Adam Griggs: ‘Sticking Together As A Group Will Pay Off For Us’

Ireland Women’s 15s Head Coach Adam Griggs says his side are moving past the news that Rugby World Cup 2021 has been postponed.

“Overall we’re hugely disappointed,” he told IrishRugby.ie at last weekend’s training camp, “but we haven’t actually qualified for that World Cup just yet. The process of those has changed a couple of times around being pool play and then into a semi-final and a final. We’ve got to be prepared for all of those eventualities.”

“The adaptability of the group is what’s important here. Making sure that we’re taking some time to process what’s happened and come together as a group and drive ourselves forward.

“You have to acknowledge that there’s hurt and disappointment. That’s a key thing for this squad – sticking together as a group and as we go forward, that will pay off for us.

“Since we’ve come back from the break because of COVID-19, we’ve had 18 camps, which equates to 54 on field team sessions. In that time we’ve been able to have two internal games and obviously one test match against Italy. When you look at the body of work in terms of being on the field in a team session and training and preparing – we’ve done a lot of that.

“It’s been great for this group. You look across the years and probably no women’s team has been able to spend that time together. We feel we are prepared but at the same time you get your best learning from playing games.

“We’re making sure our training is as match specific as possible and putting the girls under pressure, but there’s nothing like a test match to make you realise the quality that is there and what you need to work on to move forward.

“We’re a group of rugby players that are dying to play some rugby and when that happens I know we’ll be ready to go.”