Tipperary woman Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe is among a list of five uncapped players, who have made the move from sevens into full test rugby, as Ireland coach Adam Griggs named his 35-woman Six Nations squad.
Murphy Crowe has been an integral part of the sevens side, and joins four other sevens players - Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins, Emily Lane, and Grace Moore, who have all been part of the training squad since the conclusion of the Championship back in October.
Joining Murphy Crowe as one of the 16 backs named in the squad is Wexford's Katie Fitzhenry, while fellow Tipperary native Dorothy Wall retains her place from last year's Championship in the forwards.
Ireland will be without the experienced trio of Ciara Cooney, Edel McMahon and Grand Slam winner Larissa Muldoon as all three are unavailable due to injury.
With dates and kick-off times for the Championship confirmed today by Six Nations Rugby. Ireland start their campaign away to Wales on April 10th with a 5pm kick off.
"It means a huge amount to us to have test rugby on the horizon" said Ireland coach Griggs. "This group have been working very closely together over the past number of months and the Six Nations was always going to be a priority for us.
"We have two more camps to fine tune things ahead of the first fixture and competition for match squad places will be high."
