Former Ireland rugby star Niamh Briggs says that work done by the IRFU to professionalise the game is paying dividends in advance of the beginning of the Women’s Six Nations in two weeks’ time.
Ireland reached their highest peaks in Briggs’s playing days as she was a big part of two Six Nations-winning teams in 2013 and 2015, winning the Grand Slam in 2013 and captaining the team in 2015. But they hit a nadir by failing to win a match in the 2023 Six Nations and falling to 10th in the world rankings, which came at a time of accusations of sexism within the IRFU.
Under Scott Bemand, Ireland have since moved up to fifth in the world rankings and have finished third in the Six Nations for the past two seasons. Briggs, now Ireland’s under-21s coach and involved in talent development with Munster, says plans such as that to launch four contracted women’s provinces later this year make it an exciting time for Irish rugby.
“We’ll have young girls now that are on their journey that can potentially play professional rugby for their home province, which is a cool space to be in. [In the past] I feel like we didn’t have foundations in terms of building the game from the bottom up, it was a very top-down approach. So we’d lots of players in international rugby but maybe the underage system and club system wasn’t really where it needed to be, whereas that’s changed massively.”
The 41-year-old coach credits the Celtic Challenge for improving the standard of rugby in the country as well as the National Talent Squad programme, which has expanded the scope and resources for a lot of young players coming through.
“Putting young players into a training environment with international players has been huge for their learning and their development. I have players who will come into Ireland under-21s and they’ll have been with the Clovers or Wolfhounds the past 12 weeks and the player we’re getting is so much further along in their evolution.”
Former Ireland captain Niamh Briggs is working with IHG Hotels & Resorts to supply ‘fancierge’ experiences during the Women’s Six Nations
Briggs will coach in a new under-21 Women’s Six Nations Series tournament, which will see Ireland play Italy, England and Wales, beginning with a match against Italy at the Dexcom Stadium in Galway on Saturday, April 18th. Teams are permitted to select a limited number of players up to the age of 23, ensuring further exposure for players of national interest leading up to the senior national team.
“It offers another opportunity for players to get a flavour of international rugby. We get to see if they’re capable of playing at that level and it doesn’t close the door for anybody that’s coming into the game late, and I think that that’s really important for us.”
There are nine uncapped players in the senior Ireland team’s Six Nations squad, which Briggs says is a “really good mix of youth and experience” and is led by 22-year-old captain Erin King, who was in fine form for the Wolfhounds as they won their third Celtic Challenge in a row.
“She is a superstar really in terms of what she has done in the game at such a young age. I am really looking forward to seeing them build on the momentum of the World Cup, and what better way than to play in front of a packed stadium at Twickenham.”
Ireland bring their campaign against England on Saturday, April 11th and will play a stand-alone game in the Aviva Stadium for the first time, against Scotland on Sunday, May 17th.
“I know there have been lots of tickets sold already. I don’t think we’re going to get to where Twickenham is in a couple of weeks, but if we even get to half of that it will be a huge day and it’ll be a really big next step for where the game is here in Ireland. It’s been growing steadily over the past five to seven years, with regular games on TV.”