Brittany Hogan doesn't get the credit she deserves, and talk of a "back row crisis" in the Ireland team has been overstated, according to Dorothy Wall.
Tipperary woman Wall is among a trio of back-five forwards unavailable for Scott Bemand's side ahead of their Rugby World Cup opener against Japan on Sunday (12 noon, live on RTÉ).
Wall and Erin King were both ruled out of the tournament after suffering injuries in the Six Nations, while Aoife Wafer is recovering from a knee injury suffered in training over the summer.
Co-captain Edel McMahon, meanwhile, missed both warm-up games at the start of August with a knee injury but trained with the squad during the week at their base in Towcestrians Rugby Club outside Northampton.
Six Nations player of the tournament Wafer, who required surgery, is in Dublin continuing her rehabilitation but could feature further down the Pool C road where Ireland also face Spain and New Zealand.
Among the options in the back row are Grace Moore, player of the match against Scotland three weeks ago, Ivana Kiripati, the bolter from Connacht who has two caps, Fiona Tuite, who started at lock against Canada before switching to the flank, and Claire Boles, who impressed off the bench in recent games.
But Exeter's Wall, who will be part of RTÉ Sport's TV coverage of the World Cup, is adamant that experienced Ulster number 8 Hogan, capped 34 times, is more than capable of compensating for the loss of dynamic duo King and Wafer, in particular.
"There's lots of talk about Erin and Wafer and myself being injured and a back-row crisis, but Brittany Hogan is a gainline workhorse, she does it every week," Wall said.
"Her skills are phenomenal, she’s at every breakdown, doing the hard yards.
"Against bigger teams like England and New Zealand, go-forward [ball] is so important, and Brittany Hogan gets it for your every time.
"She’s incredibly underrated in the media and she’s the glue that keeps the Irish back row together."
The 26-year-old County Down native is almost certain to be named in the starting team this morning.
However, there are a number of less straightforward decisions to be made for the Franklin's Garden showdown with the Sakura.
Niamh O'Dowd, Neve Jones or Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, and Linda Djougang, are likely to make up the starting front row, with captain Sam Monaghan, and Tuite or Ruth Campbell behind them.
There’s a variety of back-row options, but who starts inside out-half Dannah O’Brien is a toss-up.
Aoibheann Reilly, Emily Lane and Molly Scuffil-McCabe are all vying for two spots in the 23 but Ireland lose little whoever gets the nods there.
Eve Higgins was superb at 12 against Scotland, with second centre Aoife Dalton aiming to continue the form that saw her named Ireland's player of the year in May.
Stacey Flood's full-court game probably gets her the full-back shirt and there’s nothing between Béibhinn Parsons, Amee-Leigh Costigan and Anna McGann for the wings spots.
We’ll know how the cards fall at 11am.
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