Perry: It’s Been A Bit Of A Whirlwind, But I’m Loving It

It has most definitely been a ‘whirlwind’ few weeks for Ireland’s newest international Ellena Perry, but her player-of-the-match performance against Spain showed the level of impact she has had in a short space of time.

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She has had the most condensed build-up of any player at the Women’s Rugby World Cup, having been contacted by Scott Bemand on Monday, July 21 about the possibility of coming across to the Ireland camp in Dublin.

The hamstring injury that ultimately ruled Christy Haney out of the World Cup opened up an opportunity for Perry, a high-quality loosehead prop who has won Premiership Women’s Rugby titles with both Saracens and her current club, Gloucester-Hartpury.

Ireland head coach Bemand was coaching with England when Perry won 11 caps for the Red Roses between 2018 and 2020, and she had also mentioned to her Gloucester team-mates, Ireland’s Neve Jones and Sam Monaghan, that her late grandfather hailed from Derry.

Under World Rugby’s Regulation 8, players are allowed to represent a second national team after a three-year stand-down period if they have a genuine, close, credible, and established national link, including being born in that second nation, or having a parent or grandparent born there.

William Foster’s Irish roots allowed Perry to switch to Ireland, and it was ‘quite a seamless transition’ for the 28-year-old according to Bemand, who gave her a second-half debut off the bench against Canada in Belfast before including her in the World Cup squad.

She came on during the final quarter of last week’s Pool C opener against Japan, before playing a significant role in the 43-27 win over Spain. She crowned her first start for Ireland with a player-of-the-match performance, and enjoyed the experience thoroughly.

“I’m surprised to get player-of-the-match, but yeah, I’m excited,” she said in the aftermath. “It was a really tough game, Spain put in a really physical battle against us and we were expecting that all week.

“We just needed to get front-foot ball and make sure we kept possession. Fair play to Spain, they fought really hard to the end, so we’re grateful for the win. It was good.”

Perry’s selection for the individual accolode was unsurprising given she helped Ireland to get on top at scrum time, proving rock solid on all six of their feeds and forcing three scrum penalties, including two early ones in each half against her direct opponents, Eider García and Mireia de Andrés.

Her 61 minutes on the Franklin’s Gardens pitch, alongside her front row colleagues Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald and Linda Djougang, included 19 tackles for a 100% success rate, six carries, eight playmaker receipts, and she also beat two defenders.

The former Hertford RFC mini rugby player has shown herself to be a fast learner, using that strong base of England international and elite club experience to propel her into the matchday squads for Ireland’s first two World Cup matches.

Asked about how she has got up to speed quickly and is learning from and competing hard with her fellow looseheads, she replied: “I’ve only been in about five, six weeks. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind, but yeah, I’m loving it.

“I’m loving my time here and it’s a really great bunch of girls. I’m relishing every second. The girls have been class with me, they’ve been so helpful, helping me with all the little bits of detail.

“I think as every week goes on, every session I do I feel a lot more comfortable with the girls and everything. It’s really competitive (for the front row positions).

“Obviously got Niamh O’Dowd, ‘Noddy’, and ‘Shiv’, Siobhán McCarthy, (at loosehead), and we’re training every week and we’re always asking each other questions, so it’s really nice. A really nice balance and really nice competition.”

Perry and her fiancé Alex Seville, a former England Under-20 and Gloucester prop, welcomed their son Bert into the world in April 2022. She actually retired from rugby for a while, having admittedly ‘fallen out of love with the game’.

However, the evolving nature of Women’s rugby, and the excitement surrounding Gloucester-Hartpury’s maiden Premiership win in June 2023, had her thinking about a comeback. The then Gloucester head coach Sean Lynn, who now coaches Wales, convinced her it would work out.

It turned out to be both Gloucester and Ireland’s gain, and Perry’s involvement with the girls in green comes with the added benefit of having three-year-old Bert around, a bright little button of a boy who has graced Affidea Stadium and Franklin’s Gardens already.

Speaking after the bonus point victory over Spain, Bemand said: “El Perry’s been brilliant since she’s been in. She’s such a sound person both on and off the pitch.

“We’ve had the pleasure of inviting Bert in, her young son, and he never stops grinning. Never seen a lad with a permanent smile on his face! She’s so proud of being able to show Bert what she can do on the world stage.

“Look, she’s added in more than just the off-pitch, and we know she’s a great scrummager. She can carry, she can ball play at the line, and she can defend.

“So, we’ve got a player here who’s just added more again to the group, and has bought into what the group is trying to achieve. Can’t really speak highly enough about her.”

The Ireland players’ post-match interactions in Northampton have been heartwarming to watch, as they get to savour a World Cup just across the water. Family members, friends, club-mates, and former team-mates have been out in force as part of the growing ‘Green Wave’.

Perry had Alex, Bert, and her parents, Jan and Paul, in the crowd to support her on Sunday, and had a mini Gloucester-Hartpury reunion afterwards with four members of England’s World Cup squad – her club-mates Maud Muir, Mackenzie Carson, and Emma Sing, and ex-Gloucester prop Sarah Bern.

On having Bert along with her as part of her World Cup journey, she explained: “To be fair, the girls love him and they’re so good with him, and he loves coming in and he loves being on the pitch after the game and everything.

“It’s been nice. It’s nice to have a little switch-off from it on our rest days, and going to see him and everything. I’m really proud and he loves being on the pitch after.

“Hopefully he’ll remember it and when he grows up we can talk about it. He just likes coming on the pitch after and that’s his highlight, seeing the rugby girls. I’m not sure he quite understands it, but it will be nice to look back on it and show him one day.”

It has been quite an adjustment for the young family, with Perry’s Ireland call-up meaning she had to move quickly to sort out leave from her work as an administrator in an insurance company, and make childcare arrangements for Bert.

Coming into a new international environment can be daunting, but she said that the Ireland players, coaches, and support staff have been nothing but welcoming since her first training session at the IRFU High Performance Centre in Dublin.

“I’m quite a reserved person so it was quite tough, but as I said, the girls have been class. They’ve made me feel at home since the day I came in. So I literally can’t fault it, and I’m really enjoying every minute I’m here.

“Obviously it’s been a while since I was in the England set-up, but it’s very similar. There’s small differences, but it’s nothing too different.

“I just try and take every day as it comes. Now we’re five, six weeks in, I’m starting to get used to the environment, and getting used to not seeing my son like every day. We’re getting used to it.”

Securing Ireland’s place in the quarter-finals made her first start for the team all the more meaningful. She enjoyed working in tandem with Moloney-MacDonald and Djougang, who won her 50th cap, and trying to get the best out of the Irish scrum.

“It was good, it was promising,” Perry said of how the set-piece went against Spain. “I kind of pride myself on my scrum, so yeah, it was good to get the first one (penalty).

“It’s always nice to get a penalty from the first scrum, it gives you a little bit more confidence going into the game. We knew the threats that they were going to bring to the scrum, so yeah, I think we’re pleased with it.

“Yeah, maybe (García was the biggest tighthead I’ve played against). She’s class, she was strong in the scrum. It was just about getting little different tips in the scrum, obviously working with Clí and Linda to get to counteract it.

“Like I said, I pride myself on my set-piece, to try and work hard and as hard as I can. Carry hard but obviously didn’t get as much opportunities there, but I just try and make myself busy and do what I can.”

She added: “I think it’s everyone’s aim to start the matches, but we’ll see (about the New Zealand game next Sunday). We’ve got another big week of training and lots more to learn, so we’ll see what happens.”