smaller ball on trial in women's rugby has been "challenging" to master. She spoke ahead of Ireland's WXV Global Series opener against the United States at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin on Sunday.
The WXV Global Series, World Rugby's annual international competition played outside World Cup and Six Nations windows, is being used to test a size 4.5 ball through September and October. The ball is about 3% smaller than the size five ball used in the men's game but weighs the same, she told BBC Sport.
England's 48-15 win over Australia last weekend was the first match played with the new ball. England forwards May Campbell and Helena Rowland raised concerns about it before that game, while Wales wing Lisa Neumann said it had helped her passing.
Moloney-MacDonald said players need a transition period because they do not use the trial ball in the domestic game. That switch hits her position hard. The hooker, the forward in the middle of the scrum who throws the ball back into the lineout (the set-piece where forwards line up and jump for the throw), expects control to get tougher in bad weather.
"I think in windy and rainy conditions it's going to be more difficult," she said. Kickers have told her the ball can die at the end of long kicks and long passes, or get grabbed by the wind.
Ireland kick off against the United States in Dublin on Sunday at 13:45 BST. They then face Japan in Galway on 27 September and in Cork on 3 October, before travelling to Cape Town for two further WXV matches in South Africa on 24 and 31 October.
Ireland finished third in this year's Women's Six Nations. Moloney-MacDonald, who joined Exeter Chiefs in 2022 after four years with Wasps, said it would be "brilliant" for Irish teams to join an expanded Premiership Women's Rugby after the English league opened an expression of interest process.
For fans picking this up fresh, the debate is simple. A slightly smaller ball could aid handling for some players and unsettle others, especially throwers and kickers. The next few weeks will give everyone real match pictures to judge it on.
