Stacey Flood on rugby conditions controversy: 'I can hand-on-heart say I've never experienced anything like that'

The Ireland out-half believes the controversy over changing conditions for the interpro game in Donnybrook last weekend will not be repeated

Ireland’s Stacey Flood in the defeat by Spain

Ireland out-half Stacey Flood is hoping that the professional setup adopted for the national women’s team can be repeated all the way down the women’s pyramid in the wake of the embarrassing controversy over changing conditions at a recent interpro.

The Connacht women’s team has asked that an investigation be carried out after they had to change beside bins at Donnybrook’s Energia Park ahead of their game against Ulster last weekend.

Apologies have been forthcoming from both the IRFU and Leinster Rugby while Flood, in Italy this week preparing for the second of the Ireland team’s crucial World Cup qualifiers, insists that her experiences in national camp have been uniformly positive in that regard.

"I have been in the Irish setup since I'm 18. I'm now 25 and I can hand-on-heart say that I've never experienced anything like that in my playing days and it's only getting better the older I've gotten.

“You're actually expecting more now and it's great to see the facilities we have and everything we have behind us.

"It's only going a better way and hopefully clubs and interpros can follow in the footsteps of the national team and we can get all the standards driven, so it will work up and work down the way."

The Donnybrook controversy has refused to die down, the fact that the issue arose in the midst of so many positive sporting success stories by female Irish athletes lately only magnifying the unacceptable nature of conditions which were captured on camera.

Covid restrictions are being relaxed as the weeks go by, and all teams will hopefully be able to return to dressing-room environments sooner rather than later, but the lessons learned from this episode will have to inform the sport longer-term.

"Obviously, it's really disappointing to see and no-one ever wants to be in that situation,” said Flood. “It's good that the accountability has been taken, it has been apologised for.

“When you see something like that, it's rare that you're going to see it ever again. It's out there now and if it happens again, it's going to be a bigger mistake than when it happened the first time.

"It's just something that was hugely disappointing to see but I don't think it's ever going to happen again. Hands have been raised, questions have been asked, so hopefully we will never see anything like that again."