Ireland coach Greg McWilliams questions timing of article
Ireland women’s rugby head coach Greg McWilliams has questioned the timing of an article in The Telegraph detailing an alleged sexist attitude that exists within the IRFU.
Writing Wednesday in the national UK newspaper, Fiona Tomas reported on a number of revelations that paint an unflattering picture of the union when it comes to how they operate the women’s game. The article describes how a supposed prominent figure in Irish rugby made a derogatory remark while IRFU President John Robinson was making a speech at a dinner held in Dublin’s Bective Rangers FC last month.
It also suggested that players were refused protein supplements in the lead-up to last year’s summer tour of Japan, weren’t properly consulted about the IRFU’s decision to change the colour of the team shorts from white to navy because of period concerns and that the option of ‘hybrid contracts’ wasn’t considered when the union were negotiating full-time deals for female players in the latter half of 2022.
Given it was published just two days before his team take on Italy in a Six Nations Championship encounter at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Parma, McWilliams is doing his best to ensure it doesn’t become a distraction.
“I’d question the timing of the article. I’d question the fact that it’s coming out now, two days before we play a game when it could have come out in December or it could have come out last summer. I’m not quite sure why it was done the way it was done. Our plan is as is and we’re staying very focused on it,” McWilliams said.
Another aspect of the article that stands out is the “horror stories” around team selection that apparently saw players being left off team emails or – in some cases – not even being told they had been dropped for a match. Yet McWilliams insisted throughout his dealings with the media on Wednesday that much of The Telegraph’s piece was historical and his approach to selection is extremely transparent.
“We had a squad of 26 that were selected to go to Italy. We’ve a wider squad of 32. All six players that weren’t in the 26 squad that we put up in the team room were talked to before the selection went out. We came to Italy and we had the selection this morning. Every player that moved from being on the pitch to being on the bench, or on the bench to off, have all been talked to.
“We give them reasons why they weren’t selected for this game. We give them their work-ons. We let them know exactly, through the process and not through the emotion. You have to separate them both. What do they need to do to be a better player, because we’re in a performance environment.
“If an ex-player, in my opinion, wasn’t good enough to play for Ireland, well then that’s my opinion as a head coach. How they run with it is up to them. I know for a fact we have a process that I’m really comfortable with and it’s the way I’ve been as a coach for the last 26 years.”
Whereas McWilliams was part of an Irish coaching set-up a little over 10 years ago that defeated Italy in Milan to secure a Six Nations Grand Slam, the current squad are looking for a victory over the Italians this weekend to lift themselves off the bottom of the Championship table.
However, there were some lean years before Ireland reached the promised land in 2013 and McWilliams remains confident that the latest generation are capable of getting back to that level.
“Nobody saw what was happening in 2009, 2010, 2011 with some of our results. They weren’t pretty, but the more experience they got and the more they began to get confident in themselves and the process, the better they became,” McWilliams added.
“I’d love to look back in three, four, five years’ time and see some Fiona Coghlans and Joy Nevilles out there. Because they definitely have the ability to do that, but they have to learn and they have to work on it. It doesn’t just happen with a click of your fingers.”