Ireland’s Grand Slam Dream

So the Irish women began their defence of their 6 nations crown with an impressive 59-0 win over Scotland. Off the back of last year’s success participation in women’s rugby has grown a huge amount with new clubs popping up all over the country. Including a club in Listowel which was great to see.  Kieran O Reilly has been a driving force behind the club with the help of a very dedicated group of volunteers. His Sister Marie Louise Reilly a Irish Women’s international has also been an inspiration to the group.

Having interviewed a few of the current squad , I know what this group is capable of and after the win on Friday night , confidence will only grow and help drive them on. They play in the Aviva and Twickenham over this campaign and they have a real chance of putting back to back titles together before a tilt at the World Cup in France next August.

Coach Philip Doyle and Captain Fiona Coughlan have assembled a very capable squad that can and in my opinion will put on a strong showing in this 6 nations and the World Cup. They play a very open style of rugby but they can also do the dirty work as was shown throughout the game against Italy to win the 2013 6 nations title.

So like their male counterparts they can dream of a 6 nation’s glory. In some ways the women play the same type of game as the men a very open style and they are very aggressive at the breakdown , with messer’s Fleming , Molloy and O Brien very much in the ilk of O Mahony , Henry and Heaslip.

Ireland’s Grand Slam dream of 2014 is very much alive and well for Philip Doyle and his crew as it is for Joe Schmidt and his crew !! We can dream can’t we ??

By

Cian Mc Gibney

05-02-2014