LONG READ How Gareth Steenson is evolving Ireland’s kicking game ahead of the World Cup

Gareth Steenson might hail from County Armagh, but it’s the City of Exeter to which he was officially granted freedom in 2021.

Devonian rugby’s home, Sandy Park, sounds a little like the backdrop to a fairytale, which is fitting – given what unfolded during his tenure as the ground’s prolific fly-half.

Promotion, Premierships, European silverware: sporting legend. And – with 2,630 points across 311 appearances – there was never any doubting his ability to strike a ball.

But ‘Steeno’ is back – on the side of the Irish Sea where it all started, in the green he last wore as skipper of the national U21s – and fine-tuning Ireland Women’s kicking game ahead of a hotly-anticipated World Cup.

He practically stepped off the plane and onto the turf of the IRFU’s High Performance centre, so swift were Scott Bemand’s summons – and how brilliantly things unfolded. Weeks later, Ireland were producing a historic, warning shot-firing, WXV1 – felling Black Ferns and plucking USA Eagles – and Steenson’s remit has since expanded into working across the backs- in with the squad several times a week.

‘They’re a wonderful group,’ he enthuses. ‘I’ll be honest – the women’s game was very new to me, despite working with the programme at Chiefs – so it was a learning piece for me as much as it was for them.”

He chuckles. ‘They ask a lot more questions than the men – you know you’re going to be challenged every day – but that comes with a receptiveness which I really enjoy. The appetite to learn, and the buy-in to the professionalism and level required, means you genuinely feel you’re making people better.’

As a former half-back himself, Bemand’s not short on play-making guile, but – as Steenson warms to his task here, his enthusiasm for his métier infectious – you can see exactly why the head coach has entrusted the playmaker with so much rope.

‘Kicking can sometimes be seen as a defensive mechanism – boot it away, and keep yourself safe – but I look at it as one of the most potent attacking weapons you can have.

“Instilling that mindset is essential as the sport evolves – and Irish Rugby is ahead of the game when it comes to the technical side of things.

“There’s a lot of GAA played here, so we’re blessed with an abundance of ready-made, skilful kickers. Our job is to build that understanding of when, where, and how to use those tools – what opportunities and consequences can arise – and develop variation around it. We’ve established a really strong long kicking game, so the challenge now is bringing in other elements – to keep defences guessing.”

We don’t want teams to look at us and go “oh: Ireland only play one way” – we want to keep them guessing. If you take away an opportunity in one place – we’ll just hit you somewhere else.

Ireland are reaping the rewards of childhoods spent kicking and catching Gaelic footballs, but also from one of the SVNS Series’ dominant forces – newly returned from an Olympic Games.

From the aerial skills of Stacey Flood, to the pace of Aimee-Leigh Costigan, and back again – via Beibhinn Parsons’s ability to jink and swerve whilst doling out powerhouse fends: much like the Black Ferns, Ireland’s sevens – 15s symbiosis is one of their great strengths.

“The speed and athleticism are there – not just in the tempo they play at, but in how they react to things – so it’s up to us to best utilise them, and ensure they understand how to employ those strengths. The same can be said of our forwards, who often get forgotten about when it comes to the kicking game, but have a key role to play: it’s a whole squad piece.

“It’s about developing a rounded game. In a year, I’ve already worked with over 20 kickers – and we’ve such variety across the group – from nines right through to our back three. We don’t want teams to look at us and go “oh: Ireland only play one way” – we want to keep them guessing. If you take away an opportunity in one place – we’ll just hit you somewhere else.”

You can’t discuss the women in green’s boot-to-ball rugby without covering an athlete who’s become so household, such a fulcrum, that – à la Enya or Bono – her first name will suffice.

Talk turns to Dannah.

“She can kick it as far as some men – comfortably from 22 to 22 – and can always turn to that super strength when under pressure. What we’ve worked on for the last year or so is developing her understanding, and what else she has in her locker.

“She can change things up: kick high, find grass, or pop a little one through. There are so many elements at her disposal now: she can take things here, there, and everywhere,” said Steenson on Ireland’s 21-year-old fly-half.

To “is she a future British & Irish Lions fly-half?”, the answer is immediate and fervent. ‘She definitely has the potential’. To “should more fly-halves have pink hair?”, there’s a chortle. ‘I don’t know if I’m the right one to answer that question, but why not? If you feel good – you play good.”

How about that ice-cool demeanour? Is Dannah as collected, as composed beyond her years, as she appears? “She takes a lot of things in her stride, and is developing massively as a leader. She’s starting to understand the game, and the opportunities around her – which only breeds confidence.”

As clovers and ferns litter the pitch in Brighton, Steeno’s charges might have punched their quarter-final tickets already, two of which will be hosted – poetically – all the way back at Sandy Park.

At this World Cup, Ireland have Japan to navigate at Franklin’s Gardens, where they’ll run out again to face Spain a week later – before the big one: a fixture ringed in permanent marker in so many calendars. Ireland versus the Black Ferns is, arguably, the pick of the group stage bunch: a toothy, apex predator – circling the pools’ deep end.

Steenson reaches for his handbook. “We’ve looked at them a little, but – as exciting as that game is already – we have to arrive at it in the right frame of mind. The atmosphere and occasion will take care of itself: what we need to do is find ourselves where we want to be as a group – with a plan which works. Then, if we execute on the day and really go after it, the question is: “can they live with us?”

A valid question given the women in green have beaten the reigning world champion Black Ferns before at a World Cup in 2014, and again a decade later at WXV1 last September.

As clovers and ferns litter the pitch in Brighton, Steeno’s charges might have punched their quarter-final tickets already, two of which will be hosted – poetically – all the way back at Sandy Park.

He won’t reveal his ‘secrets’ on how to play the citadel’s notorious conditions in this conversation, but admits the prospect of a return is ‘just fantastic.

Knockout rugby is what you want, and the buzz down in Exeter around this World Cup is incredible. There’s a bit of work to be done yet to get to that point, but – to experience that, with this group – would be phenomenal.”