Lucy Rock: 'We broke down in tears, It is all any of us have ever wanted'

Rock will captain a 12-player group at the Olympic Games this summer.

Sat, 13 Jul, 2024 - 16:41

Maurice Brosnan

Bad news comes in threes. Around the same time Ireland Women’s Sevens lost three players to the 15s for the Six Nations, Australia dished out a 31-0 defeat in Los Angeles. In the same game, captain Lucy Rock went off after a worrying double cleanout.

Rock will captain a 12-player group at the Olympic Games this summer. The Women’s tournament kicks off at the Stade de France on July 28. Rock has been involved since 2015.

She was part of the outfit that missed out on qualification in 2019. That was devastating. Despite the fact that they secured their spot in Paris last year, much of this season has also been tortuous.

“It has been a long couple of months and at times it hasn’t been good, but (I’m) getting there,” she said.

“I have some of the best medical brains I have ever met in my life looking after me. So, it is great and I’m getting back into doing stuff with the girls again which is really nice. Starting to feel like a rugby player again.”

The initial injury was a hamstring tear. The road from to France was not straightforward.

“I had a re-injury at another stage afterwards and that left us with a tight timeline. I work with a guy, Einar Einarsson is his name, that has come into the IRFU and he is one of the most clever minds I’ve ever met in my life but he is also an incredibly witty man. We have a great time together.

“Between him and the rest of the medical staff I’ve been looked after so well and instantly it was, ‘we’re going to do everything in our power,’ So, once you have that reassurance then it just came down to day-by-day and just trying to do what I could.”

Consider that terrifying low point. The time she spent not feeling like a rugby player. Sure, she was around the group, but training was typically made up of one-to-one sessions with rehab specialists.

“It has tested me mentally more than the rest of my career has to date. So hopefully I am in a very resilient place then mentally and it has given me good perspective I think coming into the Olympics.

“I’m just very grateful that I’m actually… there was times there where I wasn’t sure whether this was going to happen for me. So, I’m coming into it probably fresh-minded and hopefully, I can bring some freshness to what has been a very long year for the girls. They have been travelling so much.”

ead coach Allan Temple-Jones and outgoing IRFU director of high-performance David Nucifora delivered sweet release when they informed her that she would be part of the team. Nucifora in particular has been a huge part of the Sevens story. Rock reckons he has trained most of them on how to scrummage.

Temple-Jones came in as head coach back in 2023 after previously being the Ireland Sevens’ Head of Athletic Performance. They all knew the clock was ticking. Rock wasn’t able take part in any game before the Olympic opener.

“Two guys who I have known my whole career. David actually started at the same time that I first got contracted. Our two careers are just going to be coinciding with each other from start to finish which is mad.

"I broke down in tears and so did the two guys and it was a really, really special moment. It is all I’ve ever wanted. It is all any of us have ever wanted.

“But then when you almost think you’re really up against whether it is going to happen or not it was an amazing feeling and I’ll remember that for the rest of my life.

"Then also you’ve got the other side where I had a lot of boxes to still tick and I still do. And all of us do. Just getting there and please God, it will all go to plan.”