O’Dowd: The Girls And Coaches Back Me To ‘Play My Game’
Niamh O'Dowd is pictured alongside Linda Djougang and Ruth Campbell during 'Ireland's Call' at Kingspan Stadium last Saturday ©INPHO/Ben Brady
Niamh O’Dowd may be lighter than most of her scrum opponents in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, but with her well-honed technique and a terrier-like approach to all that she does on the pitch, the Ireland prop is more than holding her own.
O’Dowd scrummaged against France’s Rose Bernadou and Clara Joyeux last Saturday, giving away 12 and six kilograms respectively, and the Irish scrum was rock solid on their own feed, with four out of four, and forced a 54th-minute penalty.
It was on the Wexford woman’s side that Ireland (sponsored by Aon) earned that penalty – Bernadou was guilty of collapsing – and Linda Djougang, having earlier conceded a couple of penalties at tighthead, also dug in to show her set-piece strengths.
Djougang, the most-capped current Ireland player with 42 caps, is a hugely influential figure in the front row, and O’Dowd, who was making her first Guinness Women’s Six Nations start, is going the right way about making herself indespensible at loosehead.
Adding to her set-piece work against the French, she was the Irish player with the highest amount of successful tackles (14), including two dominant hits, and was the second leading ball carrier (14) in the forwards, behind two-try back rower Aoife Wafer.
After both O’Dowd and Djougang put in a 77-minute shift at Kingspan Stadium, she said: “Myself and Linda both focus on our fitness quite a lot. So if games are coming down to the wire, we know that we have that many minutes in the bank.
“We knew it would be tough. The French scrum is very strong, and they’ve big ball carriers.
“They’re obviously a bigger pack than we are so we knew that we were going to have to front up physically, which I think we did for the main part in that game. It was a very physical game.”
The athletic O’Dowd really likes playing at the Belfast ground, and why not? It was where her impressive second-half cameo, including a crucial late turnover, helped Ireland to overcome Scotland last March to finish third in the Six Nations and qualify for the Rugby World Cup.
Leinster retained their Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship title at the home of Ulster Rugby in August, her appearances during that campaign leading to her first Ireland start – also at Kingspan Stadium – as Scott Bemand’s charges won the 150th Anniversary Test against Australia.
It was a significant breakthrough into the starting XV for the 24-year-old who, with Djougang reverting back to the tighthead position, has now made five consecutive starts in the green jersey, lifting her game to an even higher level on Ireland’s WXV1 debut.
She had a tournament-high seven dominant tackles in Vancouver, and was Ireland’s third leading ball carrier behind Brittany Hogan and Wafer. Modestly, she prefers to credit her team-mates and coaches for their input into her international progression.
“It was obviously a very tough transition at the start and I am a bit smaller than most of them (the other props),” admitted the Old Belvedere ace, who was a recent Celtic Challenge winner with the Wolfhounds.
“But I guess I’ve just tried to work on my technique and if I can get my technique right then I can try and outweigh the physics that are against me at times.
“I just try and work on my technique and then use it to my advantage. It can make it easier for me to play longer minutes. I put a lot of that down to how the girls back me. They let me play my game and then as well some of the coaching staff.
Like last year we had Dec Danaher and this year Hugh Hogan, Alex Codling, the knowledge they’ve imparted to us and how they’ve driven – not just me – but the whole pack, how they’ve upped our standards, I kind of put a lot it down to them.
“We spend a lot of time, especially on the lineout, we spend a lot of time with (forwards coach) ‘Codders’ (Codling). He’s been great.
“His level of detail, we’ve never experienced that level of detail. He also puts a lot of trust in us to get to that level. He backs us all the way. We’ve just put a lot of work into it every week and getting it all right.”
O’Dowd replaced Djougang for the final four minutes of Ireland’s 27-21 defeat at home to Italy last year, and is hoping to extend her run as a front row starter when the teams meet in this Sunday’s rematch in Parma.
Both sides are coming off opening losses, with the girls in green looking to put that frustrating 27-15 reversal at the hands of France behind them. Italy lost 38-5 to England in York, but scored before half-time and restricted the defending champions to just one second-half try.
Improving their away form in the Six Nations is a must for Ireland, especially with trips to Newport and Edinburgh to come. Getting a result away from home has proven difficult, with 2021’s 45-0 win over Wales standing out as their most recent victory in 11 trips in the Championship.
“Obviously disappointed (to lose to France) but at the same time, we took a lot from that (performance). We spoke all week about sticking together and throwing punches, and unfortunately we just came off on the wrong side of the result,” commented the 12-times capped O’Dowd.
“I think our defence was pretty solid throughout, set-piece was good. We can take confidence from that. I guess just execution let us down at times, a few handling errors, stuff like that.
“It was probably just forcing a few passes and offloads maybe. I wouldn’t say it was nerves. We’d be generally quite composed. Yeah, probably just forced a few things early on.”
Looking forward to the second round clash with the Azzurre, she added: “It’ll be the same for us focusing on ourselves, we’re going to try and throw punches.
“We have our set-piece, we know our lineout works, we know our scrum can function. (It will be) more of the same and then just maybe tidy up on the execution.”