Ireland internationals Niamh O’Dowd and Brittany Hogan have exited the Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU]’s central contract system for playing opportunities in England.
Prop O’Dowd has joined Ireland team-mates Sam Monaghan, Neve Jones and Ellena Perry at Premiership Women’s Rugby champions Gloucester-Hartpury as injury cover for the rest of the season.
Back-row forward Hogan will move to Sale Sharks in January. O’Dowd and Hogan both featured for Ireland at the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, where Scott Bemand’s side lost to France in the quarter-finals.
Earlier this year, Ireland star Aoife Wafer left Leinster to join Harlequins.
Ireland internationals Linda Djougang, Meabh Deely and Siobhan McCarthy have also left Ireland’s women’s high performance programme, but the IRFU says they remain “players of national interest”.
Seven players have been awarded their first national contract, including forwards Ailish Quinn, Beth Buttimer, Ivana Kiripati, Jane Neill and Jemima Verling and backs Caitriona Finn and Chisom Ugwueru.
Quinn and Kiripati made their Test debuts during the World Cup warm-up games in August, while Kiripati and Buttimer were included in Bemand’s tournament squad.
A total of 35 players have been awarded central deals.
Ireland’s home-based players will compete in the cross-border Celtic Challenge competition between December and March before the national squad reassembles for the Women’s Six Nations in April.
