I’m So Delighted For This Group Of Players – Briggs
Two years ago Niamh Briggs kept her calm to kick the two penalties that saw Ireland win the Women’s RBS 6 Nations title and claim the Grand Slam in Italy. Yesterday saw the full-back, now Ireland’s captain, lead by example as the girls in green secured their second Championship in three seasons.
The record-breaking 73-3 victory over Scotland at Broadwood Stadium in Cumbernauld was more than enough to see the Ireland Women leapfrog France at the top of the table, and a delighted Niamh Briggs received the trophy on the pitch afterwards.
Following the 11-try win, which added to victories over Italy, England and Wales, Briggs, who was winning her 50th cap on the day, said: “I am just so delighted for this group of players. We’ve a lot of young players in the group, but they’ve learned quickly and settled into international rugby well.
“After we lost the match to France in Ashbourne we were all a bit down, but the reaction of the team since then has shown just what a strong work ethic and spirit we have and everyone gives it everything they have.
“Under the new coaching team, headed up by Tom Tierney, things have also gone really well and he has instilled a belief in the group. We’re pleased to have delivered for him.”
After France’s 21-15 triumph over Edinburgh at Twickenham on Saturday night, Ireland knew they need to defeat bottom-of-the-table Scotland by at least 27 points to be sure of top spot.
They did that with ease, their pace and power proving too much for the hosts, and their Waterford-born skipper, who ran in the opening try and kicked 14 points, admitted: “We were not thinking about the margin of victory in our minds, we just wanted to focus on our own game and see where it took us.
“Fair play to Scotland they came at us hard and we had to do a lot of work to break them down, but once the forwards got a good platform then we started to get on the front foot and some of the tries we scored were great.
“For us to win the title in the same year as the (Ireland) men’s team is really special and we took a lot of inspiration from the way they played on Saturday. It’s great, and very exciting, to see Irish rugby across the board going well and being successful.”