Niamh Briggs: ‘It’s really important they know they’re all incredibly valued’
Niamh Briggs acknowledged yesterday it’s unlikely that anyone from the Ireland women’s 7s squad will feature for the 15s team in their forthcoming Six Nations campaign.
Following a bonus point triumph over Italy at Musgrave Park in the third round of last year’s Championship, no fewer than seven players moved back to the 7s programme in preparation for an impending leg of the World Series in Langford, Canada.
In the past, a number of internationals – such as current Dublin GAA star Hannah Tyrrell – might have missed the opening block of the Six Nations owing to 7s duties before switching back to the 15s code for the latter stages of the Championship.
However, speaking in advance of their seasonal opener against Wales at Cardiff Arms Park on Saturday, Ireland assistant coach Briggs stated she is happy with the 32-strong squad that was announced for the tournament last month.
“I think we’ve rewarded girls that have played really well at club, Interpro and Celtic Cup. It’s a very exciting young group. I think it’s probably fair to say it’s starting our journey in relation to continuing on from [last summer’s tour of] Japan a little bit,” Briggs remarked.
“I think last year’s Six Nations was a tight time, whereas we got a good chunk of work done in Japan. I think for this group it’s really important that they all know they’re all incredibly valued and we’re really, really happy with them.
“It has been really good the last couple of weeks, it’s really exciting to get into game week, you can feel it go up another level today in terms of our prep and stuff. We’re really excited.”
While there was universal praise reserved for back-row Josh van der Flier when he added line-out throwing to his long list of attributes for the Ireland men in their Six Nations Championship victory against Scotland last Sunday week, their female counterparts have a player at their disposal that does so on a regular basis.
Throughout Munster’s success in the Women’s Interprovincial Championship earlier this year, Deirbhile Nic a Bháird (herself a former Ireland 7s player who last featured for the 15s side in 2019) switched seamlessly between the hooker and number eight position in the southern province’s pack. Briggs was at the helm of Munster for this triumph and she is looking forward to seeing what the Cork native can bring to the international table in the coming weeks.
“Derv is an anomaly in terms of rugby. She’s a fantastic athlete, brilliant person and I’ve played with her and coached her now for a while. Her knowledge and her want to get better, she’s so coachable and when you’re so coachable it means you can move between one and the other,” two-time Six Nations winner Briggs added.
“She’s come in a really rich vein of form. I hope she gets to show people outside of Ireland her superpowers because she’s a really good athlete and a really good rugby player.”