‘Superstar captain’ Erin King and an Irish team only getting started

Joy. That is one of the first things that will stay with me, for years to come, when I reflect on Ireland’s women playing their first ever standalone Test match at Aviva Stadium. From an Irish perspective, it was sheer joy. That and Aoife Wafer fulfilling a promise she made to her six-year-old self and running amok at the home of Irish rugby.

Everyone I knew heading along to the game was in this state of giddy elation, all week. Ticket sale numbers were going up and up, as match-day approached. The IRFU had initially aimed to open the lower bowl at Aviva Stadium, and get something close to 20,000 in for the Guinness Women’s Six Nations fixture.

Heading into the week of the game, they had breached 28,000 ticket sold. A couple of days later, 30,000. On the day itself, the final count was 31,294. That obliterated the previous best of 9,206, set only last month when Ireland beat Italy at Connacht’s Dexcom Stadium.

Before the game, if you followed women’s rugby in this country, you were surrounded by familiar faces. On the walk in, I saw Nora Stapleton, one of the 2013 Grand Slam winners. Closer to Lansdowne Road, Fiona Coglan and Anna Caplice were getting interviewed by the BBC. Hannah Tyrrell was in the media centre, having just dashed cross-city from the Leinster Ladies Football Final at Croke Park.

Ahead of the game, the IRFU had unveiled a wall listing every player capped for their country since Ireland’s first Test, back [not too long ago] in 1993. The likes of Aoife McDermott, Rosie Foley and Lauren Delany waited their turn, then stepped in for pictures – pointing to their names, under the year they were first capped.

Newly-minted, official IRFU caps were presented to every player there. Many of the former players had been asked if they could hand back the originals but many had gone… missing. I would have told them the same thing. It was a reunion and a celebration, and an opportunity to acknowledge the trailblazers.

Up in the stands, other famous Irish sportswomen had been invited along to share in the occasion. World champion runner Sonia O’Sullivan posed for pictures with goal machine Olivia O’Toole and two-time Olympic gold medallist, Kellie Harrington. Elsewhere in the ground, Liverpool and Ireland star Denise O’Sullivan took in the match, and Ireland men’s internationals Dan Sheehan and Hugo Keenan sat with family and friends.

As kick-off approached, Linda Djougang had the pleasant surprise of seeing herself grinning back on the cover of the match programme. Born in Cameroon, Djougang moved to Ireland at the age of nine and only took up rugby at 17. She has now amassed more than 50 Tests caps and has been one of the Irish stand-outs this Women’s Six Nations championship.

In the tunnel, as the minutes ticked down, Ireland captain Erin King could not keep the smile from her face. She shared some words with Moya McTaggart Fynes, one of three young mascots that were just as eager to get out on the pitch.

King, Djougang, Aoife Wafer and Fiona Tuite were among the 23 that absolutely belted out both home anthems. Scotland’s resistance lasted all of four minutes as Ireland tore into them. In a breath-taking opening 20 minutes, Wafer had run straight over Emily Coubrough and Shona Campbell, Robyn O’Connor had beaten five defenders on scything carries and Ireland were 26-0 ahead.

Victory already looked paid for and bagged up, with an elongated Mexican Wave breaking out between King’s try and Wafer’s first of the day. The group of ladies that dressed up as bananas were well positioned – right behind the posts – for Dannah O’Brien’s conversions. She slotted six in the first half and the TV cameras switching to the bouncing bananas each time.

The Scots showed some fight in the second half, limiting Ireland to a sole try and grabbing one, through Aicha Sutcliffe, after seven minutes of sustained pressure. Most of the final statistics fell heavily in Ireland’s favour. One that stood out was the combined contribution of Ireland’s back row –King, Wafer and Brittany Hogan.

• Carries: 52
• Metres gained: 144
• Defenders beaten: 5
• Tries scored: 4
• Offloads: 5
• Tackles made: 39
• Turnovers won: 2

Full-time saw Ireland lock in third in the Championship table with a third home win. England remain the standard-bearers. France are a talented bunch with a deep reserve of booming ball-carriers, but Ireland are getting closer to knocking them over. Saturday 17 April 2027 is already marked red on the calendar – revenge for the revenge game they lost, in Clermont.

There was a warm reception for the players as Ireland were presented with the inaugural Siobhan Cattigan Trophy. The Scots stayed on to applaud the trophy lift and shake some hands, before leaving the stage to their hosts.

King’s niece ran onto the pitch and was hoisted into the air. Other young cousins, nieces and nephews were lifted over the advertising hoardings for hugs and pictures. Ellena Perry embraced her son, Bert, with tears flowing freely. Both were mobbed by Ellena’s teammates.

Wafer, named Player of the Match for the second time in this year’s Championship, spoke from the heart.

“It’s unbelievable,” she declared. “That’s what dreams are made of. 12 years ago, I sat in that corner over there [as Ireland beat Italy in front of 6,000 fans] and this is my wildest dreams, come true… it was a dream that six-year-old Aoife had, when she first picked up a ball.”

Virgin Media were content with that, but Wafer wanted to send a final message. “See yiz back here, next year,” she declared. It has not been confirmed yet, but expect Ireland versus England, on Saturday 8 May 2027, to be held at Aviva Stadium.

“We’ve talked for a few years about wanting to come and play here, but wanting to come and make an occasion and come in and get bums on seats,” King told me, after Ireland’s 54-5 win. “We got to do that today.

“I think we’re going to be back here next year. I don’t know what game it’s going to be for the moment. But yeah, we showed that we can perform in high-pressure situations. There was a bit of pressure on us coming to the Aviva for the first time and we wanted to entertain people.

“We wanted to put in a performance and I think we can say that we went out and did that. So, it would be great to come back here next year and hopefully put in another performance against one of them teams.”

Ireland coach Scott Bemand used 27 players across the five Championship games, with prop Eilís Cahill, scrumhalf Katie Whelan, winger Robyn O’Connor and utility back Niamh Gallagher all earning their first caps over the course of the tournament.

“It’s so exciting that we have got all these years ahead of us to get better and keep growing,” King said. “We all love playing together, which is great as well. We’re so lucky to have such talent coming through. There’s even more people that I got to play with in the Celtic Challenge that you haven’t seen yet.”

Bemand feels Ireland are closing the gap to England and France. He is buoyed by the talent coming through in Celtic Challenge games, and promising U18 and U21 squads, who won five of their six Women’s Six Nations matches, this year. “We’ve just got to be better, faster than other people are doing it,” he remarked.

“We haven’t backed off momentum,” Bemand added. “We have been able to keep going after getting better. We talk about closing the gap. You know, if you look at the second half versus England, first half versus France, probably a bit deeper than that into the second half in Clermont, that we’re becoming.

“And now the next thing is to keep growing that and become more. As we do that, we’ll need more experiences in players. I think we’ve probably discovered some sort of superstar captain in Erin, who embodies what we want to become.

“Leads from the front, has passion, she wears it on her sleeve. This is the first time Erin has done this role and I would say, five games in, she’s becoming massively accomplished already.

“So, we’re getting more layers to ourselves. I think we’ve kept momentum going, and in terms of year one of a Word Cup cycle, we’re exactly where we want to be.”