Women’s Six Nations 2024: ‘I’m a big girl and not going to cry about it’ – Cliodhna Moloney

The low point for the women’s game came in 2021 in the wake of their failure to qualify for the 2022 Rugby World Cup.

Players were unhappy at the suggestion from the IRFU’s then women’s director of rugby Anthony Eddy that their XVs programme had not been overlooked by the IRFU.

Moloney described those remarks on social media as “slurry spreading”.

She was also one of a large number of players who wrote a letter to an Irish government minister to say they had “lost all trust and confidence in the IRFU and its leadership” of the game.

Moloney, now 30, has not been involved at international level since.

“Obviously at the start there was a lot of disappointment for me, because the whole thing was going on,” she said.

“There is no denying a lot of stuff happened two and a half, three years ago.

“And in the preceding four or five years ago that I was involved as well, there was a lot of issues with Irish rugby. I don’t think anyone could deny that.

“But it’s a long time to hold on to that feeling of ‘Will I, won’t I, be going back?’

“I was acutely aware of what the risks were, I’m a big girl and not going to cry about it.

“It’s unfortunate that’s the way things worked out but for your own sanity you have to park that a little bit and concentrate on playing rugby again.”

Asked if she felt she still had a lot to offer at international level, Moloney replied: “You always believe you’re the best person for the job, I think that is just the nature of being a high-performance athlete.”