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 her for a good while, previous role came across her quite a lot. We had some ongoing informal conversations. I've been in England, I’ve bumped into her, crossed paths. She knew that she was working hard around performance and there’d be a point that we may look at her or may not.
"It's an opportunity that’s presented itself. We base everything around our on-pitch performances. We feel this is the right time, we feel she can add to it so she was pretty pleased to say, 'Yeah I’d be up for coming in'."
With O'Leary's five Irish caps for Ireland coming in the back row, and Daley uncapped at international level, the inexperience of Ireland's other hooker options in the squad means Moloney is quite likely to be involved in Cork this weekend, supplementing first choice hooker Neve Jones from the bench.
Bemand says he's yet to make a call on selection this week, with the coach set to name his team this Thursday afternoon.
However, with only Linda Djougang holding more than Moloney's 31 caps in the current squad, he admits the hooker's experience will be hugely valuable.
"No, we haven't done selection yet. We got a training week to complete for us to bed-in, get to know her, get to know us. She’s day two. She’s going fine and we’ll see what that looks like for selection.
"You're going into these Six Nations games that carry a bit of weight, it's going to be a good ding-dong battle against Wales. Having a few caps, a few experiences under your belt I think probably gives you something that you can fall back on."
Ireland co-captain Edel McMahon says Moloney's return is a huge boost for the squad as they look to pick up their first win of the championship.
McMahon, who is a team-mate and housemate of Moloney's at Premiership side Exeter, says she's seen up close how badly her teammate wanted to return to the international squad.
"It's brilliant. I live with her so I think I know her quite well," McMahon said.
"I've been privileged to play with her for a long time with Wasps and Chiefs so I just know the standard that she lives by day to day, what she brings on the pitch and yeah she’s slotted in very well and training well as well.
"I suppose her aggression, definitely and assertiveness around the park [is impressive]. She carries well, she’s slotted in really well with the girls already. Just going about her business, so straight to it."
Listen to live commentary of Ireland v Wales in the Guinness Women's Six Nations from 4.45pm on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport, and follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app.
