Barrett Brimming With Ambition As New Year Approaches

There is a certain relentlessness required to survive in modern Women’s rugby, but what Sophie Barrett has done over the last eighteen months goes far beyond survival. It borders on unheard-of.

In the space of a year, she has played for Cooke in the Energia All-Ireland League, for her beloved Enniskillen in the Ulster Premiership, the Energia All-Ireland Junior Cup, and the promotion play-offs, for Ulster in the Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship, for the Clovers in the Celtic Challenge, for the Ireland Under-20s, and earned a place in the Ireland senior squad for the first time.

In an era defined by specialisation, managed minutes, and load monitoring, the powerful young prop has lived a season stitched together by endless miles, different dressing rooms, and the kind of commitment that simply cannot be faked.

And yet, despite everything she has already achieved at just 21 years of age, Barrett’s story feels like it is only just reaching its real beginning.

This season has been another balancing act, splitting her rugby life between Enniskillen and Cooke, fighting for places in provincial and national set-ups, and trying to position herself for a Guinness Women’s Six Nations that could become career-defining.

Her days are busy, her weeks chaotic, but she talks about it all with a clarity and calmness that only comes from someone who genuinely loves every second she is on a pitch.

“Ulster over the summer was great, this year was probably one of the best years we’ve actually had,” said Barrett, speaking to IrishRugby.ie this week.

“Six Nations to start the year, it was challenging, but like it’s good to be involved. You learn a lot from it, I didn’t know what to expect, but I know what to expect now, going into, hopefully, this year coming.”

That line, you learn a lot from it, sits at the heart of what Barrett, a member of the IRFU’s first ever Women’s National Talent Squad (WNTS) group in 2022, has been experiencing. Every team, every level, every jersey has taught her something different.

With Enniskillen, where her love for rugby first sparked with the minis, she gets something that no elite environment can replicate – the comfort of home, of familiar faces, of the place that raised her both as a player and a person.

With Cooke, she gets a level of national competition and intensity that sharpens everything – her game management, her physicality, her ball-carrying, her scrummaging, her work-rate in the trenches.

With the various Ulster and Ireland squads (she was part of Scott Bemand’s national squad for last season’s WXV1 and Guinness Women’s Six Nations tournaments), she gets a window into what it takes to train and play at that next level, the goal of donning the green jersey.

What binds these worlds together is her hunger for exposure, for challenge, for stepping deliberately into spaces where the rugby is harder, faster, heavier.

It is why she pursued being a dual status player, why she agreed to the constant back-and-forth between Enniskillen and Cooke. She knows exactly why she is doing it.

“Enniskillen, it’s not as heavy a league. Obviously the games have still been hard, you still have to work. With the players that we have in Enniskillen, they have come on a lot. Everyone does their job.

“I went to Cooke for the dual status, obviously wanting to play in the All-Ireland League, and I know that it was a step up, you’re playing against better opposition teams that have been going for years.

“For me, it was just more of to get that experience and exposure. We’re going into Six Nations, and Test games coming up and stuff, so it’s good to be involved in the AIL.”

The way she says it, straightforward, without flourish, makes it sound simple. But nothing about what she did last season was simple. The demands on her body, her time, her travel, her ability to shift mentally from one environment to another.

It is the sort of year most players might attempt once, not sustain across a full season of competition and international commitments. Yet not only did she sustain it, she grew through it.

While rugby has been a constant since her underage days with Enniskillen, she is no stranger to playing on the biggest stages. The 2023/24 season brought her to Railway Union for her first taste of All-Ireland League rugby.

Celtic Challenge exposure with the Wolfhounds also followed, and the most surreal moment of all came at the Aviva Stadium, playing for Railway in the first ever Energia All-Ireland League Women’s Division final held at the home of Irish Rugby.

“I remember Lindsay Peat saying that you might never get a final in the Aviva again. I just took it all in, and went for it when I got my shot, because that was my first proper final in the AIL, and Lindsay and all the other girls were so helpful, in terms of my position and stuff.”

Those veterans, iconic names like Peat, left a mark. They taught her the finer details, helped her ground the emotional intensity of the occasion, and showed her what leadership looks like in the biggest moments.

Although she does not say it directly, her reflection hints at the pride of realising she belonged there. Her growing reputation in Ulster meant interest started appearing from further afield, including clubs like Railway, a sign that people around the country were noticing her rise.

“I know some of the players kind of reached out to me to get involved with Railway, because I was doing the Celtic Challenge at that time.

“I know Keelin Brady reached out to me to get involved, and then I thought why not? I’ll just travel down and see how it goes, and yeah, that is how it’s come from there.”

However, Barrett, Ireland’s MVP award winner at the inaugural 2024 Six Nations Women’s Summer Series in Parma, is a player who values feeling rooted, connected, and a part of something greater than a training jersey.

For her, that connection seems strongest in her native Ulster and with the people she has developed and grown her game alongside. It is why playing for Ulster hits differently.

“It was definitely more special for me to be playing in Ulster. I just want to keep getting better all the time.

“I know ‘Pops’ (coach Neill Alcorn) kind of said to me, like, would you go to Cooke? I was like yeah, because it was closer to me, and I don’t really fancy travelling all the way down to Dublin.

“The girls have been very good with Cooke, and you can see, even that game against Old Belvedere last weekend. Everyone wants to stay at it, they still have that positive attitude.

“I know the results haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go, but we have a good positive attitude.

“They want to win, playing against that opposition is always a good feeling, because you’re challenging yourself and I’m getting as much out of it as I can at the same time.”

Challenging herself is something she comes back to constantly. It is the motivation behind nearly every decision she has made.

Whether it is playing against established All-Ireland League packs or running out in provincial colours, Barrett seeks out the uncomfortable spaces, the ones where she is forced to grow or fall behind.

It all circles back to where it all began for her – Enniskillen Rugby Club. The club that has shaped a number of Ulster players, that has become a talent pipeline in its own right, and that still occupies a special corner of her rugby heart.

“I’ve been playing with Enniskillen since minis, that’s where I started. If we were to reach the AIL, that would be me sorted, it would be so special,” she acknowledged.

“It is not going to be easy. Last year playing against Ennis (in the promotion play-off final), it was just that last push at the end, and hopefully if we do get to the AIL, we’ll get a few more players in that way to help us.”

Barrett’s pride in Enniskillen radiates from everything she says, and when asked about the idea of rising from a small club to the brink of an international cap, her answer is as humble as it is honest.

It’s always so exciting to be involved in an Ireland set-up, but I know a lot of players, like Kathryn Dane and Claire Boles, come from Enniskillen too, so when I joined, I knew they could do it, so I was like, I can do it that kind of way.

“Enniskillen definitely helped me, kind of shaped me into the player that I am now, and then obviously, through Ulster and stuff as well.

“The Six Nations there last season was probably the most challenging thing I’ve done (as an uncapped Ireland squad member), so hopefully the next one, I’m going to prove a point.”

Now her ambitions are pointed forward, toward the next step. More Celtic Challenge appearances, more high-level minutes, and ultimately a breakthrough with Ireland whose 2026 schedule includes the Six Nations and the new WXV Global Series.

“Obviously play Celtic Challenge (which starts this month), get as much games as I can with them, and then hopefully get involved in Six Nations.

“Push for my cap or if I don’t get at Six Nations, the Test games hopefully. Just have to work hard and stay in it.”

With a couple of years of playing in the All-Ireland League, Barrett has had plenty of stalwarts to serve as both team-mates and mentors.

Few have influenced her more than Railway star Peat or Ilse van Staden, a legendary figure at Cooke, whose presence she describes with an affection that captures how much younger props look up to the heavy hitters of the front row.

“Lindsay Peat was very good, an absolute legend like. Ilse and stuff as well. I’m obviously a tighthead prop as well, one of my main jobs is carrying, getting over the gain-line, being dominant in scrums.

“That is what you want like. They have helped me to do that and coached me as well as playing with them. Ilse is just, she’s so mad.

“I know when she is on the teamsheet, everyone is like, ‘Oh, Ilse’s playing’. Everyone is so scared of her, she’s a big asset. She drives me on there, I will just be like, ‘Ilse, carry!’. She’s just such a strong ball carrier.”

While Enniskillen is home, Cooke is the home away from home. Even with her dreams of playing international rugby circling, she remains grounded in the reality of Cooke’s season. Another environment that has asked, stretched, and moulded her.

Dual status will see her time at Cooke limited this season, but it is a place where she is enjoying the competition. She crossed for a try as they gave Old Belvedere a thorough test across the 80 minutes at Ollie Campbell Park.

While the 31-17 defeat was their sixth straight loss, injuries have unfortunately hindered their growth so far this year under head coach Brian McLaughlin, with a lot of players needing to fill gaps for the time being.

Nonetheless, Barrett believes that after their resilient three-try performance at ‘Belvo, they can put it up to anyone. Second-placed Blackrock College make the trip to Shaw’s Bridge this Saturday (kick-off 5pm).

“A lot of the forwards and stuff for Cooke, they have the talent, they have the players. I think it’s just a lot of the players are playing out of position as well.

“We’re trying to get players in, it’s not easy, but for the next couple of games ahead, I suppose it will just be needing to play with what they have, and they can put up a good game, like the ‘Belvo game there last weekend.

“They’ve proved that they can do it, they can compete against the top three or four. There’s some really good leaders within that group, and I like being around as well, because it pushes you. It’s just getting the players, yeah, keeping (them) injury free,” she added.

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