Scott Bemand: Now is the right time for Cliodhna Moloney to return

Scott Bemand says the time is right for Cliodhna Moloney to resume her international career, although the Ireland coach was non-committal over whether or not the hooker would be involved for this Saturday's Guinness Women's Six Nations meeting with Wales in Cork.

The 30-year-old was recalled to the Ireland squad last week following a shoulder injury for Sarah Delaney, having been a high-profile absentee from Ireland squads since winning the last of her 31 caps just under two and a half years ago.

The hooker had publicly criticised then-women's director of rugby Anthony Eddy in November 2021, accusing the former women's and sevens chief of "slurry spreading", when he had attempted to defend the level of support given to the women's game in Ireland.

The experienced Exeter hooker wasn't selected in Ireland's squads in 2022 and 2023 under former head coach Greg McWilliams, but after both Bemand and Moloney recently revealed that they had been in touch around a possible return, an injury to Delaney opened the door for the Galway native to make a high-profile return.

"We'd been in comms for a reasonable while, we'd been tracking how she’s playing," Bemand said this afternoon, when asked about recalling Moloney for this Saturday's meeting with Wales.

"We got to a point where we feel it’s the right time. We’re carrying two hookers within the 36 [player squad].

"We’ve two training panelist hookers [Maeve Óg O'Leary and India Daley] who are relatively recent conversions to hookers too. Sarah [Delaney] has picked up a little bit of a ding on her shoulder so it’s the right time to give her an opportunity.

"Look, obviously it's going to be very dominant in the headlines this week. The conversation was very informal.

"I knew her, have known