Ireland's qualification path for next year's women's Rugby World Cup is very much in limbo after September's qualifying tournament was postponed.
An eighth place finish when Ireland hosted the tournament in 2017 has left them needing to earn a place at the finals in New Zealand.
Adam Griggs' side had been due to compete in a Rugby Europe event alongside Scotland and Italy at the end of the summer but World Rugby have confirmed that it "will no longer take place in September".
"In light of the dynamic and ongoing situation with regard to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Rugby Europe Rugby World Cup 2021 qualification tournament will no longer take place in September as originally planned," World Rugby have announced.
"A working group composed of World Rugby, Rugby Europe and participating unions will consider suitable alternative options.
"An announcement in relation to the rescheduled tournament will be made at a later stage."
Ireland centre Michelle Claffey has told OTB Sports that it's been a frustrating wait for clarity on what's going to happen:
"With the movement of major tournaments and the Olympics, there's already a lot set to happen in 2021 already.
"It impacts everybody, not just us, and a lot is going to depend on how each team reacts to this lockdown. Our strength and conditioning coach has been organising sessions over Zoom where we can continue working collectively and it has the added benefit of keeping the entire squad in contact with each other as well. There's a really good team here and we're determined, we would have been set for a break around now anyway after the Six Nations before ramping things up in the summer for the World Cup qualifiers."
Everyone’s in the Team Of Us.
Vodafone. The Official Sponsor of the Irish Rugby Team.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
