A 14-player Ireland Women's 7s squad arrives in Australia today ahead of the second leg of the World Rugby Women's Sevens World Series in Sydney, including Ulster's Ashleigh Baxter and Claire Boles.

The squad sees the 12 players who competed at the opening round of Women's World Series in Dubai included, along with two additional players in Jeamie Deacon and Katie Heffernan, who both lined out for the Ireland Women's Development side that finished in second place at the Dubai Invitational.

The squad will train at the Sydney Academy of Sport and Recreation in Narrabeen this week, and will then relocate to Coogee ahead of the tournament kicking off.

Ireland are drawn with Canada, Fiji and Russia in Pool C of the tournament, and will open Day 1 against Russia.

On confirmation of the squad, Director of Sevens Rugby, Anthony Eddy said;

"While we finished with a win in the Trophy competition in Dubai, we wanted to be in the Quarter-Finals on Day 2, so that is the aim for Sydney.

It's going to be another tough pool with Canada, Fiji and Russia who were three of the top five teams on the series last season.

We will have a week-long training camp in Narrabeen, where the players will have the chance to recover from the long flights and get acclimatised to the warm-weather in Australia, while preparing for the three important games on Day 1.

We'll then continue our preparations as we move to the tournament hotel in the lead into the tournament kicking off.”

The Sydney 7s sees both the Women's and Men's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series takes place over three days at the Allianz Stadium in Moore Park, with the pool stages taking place on Australia Day, Friday 26^th, the quarter-finals and Trophy games taking place on Saturday and finals day taking place on Sunday 28^th January.

For more information on the Sydney 7s, or to buy tickets, visit: http://www.sydney7s.com.au/

Ireland Women's 7s – Sydney 7s, Allianz Stadium, Sydney – 26^th – 28^th January 2018

Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke RFC /Ulster)
Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC/Ulster)
Jeamie Deacon (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) *
Aoife Doyle (Shannon RFC & Railway Union RFC/Munster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union RFC/Leinster)
Katie Heffernan (Railway Union RFC/Leinster)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster)
Eve Higgins (Railway Union RFC/Leinster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum RFC)
Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe (Railway Union RFC/Munster)
Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster)
Audrey O'Flynn (Ireland Sevens)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster)

*Denotes uncapped at this level

Ireland Women's 7s – Sydney 7s Fixtures – Pool C
Friday 26^th January 2018
Russia v Ireland – 10:00am (local time)/11:00pm (Irish time)
Canada v Ireland – 1:06pm (local time)/2:06am Saturday (Irish time)
Ireland v Fiji – 3:50pm (local time)/04:50am Saturday (Irish time)

Friday 27^th January 2018
Play-offs

Saturday 28^th January 2018
Final Day

For more info on the HSBC Women's Sevens Series, visit: https://www.worldrugby.org/womens-sevens-series

Baxter and Boles included in Ireland Women's squad for Sydney 7s

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