Former Irish women's rugby captain Fiona Coghlan previews upcoming Six Nations
For 11 years, I had the honour of participating in the annual tournament. There is something very special about this competition, the players love it and the fanbase is consistently growing. The atmosphere at the home games is always fantastic.
For years, Ireland consistently finished third in the tournament, struggling to beat England and France. Finally, in 2013, Grand Slam glory came and with it more media coverage but more importantly, more young girls taking up the game. Take Beibhin Parsons, for example, the youngest capped Irish Rugby International ever when at 16-years-old, she ran out against the USA last November.
In 2015, there wasn’t a Grand Slam but there was a Championship win. However, since then performances have dipped. For Ireland, 2019 will be another year of rebuilding but it is encouraging to see the number of players coming through.Ireland face England first and there is no sterner task for this inexperienced Irish side.
England has always had strength and depth in their squads but in the last number of years, they have gone through a restructuring of their game. England appear to be in a good place now and the team is now a fully professional unit. Their domestic game has gone from strength to strength and they also have more numbers playing the game at every level. I fully expect England to be comfortable winners in this game.
The other home game will be against France and the 2018 Grand Slam winners appear to have maintained that form in November International. They play a lovely brand of rugby and have a number of world class players.They have to push for that third-place finish, winning all three away games and of course, looking for performance against the big two.Beibhinn Parsons and Eve Higgins are two exciting young prospects .
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