‘It’s gone from the drinking culture and we want to go to that elite level’
“IF YOU START THE season with 50 players and finish with 55 or 60, then you’ve done a good job.”
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So says Marie Louise Reilly – or ‘Maz’ as she’s better know – ahead of the new season with Old Belvedere Women, where she’s part of an exciting new coaching team alongside fellow former Ireland internationals Nora Stapleton and Ailis Egan, as well as club stalwart Cathy Murphy.
Belvo have consistently been among the top clubs in Ireland over the past eight years or so and the fact that nine of their players are involved for Leinster in today’s inter-pro clash with Connacht today speaks volumes of the quality of their current squad.
Stapleton retired from playing at the end of last season. Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO
While the new coaching staff at Anglesea Road will continue to help players towards provincial and international honours, they also want to bring new members into the club, no matter their playing level or any lack of rugby experience.
The passion for rugby oozes from Reilly, Stapleton, Egan and Murphy as we sit in Belvo’s clubhouse just off Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin.
This is a quartet who know the game, understand the challenges and possibilities in women’s rugby, as well as how the sport could and should be grown. A proper Irish women’s rugby brains trust.
While IRFU CEO Philip Browne sees an “unsustainability in the women’s game at the moment where the club game is not strong enough to fully support the national team,” the Belvo coaching team see an opportunity for something special to develop.
“There’s a lot of talent out there spread around the country,” explains former prop Egan. “But if they’re not playing in the top AIL teams, the only teams being watched, they’re being missed.”
Reilly relates how she turned up to her first Ireland camp and Lynne Cantwell asked, “Where have you been?” The towering lock had been playing rugby at Division 3 and 4 levels, Irish rugby essentially unaware of her talent until she was spotted by happy accident.
Belvo hope to welcome players from around the country looking to test themselves at a higher level, but this coaching staff understands that players need to be identified earlier by the union.
“There’s talent up and down the country but it’s the case of having a pathway to stay in rugby, rather than going and playing county football,” says Reilly, pointing to the good work being done at clubs like Listowel, Wicklow, and Tullamore.
Egan in action for the Barbarians in 2017, when she played alongside Stapleton and Reilly. Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO
“We need people out there recognising them and bringing them into the pathway.”
Murphy points out that the inter-pros are improving in quality year-on-year and says “Leinster are really taking it to the next level in terms of what they’re trying to do and I’m sure the other provinces are the same.”
Stapleton agrees and underlines that clubs around the country need to take responsibility for development too, as Belvo are striving to do, pushing for an elite mindset in their approach.
They now have a physio at every match, as well as working with injured players at training sessions. A strength and conditioning coach will oversee their programme full-time, while video analysis has been improved and the club will lean on players who are nutritionists in their day jobs for expertise in that area.
“Rugby was seen as a social sport and that’s changed over the years; some clubs are moving faster than others,” says Stapleton. “We need to ensure we all understand that it’s gone from the drinking culture that used to be associated with it and now we want the women’s AIL to go to that more elite level.
“We need to aspire to what’s happening at county level in other sports. How do we get girls to realise that they’re playing in an All-Ireland League, with a new sponsor in Energia. It’s growing, improving and we all need to go with it.”
Egan nods in agreement, smiles and adds, “We’ll also have some craic along the way!”
All four of Belvo’s coaches have benefited from Leinster Rugby’s initiative to help develop female coaches, linking them with mentors who have guided them in areas like communication and planning.
Stapleton, who called time on her playing career at the end of last season, coaches with Belvo during that campaign, as did Reilly – who is also involved in the Leinster Women set-up.
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