O’Dowd and Ireland eager to bridge gap between Six Nations and World Cup

Ireland's Niamh O'Dowd. Pic: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho

When the final whistle blows at the Hive Stadium in Edinburgh on Saturday it will bring to an end Ireland’s latest Six Nations campaign, and mark the moment when attention turns inexorably towards the summer’s World Cup on the other side of Hadrian’s Wall.

Eventually, that is.

The orders from Scott Bemand and his staff will be clear: take two to three weeks to decompress, leave rugby behind and return fully refreshed – mentally and physically – for the long pre-season and run-up to the tournament in England.

“I’ve a couple of college exams to do and then we’ll be training remotely then after that,” said loosehead Niamh O’Dowd. “It will be nice just for a change of scenery but I can’t wait for pre-season. I love pre-season. It’ll be a great summer.” 

Who loves pre-season? Seriously. 

O’Dowd is one of those who might struggle to abide by the ‘no rugby’ edict come next week, but then this is a woman who has made it her business to get places faster than the norm.

It’s just two seasons since she was an uncapped flanker with Leinster. Now she’s an integral part of the Ireland front row, her absence through injury away to Wales last week her first non-involvement since the two-Test tour of Japan in August of 2022.

O’Dowd has built up a bulky CV in no time at all. She has started huge games against New Zealand, Canada, France and England but the game against the last of those opponents proved to be one of those learning experiences that all props must face.

The home scrum was under serious pressure in the course of that defeat to the perennial Six Nations champions and O’Dowd paid a price for it shortly after the interval when another penalty conceded at the setpiece earned her a yellow card.

England made predictable hay in her absence.

“Throughout the first-half I knew I was under pressure and [a yellow] was a possibility. Then at half-time we regrouped and thought from the couple of scrums before the break that we had kind of got it sorted, but obviously not.

“It was disappointing to concede that. It puts the girls under pressure when we go down to 14. That’s my job so when you don’t get it right… We are very process-driven. I was quite disappointed in myself to have let the scrum down a bit.” 

She’s aware enough to know that this is hardly to be unexpected given her brief tenure in the front row department, but even that and the recognition of England’s superior size wasn’t much condolence in the aftermath.

For the record, the French starting tighthead Rose Bernadou was two stone heavier than the 25-year-old. England’s No.3 Maud Muir was nearly three. And both of those players are far more experienced than O’Dowd.

So, missing last week’s win in Wales with an AC injury was ill-timed as it meant she couldn’t play her way through the frustrations, but win in Scotland on Saturday and the collective vibes will filter through to the summer.

Ireland’s last visit to Edinburgh brought a 36-10 hammering. Like O’Dowd, the team has made enormous strides in the short span between then and a current campaign in which they have already beaten Italy and Wales away from home.

“Even last weekend we put 40-odd points on Wales and still we were like, ‘no, there were definitely some areas where we could have sharpened up’. So we’ll be hoping to put some points on them this weekend away from home.”