Big challenges lie aheadThe Irish 35-player squad has been announced, and in total 11 new players will get a chance to stake their claim to play for Ireland. It also sees the return to the squad of seasoned international players Patrique Kelly and Joy Neville, who return from a year’s travelling around the world. Unfor-tunately it also sees Rachel Boyd and Eimear O’Sulllivan taking a year out due to work commitments; hopefully we will see them back in the mix for next season, as they are quality players that still have a few years rugby left in them.
The first training session commenced last Saturday morning at St Mary’s RFC in Dublin. Firstly we had a meeting to get all the formalities of introductions and housekeeping out of the way. Then it was straight into the action.
The first session involved plenty of contact from all aspects of the game; that session lasted two hours, following which we had a nice warm lunch break. The second session consisted of more match situations and using what we had done in the earlier session in a match context. We finished up at 4pm and were straight to our hotel for a pool session before the usual group meal. Dinnertime with the squad is always entertaining, and Joy Neville offered us plenty of crazy stories about her trip around the world.
Later in the evening we had a short meeting about goals for the coming season. We were then free from about half past 10 to relax. Although I was physically and mentally tired, I find it tough to just sit and relax in my room or even go to bed early. I eventually got to bed about midnight.
There was no such thing as a lie-in this weekend, as we were up on Sunday for weigh-in at 8am and then down for breakfast. Again we were on the pitch for 10.30, but this morning was different as we broke into units; the forwards went away and did a tough scrummaging session, while the backs did backline attack and defence – us forwards definitely got the raw deal.
Just before lunch we were split into two teams to play a full game in the afternoon – properly organised, with a referee – and we were given about 45 minutes to organise calls, etc. I was very impressed with the standard of the game. Sometimes when you play games like this against each other it can be a messy affair, but this was a really well contested, physical game.
I was happy enough with my own performance, considering it was the first session, and I really enjoyed the weekend. There was a great buzz in the camp and everyone seemed to getting on well, even though there is competition for places. We will have Irish training again next weekend as we look to take another step forward.
The previous weekend saw UL Bohs travel north to play Cooke. It is such a long journey from Limerick, with the club putting us up in Dundalk for the night. But it was really good for the whole team to spend time together, because at every training session there is always someone missing.
Due to a number of injuries in the back row, I was moved from my usual position of prop to play number seven, and I was also jumping in the line-out. I had a great time; with the amount of freedom and energy I had playing in the back row, I felt so much more involved in the game. We had a comprehensive victory, too, and also got the opportunity to give five new girls their first game of competitive rugby.
However, our toughest matches to date are yet to come, when in December we meet last year’s finalists Highfield and the in-form team Blackrock.
Fiona Coghlan is an Irish International rugby player. Her column appears every fortnight in Metro Eireann
