Ireland captain Claire Molloy: We have to make most of this opportunity
Ireland host the Women’s Rugby World Cup for the first time ever, and Molloy was a late replacement as captain following Niamh Briggs’ withdrawal thanks to an achilles injury in training last week.
She took no time to accept the honour, and says the best way she can honour Briggs and the armband is to do what she always does.
“That’s why I’m in that role, because of how I play on the pitch, that’s the most important thing,” she said.
“The best thing I could do for those girls is to just play my game. Be a nuisance, be annoying on the pitch, annoy the crap out of them.
“That’s what I do on a pitch, and that’s how I’m going to lead. I just want to focus on getting the best performance out for the girls, and then driving on and on amongst everyone.”
A captain of the Ireland 7s team at the 2013 World Cup, Molloy is not in uncharted waters, and the 29-year-old won’t need a new script when it comes to speaking up before the Pool C opener on Wednesday.
“This [captaincy] isn’t going to change me, I will just drive on the performances, get the girls going,” she said. “It won’t be ‘putting the fear of God’ speech, just about ‘confidence and belief’, and the energy and workrate that we’re going to have to bring to it.
“That’s what I want to drive on. I want these girls to go out and prove that they are better than their opposite number across the board. If we all do that, as a group and as individuals, the collective is going to succeed.”
Molloy had no hesitation when head coach Tom Tierney offered her the captaincy, echoing Briggs’ desire to embrace the ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity of playing a World Cup on home soil.
With doubts over the future of the women’s 15-player format, it may even be the final World Cup, never mind on Irish soil.
“I’m one of the older players, we’re never going to have a World Cup at home again, and that goes for every player in the squad,” she said, “so we’ve got to make the most of the opportunities. It was a ‘yes’, along with a deep breath.”
When captaining Ireland’s 7s side in 2013, Molloy was in the middle of medical school final exams, so at least now – though she is a doctor based in Wales – her mind is a little less cluttered.
“It’s a lot easier to focus on now,” she said. “I’ve got more experience, and more confidence in myself as well. That experience of being through a World Cup and being captain is massively helpful.”
All her experience will be needed to channel the right attitude to Wednesday night’s opening encounter with Australia, where any slip up could cost Ireland dearly.
“This game is all about the result, we don’t need to worry about how much, it just has to be a win,” she said.
“After 80 minutes, we have to come off as victors and then focus on the next game. They are here to spoil the party – they want to beat the home nation.
“So we’ve got to be ready for that, but we’ve done all the body preparation. It is all about going in with the mental preparation and going in there with confidence and backing ourselves.There will be nerves for the first game, every team knows that. There are going to be mistakes, it will be about how we recover from them.”
Having already dealt with the emotional blow of losing their captain, the side now much focus on the emotional expectations of the massive crowds expected to fill the UCD Bowl for their games. Will they help – or will they hinder?
“I think we can’t ignore it, it’s there, but I think we’ve got take it as a positive,” Molloy said. “I think we’ve got to drive on, and just remember it’s a game of rugby. We are the best 28 players in our country, and we’ve got to represent ourselves, and just do the simple things right. We don’t have to do anything that we haven’t done before on the pitch. If we play to our potential, I think the results will happen. How far will we go? If we keep getting that performance, that momentum and the drive from the home crowd, the sky is the limit. It is all about momentum.”
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
