Front row move proved to be Niamh O'Dowd's 'golden ticket' to World Cup

During the last Women's Rugby World Cup, O'Dowd was struggling for game time in the Old Belvedere back row. Now she's a fixture in the Ireland front row. 

It was at the WXV1s in Canada last year where Niamh O’Dowd nailed down a front row starting spot for Ireland. Pic: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

It’s not much more than two years since Niamh O’Dowd was a flanker struggling for game time with Old Belvedere. Now she’s on the brink of her first World Cup with Ireland where, when push comes to shove, she will be the starting loosehead prop.

O'Dowd thinks now of the back rows that Ireland fielded at the time. There were giants of the women’s game like Claire Molloy and Ciara Griffin. Brittany Hogan, now the team’s No.8, was starting to embed herself, too.