Ireland head coach Scott Bemand says he is yet to finalise his captaincy plans ahead of next week's Test with Australia in Belfast, as well as the upcoming WXV 1 campaign in Vancouver.
Forwards Sam Monaghan and Edel McMahon have shared the role during Bemand’s first season in charge, but Monaghan is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, and will miss the upcoming international window.
Monaghan was injured in Gloucester-Hartpury's Premiership Women’s Rugby final win over Bristol in June, and could potentially be a doubt for next year’s Six Nations championship.
"She hurt her knee, it's going to take a wee while for her to come back from it. I'm pretty gutted for her, really," Bemand said as a 35-player Ireland squad gathered in Dublin ahead of next week’s Test with Australia at Kingspan Stadium.
Monaghan has been one of Ireland’s key performers in recent seasons, but the Ireland head coach (below) is looking to the silver lining, as he aims to build squad depth before the World Cup in 2025.
"What she's done over my tenure here, over 12 months, the captaincy role leading both on and off the pitch, she's been excellent.
"Injuries happen, that's nature of our sport, what it does do is it gives somebody else a chance to step into a space and grow and own it. We've all said going into a World Cup we'll need a very competitive 45.
"Albeit it's not great for us, not great for Sam, but this is the next opportunity to develop depth, so by the time we get to the World Cup we'll be three-deep in every position."
Bemand added that he will wait until closer to the Test with Australia on Saturday 14 September before confirming his captain, whether that be singular of plural.
"They [Monaghan and McMahon] were outstanding last year, both from an on-pitch and off-pitch perspective.
"Obviously with Sam ruled out, it doesn't rule her out of a leadership position between now and the World Cup.
"Tricky [McMahon] is the co-captain that's currently available, she'll be looking to use all of her experience now. I think we'll still need some more support for Tricky now over the next space, so we'll let it play out over the next couple of weeks, obviously we have the Test match there as well, so we can really see what that leadership role looks like."
The Ireland squad gathered at the IRFU high performance facility in Dublin today for their first camp of the new season, just two days on from the conclusion of the Women’s Interprovincial Championship, where Leinster retained their title after defeating Munster in the final.
And the former England assistant coach is confident that gametime will toughen up his squad ahead of a bruising schedule across the next six weeks, with WXV games against New Zealand, Canada and the USA ahead of them.
"What it does give you, it's four games and it battle-hardens you. It's a few years ago now since I played, but you could be as fit as anything in pre-season, until you play the first game you forget how tiring rugby is.
"It battle-hardens you, we noticed it last year in WXV 3 in Dubai, those that played Interpros definitely went into the competition more robust, more resilient to the bumps and bruises that rugby can give you.
"It actually gives us an opportunity really to put our best rugby out there. We won't all be playing that first game back."
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