Ireland Women: Victory over New Zealand, highlight of the Ireland roller coaster ride

As results and performances have deteriorated, off-field events have often been chaotic in recent years, and relations between elite players and some administrators have sometimes been strained.

In February 2020, the IRFU apologized to the Welsh women after they were forced to take cold showers following their defeat to Ireland in the Six Nations tournament.

Later, in September 2021, with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic still being felt, the governing body launched a review after Ulster and Connacht players had to be moved next to rubbish bins at a women’s inter-provincial match in Dublin.

Covid guidelines in place at the time meant women’s rugby was not classed as an ‘elite sport’, so changing rooms at Energia Park were not open.

Controversy arose two months later when IRFU chief executive Philip Browne re-emphasized the organisation’s commitment to women’s football while acknowledging that structures needed to be addressed after women’s rugby director Anthony Eddy was criticized for doing so by current and former players that he insisted on the 15-on-15 game. Sideplay had not been overlooked.

Ireland’s front row Cliodhna Moloney famously likened Eddy’s comments to “spreading manure” as relations between many Irish squad members and some of the sport’s senior officials deteriorated.

In December that year, a large group of former and current Irish rugby players escalated their grievances when they signed a letter to the Irish government expressing the loss of “all confidence in the IRFU”.

The letter asked for the government’s support in implementing “meaningful change” in women’s football in Ireland.

In response, the IRFU said it had “refuted the general tenor of the document” and was disappointed by the timing of its publication.

A report published a year later found that, following an independent review, the IRFU allocated €1 million to support the development of facilities and pathways in women’s football.