Dede Sophie

 Santos PNG Orchids coach Ben Jeffries confirms his 20-player PNG Prime Minister’s XIII Women’s squad will face the Australian Prime Minister’s XIII Women in this Sunday’s clash at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. The match will be played with unlimited interchange and all 20 players are expected to feature. Elsie Albert is unavailable for the match, due to NRLW semi-final commitments with St George Illawarra Dragons, but Orchid number 20, Gloria Kaupa, will captain the side. Jeffries says this is a valuable opportunity for the Santos PNG Orchids, who have not played a match since November 2019, and recently named a 23-player squad for the upcoming Rugby League World Cup (RLWC), featuring many new faces. Nine players will be making their first international appearance in PNG colours on Sunday, so they are seeing a new era of Orchids come through.  Coach Jefferies says this will be their toughest career test to date, playing against stars of State of Origin, the Australian Jillaroos and other

Kia Ireland has commissioned three pageant elements for this year’s St Patrick’s Festival Parade in Dublin, under the title ‘A Future That Moves Us’, writes Brian Byrne. The pageant will be a total of 100 metres long within the Parade, exploring the balance between nature and humans and highlighting Creativity, Nature, and Oceans — that last a reflection of Kia’s global support for the Ocean Clean-up project. The pageant is being built by Buí Bolg Youth Arts based in Wexford. A fleet of electrified Kia vehicles will be provided to assist the various celebrations of the Festival from March 16–19. This will include a vehicle display area at the Festival Quarter in Collins Barracks, National Museum of Decorative Arts. Pictured are Ronan Flood, Managing Director of Kia Ireland with Richard Tierney CEO of St Patrick’s Festival, at the partnership launch in Collins Barracks, National Museum of Decorative Arts.