At last, we’re back on the pitch! At Lein-ster, Tania Rosser has taken over as assistant coach to the backs, acting as player/coach. I think that her and Philip Doyle are a great combination and work really well together. Doyle is the most organised coach I have been under and he infects everyone with his professional attitude.
At the same time, Rosser is the complete professional and has extremely high standards, so I am sure that her game won’t be affected with the added pressure of coaching.
Training so far has been going really well and it is so well organised. I would imagine it is difficult for coaches to be directing players of such varying experience and ability, but I think they’ve struck a great balance. Also involved with Leinster is former international prop Reggie Corrigan, who has recently been appointed to the province as scrum coach and is involved with every team. I am really excited about him being on board, as the scrum is one area of my game I really want to work on this year.
We’re now in the gym on Wednesday and Friday mornings with Sami Dowling, and on those evenings we are on the pitch which also includes an endurance session with Dowling. He is absolutely amazing at his job and so enthusiastic about what he does, but as he puts us through our paces in the endurance sessions he is not so pleasant. Although they are relatively short sessions, they are so tough! Doing them is absolute torture, but afterwards you feel great, with endorphins rushing through your body.
I’m also back training with my club UL Bohs, which now takes place on Monday night to allow for interpro training on Wednesdays. Numbers are not the best at the moment, as we are a team that relies heavily on the college, and until the new term starts next month we will struggle to make up the team.
We have the same coaches as last year, which is brilliant as it allows a level of consistency, and there is a mutual understanding between coaches and players that we have developed over the last year.
The Meteor Munster Sevens competition took place last weekend in Cork. I decided not to play myself, to give my knee some more rest before going into the season, but the girls did really well to win every game and bring home the first silverware of the new rugby year.
We’re aiming to recapture the double again this time. However, it will take a lot of strength and depth in the squad as the structure of the season is a bit crazy, with the league finished immediately after Christmas and the cup taking place without any international players.
On the international scene, the Nations Cup has just concluded. Again England won the competition – with a clean sweep, besting South Africa, France, Canada, and the USA on their way to recapturing the trophy.
This is a competition that Ireland were invited to but for some reason we declined the invitation. It’s a shame, as it would have been a great development opportunity ahead of the next World Cup. I envisage that friendly games will be organised prior to the Six Nations and the World Cup to compensate.
Elsewhere in the rugby world, England are set to play New Zealand in two friendlies in November prior to the men’s internationals. New Zealand are a team I would love to play against, simply because they are World Champions – hopefully that’s something I will get to do before I retire.
Rugby fever is about to take off in Ireland again, with the provinces and clubs engaging in pre-season friendlies at the moment ahead of the competitive games starting in September. The autumn internationals will be the first outings of the season for the Irish team when they face Australia and South Africa. Let’s hope that Leinster and Ireland can reach the great heights of last season.
Fiona Coghlan is an Irish International rugby player. Her column appears every fortnight in Metro Éireann
