Hard work ahead Christmas is already long forgotten. After the New Year’s celebrations, we were straight back into training with the 26-woman Six Nations squad. Training outside has been a bit of a nightmare due to the horrible weather conditions, but we couldn’t afford to let that hold us back. Our focus at training now are team patterns and calls, and for the coaches to see what combinations work best. And after training we have mandatory ice-baths – that is the last thing you want after freezing outside for a few hours, but I suppose you are thankful of them the next day.
The first weekend back we had two serious injuries – Joy Neville, our number 8 who was showing remarkable pre-season form, completely tore her medial ligament in her knee, and Gillian Bourke, one of our props, got a concussion. Joy is definitely out for a minimum of six weeks, but Gillian will hopefully be back in contention for our match against Italy. We have been desperately unlucky with injuries this season and it is terrible for the squad, but hopefully the girls make speedy recoveries.
The Saturday night of that first weekend we had a bit of a team get-together. Psycho, our manager, broke us into groups and we had to devise a rap based on a certain country in the Six Nations. My group were France, and we had a laugh trying to put together some lyrics, but Caroline Mahon and her Italian group stole the show – she would give 50 Cent a run for his money.
The following day in training there was more of a focus on set pieces. We got a lot of work done during the weekend, and everyone was very happy leaving. I spent most of the Monday in the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry with Joy Neville while she got an MRI done on her knee. The clinic really is a class facility, and I would recommend it to anyone with a sports injury to go there; you will get the best of treatment in a lovely environment.
Five days later, we were scheduled to play against an Ireland A team, comprising a number of players that had been on the original squad before it was cut, along with some inter-provincial players, and coached by Fiona Steed. In her day Fiona was a remarkable player, and I have no doubt she will make it as a coach in the near future.
In the morning we trained as a team running through calls – nothing too tiring – and after lunch we played the match. A number of the A team probably felt that they had a point to prove for not being selected, so it was always going to be a tough game. At the same time, we seemed to lack any spark and things didn’t always go our way. We won the match well and our try line wasn’t breached, but we could have racked up far more points. We just weren’t clinical enough.
I think after the match we realised how much work was still to be done prior to the Six Nations. That night we did some video analysis of the game and it was clear where we were having difficulties – all due respect to the A team, who gave us nothing easy.
The next morning we were due to train at St Mary’s, but due to torrential rain overnight the pitches were unplayable. It took some time to find a playable pitch, and thankfully Navan RFC came to our rescue. Needless to say, the Cork girls weren’t too happy about an extra hour being added onto their journey, but it had to be done. Due to the relocation we only trained for two hours, but there was quality work done in that time.
So what’s next? On Saturday we will play a touring USA team, so it will give us another chance to implement our game plan. After that match, the 22 players for the first game against Italy on 1 February will be announced, and the next day we play a league game with UL Bohs. Although it is certainly not ideal to play two games in the one weekend, fixtures get changed a lot at this time of year, so it can’t be avoided.
Fiona Coghlan is an Irish International rugby player. Her column appears every fortnight in Metro Eireann
