Gerry Thornley: IRFU must shoulder some blame for state of women’s rugby in Ireland

Watching the distressed female Irish players trying to console each other after Saturday’s heartbreaking, last-ditch defeat by Scotland in Parma which wrenched World Cup qualification aspirations from their grasp made for a very uncomfortable, almost invasive, watch. It was a relief when the RTÉ cameras panned back to the studio.

Watching Sene Naoupu embracing a tearful Ciara Griffin, it's a wonder that Naoupu had kept her own emotions under control. Representing Ireland at a World Cup in her native New Zealand would have been such a fitting finale to her stellar career.

Yesterday, former Irish captain Claire Molloy, curiously left on the bench until half-time, announced her retirement from the game. This was not the ending she wanted.

As Sean O’Brien wrote on Twitter: “It would break your heart looking at the Irish women’s team after that defeat. The effort and sacrifice they make is incredible and I think it’s very fair to say not enough is done for them! The powers to be need to do more IMO!”

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One can only imagine how much work the coaches and players had put into this qualifying tournament only to suffer the biggest disappointment in their careers. Of course, they players have to accept some of the blame. It's doubtful either Scotland or Spain are even as well resourced. Ireland should not be losing to either of them. Ireland had won 14 of their 15 meetings with Scotland since 2006. Even in last April's abbreviated three-game Six Nations, whereas Ireland had beaten a hapless Wales by 45-0 and Italy by 25-5, Scotland struggled to beat Wales 27-20 and lost 41-20 to the Azzurre.

Sheer heart

But from the endgame collapse under pressure against Spain, when Ireland’s defensive line-out maul disintegrated, through to losing late on against Scotland either side of a 15-7 win based largely on a superb defensive effort and sheer heart, Ireland’s performances were undermined by a malfunctioning lineout, scrum problems and both breakdown and discipline issues.

There is a palpable disconnect between the IRFU and the largely disaffected women's club game which seems even wider than in the men's game

They also looked highly nervous all through the three matches. Quite why the team came up so short will no doubt be the subject of another in-house IRFU review into another failed campaign, the findings of which, no doubt, will remain in-house. They should take an even closer look at themselves.

In the same way that the union, David Nucifora and Antony Eddy could bask in the glow of the men's sevens qualifying for the Olympics, so too do they have to assume some of the responsibility for such a hugely damaging blow to the women's game in this country.

It’s all a far cry from the glory days of 2013, 2014 and 2015, when Ireland won the Grand Slam, beat New Zealand en route to the World Cup semi-finals and, with a remodelled team, won the Six Nations title again.

Most of all the union, Nucifora and Eddy stand indicted for allowing it to come this given that dissenting voices within the women’s game have been warning of this being on the horizon for years.

The first warning signs were when Ireland hosted the World Cup in 2017 and gave their heart and soul to the competition but finished eighth. The then captain Ruth O’Reilly stated: “The guys in the blazers need to decide if this is something they are serious about.”

As recently as last April, after those wins over Wales and Italy had papered over the cracks which were manifest in the 56-15 defeat by France, Gavin Cummiskey in these pages maintained that serious questions remained for Irish women’s rugby and that structural reform was urgently required.

That same month he asked who is in charge of Irish women’s rugby, with several sources saying that the absence of anyone to actually run the domestic game was stymieing progress.

Women’s rugby is not part of the professional arm under Nucifora or his director of women’s rugby, namely Eddy, who also oversees the men’s sevens. It’s also clear that the investment in the women’s sevens game has hindered the 15-a-side team.

There is a palpable disconnect between the IRFU and the largely disaffected women’s club game which seems even wider than in the men’s game.

That Eddy actually negotiated Linda Djougang’s move to Clermont this season tells us much about the union’s view of the AIL. Imagine the union helping a frontline men’s international move to France?

The IRFU women’s committee has no representative from the 10 All-Ireland League clubs.

One of the core fault lines leading into the failed qualifying campaign is that someone, somewhere, thought it would be a good idea for the women’s internationals not to play any rugby matches outside of those three games in April prior to the tournament in Parma. And that dates all the way back to pre-pandemic days.

To further demonstrate the lack of joined-up thinking, Eddy, even though he is the director of women’s rugby in Ireland, does not sit on the women’s committee.

Then, rather than play for their clubs or in the hastily arranged interprovincial championship, which of course also featured the utterly lamentable Donnybrook changing facilities debacle, it was decided they'd be better off just training in the IRFU's high performance centre.

I think it is important to recognise that the women's and men's game are different so let's not try and do the same thing because I think we will fail

Compare and contrast with the 2014 World Cup campaign, when Joe Schmidt and Les Kiss took training sessions, and Schmidt could be seen not only in stands at Mourcoussis on the day when Ireland beat New Zealand, but also talking to Philip ‘Goose’ Doyle.

As one of my colleagues observed: why wasn’t Paul O’Connell brought in for a day or two oversee the Irish lineout, or Andy Farrell or Simon Easterby?

Mistake

Releasing Doyle, an experienced coach of women’s rugby (a very different dynamic from the men’s game), was a mistake, whereas the hiring from within the IRFU system of Tom Tierney and Adam Griggs, previously coaches of men’s teams, has not worked.

Last April, former player Lynne Cantwell alluded to this when she told RTÉ's Against the Head: "I think it is important to recognise that the women's and men's game are different so let's not try and do the same thing because I think we will fail."

She also warned: “I don’t think we’ve got the standard of competition in Ireland at a domestic level that will drive performance at an international level.”

Dissenting voices such as Cantwell have never been well received within the corridors of the union. She’s intelligent, articulate and knowledgeable. Cantwell would make a good high performance director of the women’s game in Ireland. Instead, she’s currently in charge of South African Rugby’s female high-performance unit. ‘Nuff said.

gthornley@irishtimes.com