Ireland are having to go through qualification for the first time to compete in the Rugby World Cup.

The girls in green did not finish in the top seven of the 2017 World Cup which means they have to go through qualifiers to grab their spot in the 2021 competition in New Zealand.

Only one national team from the European qualification round will make the World Cup. The preliminaries take place in September 2020.

For the first time in Europe, a qualification round is taking place. Ireland will be playing Italy, Scotland and the winner of the 2020 Rugby Europe Championship.

The REC is the second tier version of the Six Nations with 19 countries competing. tournament.

Ireland international Leah Lyons exclusively told News Chain: "We have messed up a bit which is why we are in this situation but I hope we will throw ourselves into a good place and get back into a good routine of winning.

"Going forward, getting on that plane to New Zealand, to go to the World Cup is the end goal of everything."

The 2021 World Cup will be the ninth time the competition has taken place. It will also be the first time that the southern hemisphere will host the tournament with New Zealand winning the bid.