Ireland co-captain Sam Monaghan is looking forward to going head-to-head with world champions New Zealand on rugby's biggest stage next year.
The draw was made for next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup on Thursday, and Ireland have been drawn in the same pool as holders New Zealand, as well as Japan and Spain.
Scott Bemand’s side, who are currently ranked sixth in the world, beat the Black Ferns 29-27 in their opening game of the WXV1 tournament in Canada last month.
And Monaghan expects that the Kiwis will be out to reverse that result when they meet in the England-hosted tournament.
"It’s really exciting," said Monaghan, speaking to RTE Sport. "The group is quite familiar to what we have played over the last couple of years.
"We went on tour to Japan a couple of years ago and just played Spain in WXV, and New Zealand, we’ve just beaten, so we can take confidence from that. So it’s a good group with different styles of play.
"New Zealand, we’re buzzing to play them, and I know they would definitely be up for a re-match as well.
"The group is so resilient. The hard work we do for each other off the pitch really showed in that performance (beating New Zealand).
"I think it’s really important to stay connected as a group, go back to out clubs…and when we all come back together for the Six Nations, we are all singing off the same hymn sheet."
Elsewhere in the group, Monaghan is expecting tough test from two improving sides that will offer stern opposition at the World Cup.
"Japan have kicked on in the last couple of years and they had a decent WXV tournament, so they are always an exciting and clinical team to play," said Monaghan.
"Spain, that was a hard WXV win in the third tier last year, and they have some serious pace with some of their sevens players coming back, and they are always an exciting team to play, a quite passionate team."
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