Everything you need to know ahead of the Women’s Six Nations

Big weekend ahead.

The Ireland Women's rugby team are heading for an exciting weekend, of course, it's the Women's Six Nations. Ireland is set to play their first match against Wales in Cardiff on March 25th before a home game against France in Musgrave Park on April 1st. After a week's break, the Irish ladies will return to play Italy in Parma on April 15th before taking on England at home on April 22nd. The final game will see Ireland head to Edinburgh on April 29th to take on the Scots. Like the men's Six Nations, both RTÉ and Virgin Media will be showing these games. The match against Wales is to be shown on RTÉ Two and the one against France will be on Virgin Media One. Virgin Media One will also show the Italy game, with the clash with England on RTÉ Two. The final game of the tournament will be shown on Virgin Media One. So what can we expect to see? England are the current favourites to win and they're ranked first in the world right now, with France likely to come in second. The Irish Women's team are ranked 8th in the world at the moment, so they have a decent chance of making climbing up the ranks. The women's team has a tough few games to come following the men's Grand Slam win last weekend, as well as the under 20s three Grand Slam wins in the last five years, with two of them being in the last two years. Ireland's Women last claimed the Grand Slam in 2013 and with a team growing at the rate they are, they will definitely be striving for another.

Ireland squad for this Saturday:

15. Méabh Deely (Blackrock College RFC/Connacht) (2 caps) 14. Aoife Doyle (Railway Union RFC/Munster) (12) 13. Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) (2) 12. Enya Breen (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) (16) 11. Natasja Behan (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) (2) 10. Nicole Cronin (UL Bohemian RFC/Munster) (21) 9. Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Railway Union RFC/Leinster) (4) 1. Sadhbh McGrath (City of Derry/Cooke RFC/Ulster) * 2. Neve Jones (Gloucester-Hartpury/Ulster) (13) 3. Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) (24) 4. Nichola Fryday (Exeter Chiefs/Connacht) (29) (Captain) 5. Sam Monaghan (Gloucester-Hartpury/IQ Rugby) (10) 6. Dorothy Wall (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) (16) 7. Maeve Óg O’Leary (Blackrock College RFC/Munster) (3) 8. Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster) (10)

Replacements:

16. Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (Old Belvedere RFC/Munster)(4) 17. Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) * 18. Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) ( 5) 19. Jo Brown (Worcester Warriors/IQ Rugby) (1) 20. Grace Moore (Saracens/IQ Rugby) (5) 21. Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster) (14) 22. Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster) (2) 23. Vicky Irwin (Sale Sharks/Ulster) (1)