So these are the tough bits in sport. The part when you question the whys and the how’s? Earlier on in the pool we beat USA in the most controlled game I have ever played. We felt so happy after that game that our happy faces alone would have turned a million frowns. Such a high, that you sometimes completely forget how it would be possible to feel down. However, this ‘down’ most certainly did come. Yesterday we lost our play off to the second confrontation against the USA in this competition. It was not our day!

The US put the pressure on from the kick off. We responded well and held our own, even with their questionably onside defence. Their outside attack however was very unforgiving and missed tackles allowed them their first try. A penalty try without a pre warning sealed their second try. We regrouped for our second wind but most of our attempts ended flat. Maz O’Reilly our towering second row got a sin binning on behave of all of us in the first half and late in the second half I myself got sent to the side line for some punishment. It just was not our day!

So where do we go from this? All the training we have done, all the sacrifices we have made, all the support we have had, is it all in vain? Well for those reasons alone, our answer is ‘no’. Yesterday is gone, we’ve taken what we need from it and now were committed to and finishing off this tournament on a strong note. Looking forward to training tomorrow to prepare for our last test against the Scots.

Lynne Cantwell

So final game in our pool arrived and we were chomping at the bit at the challenge. We had a 4.30 kick off again which has been a bit of a routine now, so everyone stayed close to their schedule in the morning for superstitions sake or just cause! We got the most unreal news ever the night before that Declan Kidney was travelling over to see our game today. Oh holy god, how excited were we!

The man is a legend of course but the sheer fact of him being interested enough to come all the way over for our game alone, just blew us all away. It really put a spring in everyone’s step. Our support here has been out of this world, the support from back home has been inspirational and then to be told of a gesture like that from such an important and well respected man in Irish rugby, made us feel so proud of ourselves, so special and by god did it make us believe!!!

The Kazakhstan girls are big girls, we knew it was going to be a physical game in tight if we played there. Also, our pack have had two physical up front games in the first two pool games so we had planned to play more open rugby. We scored in the first few minutes which set the tone. Although we scored a good lot of tries for the rest of the game, Kazakhstan fought hard in every ruck which slowed our ball down and their changing defence made us have to think on our toes. We won the game 37.3 but it wasn’t enough to secure our place in the semis. France beat Canada and Australia beat South Africa by enough points for them to qualify for the semis, putting us in 6th position. We now meet USA again to play on Wednesday.

We all had a nice day off today and spent it with families and friends. Down played Kildare in semis of Gaelic football so a few of the girls went to London to watch that. We’re helping the kiwis make a cultural clip for their squad, so we’ve to teach them the walls of limerick Irish dance. In return we’ve requested some fast twitch fibres. Fair trade! Others stayed in for recovery and sleep. Looking forward to training again tomorrow to tweak a few things from the Kazakhstan game and prepare for the USA. We’ve a few bones/teeth to pick with the US after our last game so can not wait!!!

I cannot even begin to tell ye how happy we were following our win over USA. Words don’t do it justice. It was the epitome of how hard work, preparation and most importantly loving what you’re doing paid off on the day. We all knew the importance of this game but in the few days coming up to the game, there was still a class feeling in the squad and everyone was having such a laugh in the camp. Our skills coach Gregg Mc Williams flew in for this game and straight away he lifted a team further that didn’t even need to be lifted in the first place. Gregg’s enthusiasm is infectious, he believes in us so much. Love it!

The game was so controlled. The first half absolutely flewwwwww by. It just felt that we had an answer of what to do in every part of the pitch and almost all of our options worked. We’ve been coached to constantly assess our options to tackle each scenario on the pitch and it felt so good to all be singing off the same hymn sheet. When the game finished 22.12, I genuinely wonder if I’ve ever been more excited after a game? I wished my mouth was bigger so I could have a wider smile.

The next day was a day off and although everyone was still so content in our achievement, we were rallying around our girls who had received knocks and bangs from the game. We had a bit of craic decorating the apartments further and some water balloon fights. Rolo is the most gullible man ever!!! When Joy Neville asks you to wait under the window for 3 minutes while she gets something for him….. he deserves the biggest water balloon EVER to be dropped from the third floor!
Now to Kazakhstan. This is going to be such a physical game! They’re wingers are the same size as their props. Eeeeek! We’ve our game plan set and the boys have their homework done. I’ve been feeling so weird in this competition compared to others. Usually I will get nervous before games but for the past week I’ve just been nothing but excited. Get my 60th cap tomorrow too, I’m a very lucky girl.

Lynne Cantwell

So here we go, World Cup 2010, Happy Days! You know it’s the beginning of a classic campaign when your only 2 hours in our apartments and the girls have already decorated the inside and out of the apartment block with tri colour flags, bunting, balloons and even shiny green wrapping paper on the windows. Who needs sun light!
First few training sessions were packed full with tactical drills. Girls were settling their nerves, the coaches were putting more emphasis on certain areas that we were going to focus on for the competition. Nothing better to settle things down though, by playing a bit of Gaelic football. Few of our girls have played inter county football, Eliza Downy captained Down and is an All Star, Mairead Kelly for the mighty rebels, Nora Stapelton , Niamh Briggs and Jackie Sheils. Our Sox were repositioned around the ankles, elbows redirected outwards and the mighty throw in between myself at 5ft 3inches and Maz at 6ft 3inches seemed like a natural opening to a ‘Fair’ and ‘Friendly’ game.

On Friday at 6.30 we had our opening game against England, live on Sky Sports 2. Difficult opening game for obvious reasons but, by Jesus was it exciting? I have played England over ten times and I can honestly say the feeling I had going into this game was one I’ve never felt before. I have always been nervous before England games in the past. For this game however, man, I was so excited! Our training build up has been sensational. The coaches pushed our boundaries in every single session. We were forced out of our comfort zone every training. We’ve been rethinking our whole approach to the game and finally come match day we’ve a chance to put this into action..Quality!
The game itself was unreal. So competitive, so physical, full on for 80 mins. As always with England, they punish even minor slips which cost us the game. Our girls fought for every inch of possession and took each tackle with a ‘do or die’ approach. Although we lost the game, I was so proud of every one those girls for their unrelenting effort. We know we have it in us, the type of rugby we want to play is at our fingertips. God bless America!

Lynne Cantwell