Try, try again pays off for Lynne and Irish women's rugby

WITH ecstatic pride, player Lynne Cantwell summed up the historic success of Ireland’s women’s rugby team, Six Nations champions in 2013: “It’s the most incredible feeling in the world.

We played like a family, everyone put their bodies and hearts on the line.”

Aged 31, the 5’3” Cantwell, who weighs ten stone, is Ireland’s most capped player. Vice-captain for the past four years, she earned her 78th cap against Italy on Sunday. For the past decade, Cantwell has endured the defeats of a team finding its feet.