Ireland Director of Rugby Sevens, Anthony Eddy has confirmed the 12-woman side to compete at the Sydney 7s this Friday and Saturday (3rd and 4th February) at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

The side, which will be captained by Lucy Mulhall, sees three changes to the one that competed in the first stage of the 2016/17 World Rugby Women's Sevens Series in Dubai in December.

Susan Vaughan, Chloe Blackmore and Louise Galvin are the new members to the squad this time around, and they will line up alongside Ashleigh Baxter, Katie Fitzhenry, Emma Murphy, Megan Williams, Kim Flood, Stacey Flood, Hannah Tyrrell and Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe.

Ireland have been drawn into Pool B with Fiji, Australia and Brazil.

They will face Fiji in the first game of the day at 1.14pm (local time), before taking on Olympic Gold Medallists and current World Series title holders and hosts Australia at 4.18pm (local time) and will finish day one at the Allianz Stadium against Brazil at 6.38pm (local).

Speaking ahead of the tournament commencing, Eddy said;

"We've had some good preparation time in Sydney ahead of this weekend's competition.

The players trained well in Narrabeen last week and continued to push themselves in training this week ahead of the Sydney Sevens.

We've got three tough pool games tomorrow.

Fiji are always a dangerous and unpredictable side to play against while Australia, who are current World Series title holders and Olympic Gold Medallists will be looking to perform in front of their home crowd. We end the day against Brazil, who are a team with a lot of pace and can really punish you if your defence is not solid.

So it's set to be an exciting and challenging day tomorrow, but one that the players have prepared well for, so now it's all about them performing to the best of their ability on the day.”

Ireland Women's 7s Squad for Sydney 7s

Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster)
Chloe Blackmore (St. Mary's College RFC/Munster)
Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster)
Kim Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster)
Louise Galvin (UL Bohemians/Munster)
Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Emma Murphy (Railway Union/Leinster)
Amee-Leigh Murphy-Crowe (Railway Union/Munster)
Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Susan Vaughan (Railway Union/Leinster)
Megan Williams (Ireland Sevens Programme)

HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series – Sydney 7s – Ireland Fixtures

Pool B
Friday 3rd February 2017
Ireland v Fiji – 13.14 (local) / 2.14 (Irish time)
Australia v Ireland - 16.18 (local) / 5.18 (Irish time)
Ireland v Brazil - 18.38 (local) / 7.38 (Irish time)

Saturday 4th February 2017
Play-Offs

For more information on the HSBC World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, visit here: http://www.worldrugby.org/womens-sevens-series

Ireland Women's 7s Squad Confirmed for Sydney 7s

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