Coghlan plays lead role as new caps find their feet

SPORTSWOMAN OF THE MONTH FIONA COGHLAN (RUGBY):WHEN IRISH coach Philip Doyle named his squad for the Six Nations Championship last December, the inclusion of 10 new caps was a fair indication of the amount of rebuilding that had to be done after last summer's World Cup.

Injuries and retirements deprived Doyle of several experienced players following an encouraging World Cup that saw the team improve its ranking by one spot to seventh. One of the most notable absentees was scrumhalf Tania Rosser who is still recovering from a shoulder injury she sustained at the tournament.

With so much new blood, it was impossible to predict how the team would fare or if it could maintain the progress achieved in the Six Nations in recent years.

“We were definitely nervous going in to the campaign,” said captain Fiona Coghlan, “we just didn’t know how things would go when we had lost so many players. And we lost them in key positions too, we had a brand new half-back pairing (Nora Stapleton and Amy Davis), so that was another test for us.”

Well, with comfortable wins over Italy and Scotland so far, and just a two-point defeat to France, Coghlan is more than satisfied with the progress of the new-look side. “The new caps have just come on in leaps and bounds, they’ve done fantastically well,” she said.

Niamh Kavanagh and Geraldine Rea (a junior All-Ireland football winner with Nemo Rangers) had particularly impressive debuts in the 26-5 win away to Italy in the opening game – winger Kavanagh jinked her way through the Italian defence to mark her first cap with a try, while Rea’s display in the centre earned her the player-of-the-match award.

Kavanagh made it two tries in as many games against France in Ashbourne, but despite a late Irish rally the French held out for a narrow win.

The team, though, made it two away wins out of two with a 22-5 victory over Scotland a fortnight later, this time one of the experienced crew, centre Lynne Cantwell, was named the game’s outstanding player. Cantwell’s two tries and partnership with Rea helped drive Ireland on to their sixth successive win over Scotland.

Also helping guide the newcomers through their first Six Nations campaign have been fullback Niamh Briggs, number eight Joy Neville and Coghlan, in her second season leading the team.

“We’re still not where we want to be,” she said, “and we have two tough games to go, but we’ve taken plenty of encouragement from the three performances so far, and we’re just delighted with how well the new players have done.”

With so many contenders from the team for our award we opted in the end for Coghlan as a representative for them all, and for her leadership of a side that has overcome the loss of key players.

Next up is Sunday’s game away to Wales, before Friday week’s meeting with six-in-a-row-seeking England in Ashbourne.

Monthly awards so far (This year’s awards cover December 2010 to November 2011) – December: Fionnuala Britton (Athletics). The Wicklow runner just missed out on a medal at the European Cross Country Championships, finishing fourth but given the same time as the runner in third. January: Leona Maguire (Golf). The 16-year-old won the Portuguese Amateur Open Championship by a remarkable 15 strokes.