pain

To continue their upward trajectory, Bemand, who has signed a new deal to stay with Ireland until the conclusion of the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup, has freshened up his squad and opted for a change of captain.

There are nine uncapped players in the 36-strong panel while winger Amee-Leigh Costigan, who captained the side throughout last year’s championship, and former co-captain Edel McMahon, are out.

The armband has been passed to returning back row Erin King, who Bemand believes is the ideal candidate to lead the green wave into a new cycle.

He said: “Erin embodies the Ireland player of the future of how she attacks training and how she is – honest, driven and a resilient player.”

The 22-year-old recently returned from the serious knee injury which forced her to miss last year’s World Cup and is relishing her new role.

King believes Ireland must target being competitive in both games against the top two and it is not an unrealistic goal.

They were well in the game at half-time in Cork last year when they trailed 7-5, only for England to blow them away in the second half to win 49-5.

At the World Cup in the summer, Ireland led 13-0 at the break before France came back with 18 unanswered points to progress to the last four.

“We know we are bridging the gap to the top two teams – France and England. They’ve been professional for a lot longer than us but the last few years of our professionalism is paying off now,” she said.

“Last year we held it to England for a good while so it would be great if we could compete for the full 80 [minutes] against them and get to get one up on France, we can definitely compete with them.

“With the squad we have, we can do things we’ve never done before. We just want to get going.”

EMOTIONAL Kelsey Parker has confessed “her pain will never go away” as she opened up on grief on the fourth anniversary of her husband Tom’s death.

Kelsey unexpectedly found herself a widow at age 32 after her late husband Tom Parker from the boyband The Wanted tragically died.

The famous singer passed away in March 2022 at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

Kelsey has been open with fans on grief and juggling life as a mum – her and Tom have two children together, Aurelia and Bodhi.

Speaking on the Cbeebies HQ Parenting Helpline podcast, Kelsey shared how she’s been dealing with the grief of losing her husband four years ago.

Addressing a parent in a similar situation, Kelsey said: “Your pain is never going to go away. That pain is never gonna go away. What you learn to do is live around your pain.”

Read more on Kelsey Palmer

BUSY APRIL

Paige Spiranac stuns in tight outfit as hot golf influencer prepares for Masters

RAW REVEAL

Kelsey Parker is ‘shattered all over again’ after ‘painfully hard lessons’

“It makes me emotional talking about it.”

Kelsey continued: “I am grieving and I am getting out of bed and I am being a parent because I have no other choice.”

Recalling the day Tom died, she said: ” I told the kids I need to go to the hospice to make sure that the angels come for daddy today, so that’s when I knew he was gonna die.

“He’s never coming back we will never see him again.”

Talking to Tom in his last days, Kelsey remembered saying: “I said ‘I know you’ve put me on this path and I will walk this path for you now, and I will do everything to bring your children up the way you wanted to bring your children up’.”

The motivational speaker told podcast host Holly Hagan that she had no choice but to get up everyday and be a mum – her kids needed her.

She explained they were obviously going “mummy, mummy can you come make me breakfast? and Kelsey said she’s not going to turn around and say, “no I’m grieving. I’m devastated your dad’s died.”

Despite having dealt with grief so young, Kelsey felt her kids had developed strong resilience.

Geordie Shore‘s Holly captioned the podcast clip: “This episode with the fabulous @being_kelsey was so incredibly empowering. It actually ran over about an hour because we just could not stop talking.”

Since the death of her husband Kelsey has become host of the Mums The World podcast and a motivational speaker diving into the world of unexpected grief.

Kelsey has also found love again with tree surgeon, Will Lindsay, after hard-launching their relationship back in September 2024.

KATIE Price’s furious sister Sophie has revealed her true thoughts on the glamour model’s whirlwind marriage to Lee Andrews – admitting she was left shocked over the nuptials.

The mum-of-five married Lee in Dubai just ten days after meeting him, leaving her friends and family back home blindsided.

Following the nuptials, we revealed how Katie’s family were worried for the star and concerned Lee was a ‘conman’ .

It came after he was unmasked as fantasist businessman who faked celebrity links using AI-generated photos.

Katie and Sophie even pulled the plug on their weekly podcast, The Katie Price Show, as the eponymous star admitted her family were ‘angry’.

But now, they have made up and returned to the show with a comeback episode – during which Sophie revealed her true thoughts on the situation.

KATIE’S FEAR

Katie Price warns ‘Harvey will die of a heart attack’ as she begs for fat jabs

family woes

Katie Price admits hospitalised mum cried and ‘was traumatised’ after marriage

Opening the show – which is their first since late January – Katie revealed that her year so far has been ‘fantastic’.

While Sophie said her has been ‘s**t’ due to her sister’s antics.

She began: “I’m not going to lie, this year for me has not been great.

“Mine has been a really f***ing s**t start to the year.”

Katie replied: “But you have had s*** as well. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yeah, caused by you,” said Sophie.

She added: “You, this year, you, this year have been a pain in the a**.

“No, it’s not funny. Mum has been horrendous, is she talking to you yet?”

Katie confirmed that she is talking to her mum, who is currently in hospital.

As they spoke about their mum Amy, Sophie added that Katie had “traumatised” the whole family with her shock romance.

The pair then moved on to other news throughout the episode as Sophie said she “didn’t want to hear it” when it came to conversation surrounding Lee.