Claire Molloy: Strong women's AIL the key to Irish progress

The retired Ireland believes a properly supported Women’s All Ireland League can be the key to international success.

Former Ireland Rugby captain and current Wasps player, Claire Molloy, who was inducted into the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame. Picture: INPHO/Tony Kershaw

A strong domestic league structure for Irish women’s rugby is essential for the national side to catch up to the international game’s pacesetters, Claire Molloy believes.

Molloy called time on her Ireland career after winning the last of her 74 caps in the deeply disappointing World Cup qualification play-off loss to Scotland in Parma last September but though she may have left Irish rugby behind to concentrate on her career as an Accident and Emergency doctor in the UK, that does not mean she has no interest in arresting what she sees as a downwards decline in the women’s game over the last eight years.