Ballina’s O’Leary feels seeds have been sown for Women’s Rugby revival

By Thomas Conway

Brace yourself. The Rugby World Cup is upon us. For the next two months, only one narrative will exist, which revolves around the oval ball. The sense of anticipation has been brewing all summer, and now finally, the moment of truth has arrived.

Ireland enter this tournament with a viable chance. Their prospects are good, despite a typically arduous draw which may or may not set up a quarter-final bout with New Zealand or hosts France, provided they get through a group that contains an improving Scotland and defending champions South Africa.

Whichever way it materialises, rugby will dominate the national sporting agenda, but little will be said about Ireland’s women’s team - which is currently inhabiting a very different sphere from their male counterparts.

With all this focus on the men’s showpiece, certain developments on the women’s front have almost fallen under the radar. A fortnight ago, Ireland appointed a new coach, Scott Bemand, a vastly experienced operator who has previously served as assistant manager to the English women’s squad. And what about the interprovincial series, which reached its denouement last weekend? Again, the competition has failed to capture the headlines, despite producing a relatively high quality of rugby and a good deal of entertainment.

For Munster and Ireland back-row Maeve Óg O’Leary, this lack of attention to developments should be proving frustrating, but in a perverse way, it might actually suit the Ballina native and her colleagues.

Bear in mind that Ireland are coming off the back of a dreadful, indeed a humiliating Six Nations campaign. The entire tournament was a disaster, and Ireland are intent on turning over a new leaf. Hence the reason that O’Leary, who was speaking at the official launch of the new Canterbury Irish women’s jersey, was in sanguine mood.

“Coming into a new competition with a new coach, it’s definitely going to be a new beginning,” she said after being selected in Bemand’s first squad for a training camp this month.

“Our shape will probably be a little different, we’ll probably have a few different plays and that kind of thing.

“But I think as a squad, experiencing what we have experienced in the past six months is only going to bring us together closer. And look, now we have a big job on our hands now, and I think players will be coming in with a fresh mind, a fresh mindset, ready to kick on. Because we want to show what we can do, what we’re capable of. So, we want to kick on from those performances in the Six Nations, so yes, I would definitely say there’s a feeling that we’re making a fresh start.”

Ireland have a busy schedule in the coming months. In October, the squad will travel to Dubai for the inaugural Women’s XV competition - a new multi-dimensional annual tournament designed to elevate the status of the women’s game and provide teams with a pathway to qualification for the 2025 World Cup. The competition will consist of three tiers, featuring teams from across the globe. The tier one element will be hosted by New Zealand; tier two will take place in South Africa; and tier three, where Ireland are situated, will be staged in Dubai. Ireland sit in a group alongside Kazakhstan, Colombia, and Spain, three teams which Bemand’s side should be able to overcome.

Securing promotion to tier two is a priority, according to O’Leary, but this tournament will form part of broader Irish strategy designed to earn the side a passage to the rugby World Cup in England in 2025. It may be two years, but it’s already occupying the minds of both O’Leary and her fellow players.

“We have to dream a little bit,” Maeve feels.

“Our ultimate goal is going to be in that World Cup in England in 2025, and obviously we missed out on the last one - that wasn’t a position the girls wanted to be in at that time and it’s definitely not a position we want to be in again.

“The World Cup is the ultimate goal, but we have to focus on the now, and right now I don’t even have a spot on that plane to the WXV Championship. I have to be focusing on what’s in front of me. But I know that as a squad, our intention is to focus on the smaller battles first. We don’t even have qualification yet, so that will be the first kind of step, but I think we do have to dream, and I think that’s where we want to be - at that World Cup in 2025.”

Rapidly expanding

O’Leary believes the profile of women’s and girls’ rugby in this country is rapidly expanding. While she acknowledges that more work is required, she’s also satisfied with the progress which has been made already. The game is growing at grassroots level. The seeds are being sown, and the benefits will be reaped in the near future.

“There’s definitely more to be done - we all know that,” she adds.

“But it’s going in the right direction, and hopefully it can keep going that way. And hopefully, over time more girls can come into the high-performance centre and put themselves in a position where they’re training every day. Because it’s all about numbers. We need numbers in training, we need numbers to compete. So hopefully, the forward momentum just keeps building.”

Finding those numbers could prove challenging, but Maeve reckons that the second-level schools system should be an obvious target in terms of promoting and developing the game amongst females. Both a junior and a senior cup already exist in Munster, but neither are anywhere to be found across the other provinces, and O’Leary believes that this needs to change in order to stimulate and facilitate the growth of the game on a nationwide level.

“There’s a really big avenue for girls’ rugby in schools,” Maeve points to.

“I know in Munster, for instance, we actually have a junior and senior cup, for the girls, and as far as I know we’re the only province that has that. I definitely think the result of those competitions is starting to show - we have younger girls coming through who may not have had that opportunity a couple of years ago.

“I do think that developing a junior and senior cup in other provinces is the way to go. Feeding players through the schools system is obviously massively important. In Dublin for instance, a lot of schools are probably hockey-focused, but I think if rugby was more of a thing, then it could really take off. But I do think as well, the “give it a try” initiatives across the country are leading to big gains in playing numbers, but we need to keep that going.”

O’Leary’s rise through the ranks in recent years has been nothing short of phenomenal. The 23-year-old Ballina woman was and still is an innately talented sportswoman, having flourished in both camogie and softball during her teenage years. She is, in effect, a trailblazer - a woman who will undoubtedly act as a source of inspiration for a new generation of female rugby players, in both her home towns of Ballina/Killaloe and even further afield.

But she and her Irish teammates are in the midst of challenging times. Whilst the men sparkle on the world stage, the women are currently languishing in the lower echelons of the game. The new Women’s XV tournament offers a potential route out of the malaise, but the pressure is on Ireland. At this point, it’s sink or swim, and unless Bemand can turn the ship around, the prospects for women’s rugby in this country will start to look rather bleak. We’ve reached a tipping point, and for O’Leary, the only way is up.