When Adam Griggs took over as head coach to the Ireland Women’s rugby team prior to the 2018 Six Nations Championship, there was always going to be an acclimatisation period as the players and the New Zealander worked through the transition in terms of personnel and playing philosophy.
Three matches into the third Six Nations campaign under his stewardship, there is a more defined shape and a better understanding between coach and players. There have been some rough moments in terms of results, particularly in 2019 when Ireland lost four of five Six Nations matches, but progress has been evident – not just in beating Scotland and Wales in the present campaign that resumes on Saturday night against Italy in Energia Park, but also in the style of play.
Griggs has been measured in taking time to develop the group, which was shorn initially of several established senior players through retirement and injuries, but also in nurturing young talent and exposing them to Test rugby in a graduated manner. It’s been a two-way process, with the players challenging the coach.
He admitted: “I found that in my first year with the first group, it was about making sure we had a good environment but it wasn’t pushing them as hard as they could have been pushed. So over the last year or two, players have come and gone but we are now at a point where, for me, I don’t think it would matter if I was coaching a men’s or women’s team because of the playing group we have.
“They want to be pushed, they’re driven to succeed and if they don’t get that they let you know about it. It’s quite refreshing coaching the women in that regard that they want the detail, they want to know why they are doing things and if you can’t give them that, you’re found out very quickly. That’s kept me on my toes and helped me along the way, that actually I know I’m just dealing with a group of rugby players that want to be some of the best in the world.”
Upcoming matches
In looking back on his first six Nations in charge, 14 of the 23 players in the matchday squad that lost 33-11 to England at the Ricoh Arena in the final match of that campaign remain part of the extended 34-woman squad that is preparing for the upcoming matches against Italy and then, eight days later, will travel to Lille to take on France.
It would have been more but for an injury to secondrow Aoife McDermott who will miss the upcoming matches; so too flanker Edel McMahon, who, like McDermott, started all three of Ireland’s matches in the 2020 Six Nations. Claire McLaughlin is also sidelined, but the backrow resources are bolstered by the return of the peerless Claire Molloy.
She elected to take a year’s sabbatical to concentrate on her medical duties, but the 69-times capped openside flanker is once again available. Molloy is an outstanding rugby player by any yardstick, male or female, and a focal point for her teammates in the way she competes, her tenacity, athleticism and game appreciation.
Teenage wing Beibhinn Parsons is at the other end of the scale in experience terms, an exciting prospect with oodles of ability; the challenge for her and her teammates is to ensure that she sees plenty of ball. Griggs used just 28 players in the three Six Nations to date, and the likelihood is that he won’t deviate appreciably from the team that lost to England before the campaign was halted due to coronavirus.
Hesitant
That day, Ireland went into a shell a little bit in playing terms, unsure and hesitant, and it’s undoubtedly a lesson they’ll have absorbed ahead of the Italian game: courage is physical but it’s also a mental test when it comes to the confidence to adhere to the principles of play.
There are three uncapped players in the squad: 21-year-old Katie O’Dwyer (Railway Union), former underage Sevens international Shannon Touhey (Suttonians) and Neve Jones (Malone). The priority for the squad will be to finish as strongly as possible in the tournament and take some momentum into qualifiers for next year’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, the draw for which takes place in December.
Ireland are due to play three qualifying matches in December alongside Scotland, Saturday’s opponents Italy, and a Rugby Europe qualifier (Spain are favourites), but the suspension of the latter tournament with two rounds of matches left has left it up in the air. Rugby Europe are currently discussing the issue with World Rugby to find a resolution.
The priority, though, for Griggs’s charges is Saturday night in Donnybrook, evolution not revolution.
