Maeve Óg O'Leary: Competitive edge exists between provincial rivals in Irish camp 

TENSION IS BUILDING: Irish International and Canterbury brand ambassador Maeve Óg O’Leary is pictured at the launch of the new Canterbury Ireland Women’s jersey.

Munster-Leinster showdowns aren’t new. Munster and Leinster players spending the week leading up to a showdown in the same dressing room and on the same pitch absolutely is.

The provinces face off in the final round of the women’s interprovincial series at Energia Park this coming Saturday and a good chunk of those involved are spending this week at the IRFU’s training centre in Abbotstown where they are on full-time Irish contracts.

Those concerned include Munster back-row Maeve Óg O’Leary who, when launching the new Ireland Canterbury jersey on Wednesday, explained the peculiar balancing act that comes with the job on this most unusual of weeks.

“The chance to play in a Munster jersey is actually very rare and then playing against Leinster is always the big one so tension has definitely been building.

“We’re in camp together every day in Dublin so we’re around each other all the time and there’s definitely that competitive edge between us at mealtimes and during training sessions. There’s definitely been something building.

“It is gas! You definitely don’t want to be in physio at the same time as anyone from Leinster, just in case your minutes might be changed, or you don’t want to be reviewing anything together but, in fairness, we’re pretty respectful. Same as the lads would do.

“You go about your business. In the High Performance Centre we’re very focused on our goal up here and then when we split into our provinces during weeknights your focus is on your job down there it actually works out quite well.” 

Munster have swept past Ulster and Connacht in their opening two games, scoring 87 points and conceding just 21. Win or draw against a Leinster side that has suffered a defeat to Connacht and another title will be heading down south.

Those players operating full-time on the women’s XVs programme have this week welcomed new head coach Scott Bemand to Abbotstown. The former England assistant coach started work officially in the new role on Monday.

First up for the new boss is the inaugural Women’s XVs campaign in October. Ireland’s poor showing under Greg McWilliams in the 2023 Six Nations means they will feature in the third-tier WXV3 section and they face Kazakhstan, Colombia and Spain.

Wales, whose third-place finish behind England and France in the spring secured a slot in the top tier, travel to New Zealand to take on the world’s best at a time when the men’s World Cup will be entering the knockout stages so few eyes will be on Bemand’s new team.

Anticipation for the global event in France is already cranking up as teams play one last warm-up game and head coaches name squads and O’Leary, who also works in PR with Wilson Hartnell, has seen the effects of all this on the women’s game in recent weeks.

“Of course sponsors are looking towards the World Cup with the men already. We had our last interpros six months ago, it’s difficult to understand as a player where publications are looking towards, especially as we did have great coverage six months ago. I’ve definitely noticed there’s been a lack of it this time around.

“I know some provinces have really upped the ante on their social media and in Munster we’ve had a sponsor like Marks & Spencer come through and they’ve done activiations for us. That’s something we haven’t had before.

“But I think as players when you’re on the pitch you have to leave that sort of thing aside. There’s an interpro title at stake and we’re the ones being chased right now so our focus is very much on that.”