Fiona Coghlan's Rugby Diary
Officially we’ve been on off-season for the last two weeks, but all that means is just ‘no contact rugby’. We still have a training programme to be following, to keep us ticking over; it’s not intense, but it means there’s something to be done everyday.
Not only that, but we’re back in pre-season training next week in preparation for the World Cup. This week an extended squad of 44 was selected to participate in the strength and conditioning programme.
For the first squad session in June this will be reduced to 36, so in order to be selected players need to be putting it in at the gym and giving everything they’ve got before the first cuts are made.
With less than 100 days left before the opening game against England, all our attentions are focused on being in the best shape that we can be.
On top of that, ten games in the tournament will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, the first being ours on 20 August. This is fantastic news for the women’s game and the competition.
Looking to keep myself sharp, during last week I decided to play a bit of touch rugby. To be honest, I didn’t take to it immediately as the tactics are very different from normal rugby. It does improve your skill level, however, which will only stand to benefit me.
Touch rugby is only starting to get popular here, and I think with enough promotion it could overtake tag rugby. At the moment the majority of players are Kiwis and Aussies, who play it so well compared to us Irish – but we’ll surely catch up with more experience.
Elsewhere, the official opening of the new stadium at Lansdowne Road took place last Friday. The pictures look very impressive, and it’s surely set to be a world-class facility. Indeed, everyone involved in the vision and dream of such a stadium must be so proud. I would love to get the chance to play there myself.
The next day I took a rare trip to the RDS to see Leinster take on Munster in the semi-final of the Magner’s League. The first half was fairly evenly matched, but in the second half Leinster took control of the game and won it with a convincing score of 16-6.
Jamie Heaslip was the man of the match again – that’s three games in a row now, a testament to how well he’ s playing at the moment. He is a world-class player and must be the top number eight in the sport at the moment.
I just hope he can maintain this form going forward. It has been a long season for the players, after all, and it’s not over yet as they face the prospect of a summer tour. I’d say at this stage they’re all looking forward to a holiday!
Fiona Coghlan is an Irish International rugby player. Her column appears every fortnight in Metro Éireann
