Donegal’s Sadhbh McGrath is happy to be back with the Ireland camp as the preparation squad is selected for the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup in England.
Growing up in Burt, Sadhbh started out by playing Gaelic and camogie for the local club. She didn’t begin playing rugby until her father decided she should attend a “Give it a Try” event at the City of Derry RFC, a call McGrath certainly does not regret.
“I played camogie and Gaelic football for Burt to begin with and my Dad then just wanted me to do something in the winter,” said McGrath. “There was a “Give It a Try” event up at the City of Derry and a few of the neighbours were going up so he said ‘why don’t you head up?’. So I did and I’ve stuck at it ever since.”
Despite only being 20-years-old, McGrath already has a wealth of experience with 14 Irish caps already to her name. The first of these came in a 2023 Six Nations meeting with Wales when she was just 18 years-old. This was an occasion she described as special; however, insists she’s learned so much since then.
“It was great. Obviously everyone wants to get their first cap and I’ve learned a lot since then. I think I wasn’t as experienced, especially in the front row because it’s such a specific position and you do need a lot of training and time. I’ve learned a lot from it and I’m glad I could work on things from that day.”
“It was an unreal day, we did lose but at the same time to get your first cap it was something so special for me. Having my family over with me too for it was really nice.”
The Burt native has recently been named in Ireland head coach Scott Bemand’s preparation squad for the upcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup which takes place in England this August.
McGrath discussed how privileged she was to see her name listed in the squad for a competition she described as the pinnacle of the sport and being able to train amongst such a talented group of players.
“It’s unreal, it’s the pinnacle of women’s rugby. It’s a massive tournament and it’s such an honour and privilege to be able to train with all these girls. There’s so much talent here, it’s something I can only dream off really so I’m delighted.”
“We’re into our second week of the camp now. We’ve been training really hard, we had two heavy sessions and two lighter ones during the week. It’s brilliant in training, everyone is running and getting fitter together. You know when you’re blowing that you’re working for the person beside you. It’s a really nice atmosphere and everyone’s really stuck in now so it’s good to be back.”
Ahead of the World Cup, Scott Bemand’s squad have two warm-up matches organised.
They first face Scotland in Cork on August 2 and this is followed by a meeting with Canada in Belfast a week later.
The Ireland and Ulster player is looking forward to getting back out onto the pitch for these pair of matches ahead of the World Cup after going through a bit of an off-season.
“We’ve two warm-up games against Canada and Scotland so that’ll be a good opportunity for us to play rugby again as we’ve had a bit of an off-season now so it’ll be great to get back onto the pitch before we head to the World Cup.”
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