Griffin’s unexpected retirement another blow for Irish women’s rugby

A particularly trying period for Irish women's rugby has been compounded by the surprising news that national team captain Ciara Griffin has decided to retire immediately following next Saturday's Autumn Test against Japan at the RDS, and at the age of just 27.

Griffin maintained that the events of last week when comments by Anthony Eddy, the IRFU director of the women's and Sevens game, prompted an angry reaction from both current and past players, herself included, ultimately had nothing to do with her decision to retire.

Instead she intimated that the failed World Cup qualifying tournament in Parma last September was the catalyst for her decision.

“It’s something I haven’t come to lightly, something I’ve been thinking about for a while,” Griffin told the media a couple of hours after the announcement.

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“Obviously, after the events of Parma and the qualification process, it gave me time to reflect at home with my family. I thought about where I want to go next and I’ve given my life to this game. I’ve literally given everything to it so it’s time to focus on the next chapter and put my family first for a change as well. I’m going to focus on my next steps.

“I’m at peace with my decision,” she added. “It’s the right time for me and I’m very fortunate that I get to go on my own terms.”

Griffin made her Test debut against Wales in the 2016 Women's Six Nations, and since then the Kerry native and UL Bohemians and Munster flanker has gone on to win 40 caps for Ireland. But next Saturday will be her last.

Like many team-mates and former players, Griffin made clear her disappointment with Eddy’s remarks and declared herself “the proudest person in Ireland” after last Friday’s 20-10 win over the USA.

However Griffin, who is a straight talker, said that the pandemic and ensuing lockdown had first made her consider life away from international rugby and the failure to qualify for the World Cup appears to have hastened her decision.

“I’ve been having this conversation for the last five or six weeks to be honest. My poor husband has had the ear talked off him, he’s been giving me loads of different scenarios or what ifs and other things, but it’s the right decision for me where I am at the moment, and [I’m] just thankful for everything I have been given.

“It hasn’t been influenced by the last week at all. Obviously it has been a tough time for us as a group with everything. Something that happened to me in terms of my thinking to be honest was the time of the pandemic. It made me re-evaluate a lot of things, made us all re-evaluate a lot of things.

“Time at home, things at home, getting that time with your family. It made me reassess different things. Now I have the opportunity that I can finish on home soil and on my own terms. So that is my reasoning.”

Bucket list

Griffin knows that more than anything she will miss “the camaraderie of the camp” but not the burning lungs from the shuttle runs in the Bronco Test. While she has still to decide whether she’ll continue playing with UL Bohemians and Munster, she’ll now spend more time with her family and on the farm.

“I’ll still be active, so there’s no panic. I’m hoping to get into a bit of half marathons and trail running and things like that, and just focus on things I can challenge myself with and I want to go back and do the green cert in agriculture and farming. It’s been on my bucket list for a number of years and I think the timing is right for me to do it. So it’s something I want to focus on too.”

Pending the reviews into the World Cup qualifying campaign and the implementation of the 2018-2023 Women in Rugby Action Plan, the outgoing Irish captain also said she remained “optimistic” for the women’s game.

“I know the reviews are taking place to make sure these events don’t happen again and that the right procedures are put in place, so I’m taking solace in that happening.

“Obviously I’m not disappearing, I’ll still be there for players if they need me for anything but you’re always going to be in the background. It’s time now to leave other players come in and put their hand up and get that experience.”

Beginning with that nerve-wracked debut in 2016, there have been many highlights.

“The friends I’ve made from this sport are lifelong friends, they’re friends off the pitch. I’ve loved the experience, even though the World Cup didn’t go our way, that experience in 2017 of getting to play in a World Cup was a childhood dream. It was one of my goals to play in a World Cup and that’s something that stands out to me.

“Obviously being given the honour of captaincy was massive for me in 2018, something I hadn’t foreseen and then I think the performance last week by the group after everything is definitely one of my highlights in that it showed the resilience, connectivity and closeness of the group. Seeing the crowd back, they were times that just stand out to me at the moment.”