Leinster training has officially begun, with pre-season preparations in the gym. Now there are 35 squad members in the gym at six in the morning every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have been doing this for the last four weeks, and the early mornings have got a little bit easier.
It is great to have so many in the gym for our sessions. We are using a great new facility in town called Raw Condition, which is very spacious – even with all of us in the gym there is still plenty of room and equipment for everyone.
Aside from training, I am still suffering with a knee injury, so I went for a second opinion and found that it wasn’t cartilage damage but a small ligament sprain which will be easily healed. No impact training for a week and some rehab exercises and I hope to be running again by next Saturday.
This week we received an e-mail informing us that the first Irish fitness test will take place on 18 July, and that Sami Dowling will also be the Irish conditioning coach, which is great news. All 44 players from the initial squad last year have been invited back for the fitness test. I think the actual number will be down on the day as a good few of the girls will be away on holidays, but they will be tested on their return.
Elsewhere, in the men’s game it’s all systems go. The Ireland A team played a remarkable final against the English Saxons recently, with a final score of 49–22. The team performance was exceptional, but there were some individuals that you will hear about again, most notably centre Fergus McFadden, fullback Felix Jones and prop Cian Healy. These are young guys who will be the future stars of Irish rugby.
Over to South Africa, and I am absolutely gutted for the Lions – two games, and two losses. I can only begin to imagine how upset they are. After the last match against the Springboks in Pretoria, captain Paul O’Connell was speechless and Simon Shaw was welling up. It just shows how much this tour means not only to the fans but also to the players.
In the first game, the team selection wasn’t right but the Lions fought on and came back from the brink only for time to run out. In the second test, the Lions came out fighting and looked to be playing the better, more physical rugby. However, injury to four key players in the final 20 minutes meant that the South Africans snatched the win with the last kick of the game.
Firstly, losing two props from a dominant scrum meant the game went to uncontested scrums, which I believe didn’t help their cause. Then to lose the most effective partnership on the tour, Jamie Roberts and Brian O’Driscoll, was a cruel blow to the team.
Although the Lions were excellent, the game also showed why South Africa are the World Cup winners. They scored two tries straight off the set-piece and made substitutions at the correct time, one scoring a try and the other kicking the final penalty. That’s the stuff champions are made of.
There has been much finger-pointing by the press and blaming of individuals on the Lions squad. But this is a team sport. When the team wins, it is the efforts of the full team that should be acknowledged, and the same should go when a team loses.
The British & Irish Lions now head into their final test match knowing that South Africa have already won the series, and they will have a number of injuries to contend with. But you can be guaranteed that they will go out and play with the pride and desire that they showed in the last two matches, which in my view were two of the most compelling games of rugby in some time.
Fiona Coghlan is an Irish International rugby player. Her column appears every fortnight in Metro Éireann
