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Head coach Phillip Doyle delivers one of his team talks. ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
Triple Crown

Nora Stapleton column: Katie Taylor told us we had inspired her

The Ireland out-half writes about beating Wales to set up a Triple Crown-decider with England in the Six Nations.

WE’RE HEADING INTO the break weekend of the Six Nations with two wins from two games after last Friday’s 14-6 success over a really tough Wales team. Our head coach Phillip Doyle is keeping us focused as we prepare for a Triple Crown-decider against England at Twickenham.

Last week, we were given a massive boost when Katie Taylor came into camp to chat with us and present our jerseys in the build-up to the Welsh game. Jenny Murphy, our inside centre, is good friends with her, so she managed to arrange it. Katie’s just a lovely person and she said to us ‘Girls, it was amazing watching you win the Grand Slam last season and you’re such an inspiration.’

It was incredible to hear that, because that’s exactly how we would have felt when we watched Katie winning gold at the Olympics in London. Lots of the girls were over for her fights in 2012 and we all get on really well. She actually managed to work her way through the squad to chat to individuals after talking to us as a group.

We all had a bit of fun together afterwards, and it was a really relaxing evening in the lead-up to such an important game against Wales. I reckon Katie would make a brilliant flanker if she ever decides to switch her attention to rugby in the future, even if she is surprisingly small in person; there’s a place for her in our squad anyway!

We knew that the Welsh would be a bigger challenge than Scotland were, and that definitely proved to be the case. There was a huge difference in the physicality of the game and the competition at the breakdown. On top of that, Wales were more threatening with ball in hand. There were aspects of our performance that we weren’t happy with, but we have time to fix them before England.

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Elinor Snowsill is the new out-half for Wales this season and she started the game strongly with a nice wind behind her. She kept looking to build territory for her team with long kicks into the right-hand corner and that tactic worked well in the first half. Despite all the pressure the Welsh managed to put on us, we still didn't leak a real try-scoring chance and that's very encouraging.

Irish teams have got lots of recognition for their use of the choke tackle in recent years, and it's a defensive technique we like to use as well. Early on against Wales, we managed to hold up one of their ball-carriers in contact and the referee ended up giving us a penalty as the Welsh players infringed when they tried to prevent the turnover; that kind of thing is such a confidence boost in the opening minutes of a game.

Defence is all about recognising how the attacking player is coming at you though; going for a choke tackle every time wouldn't be a good call. We try to appreciate that each situation is different when we're defending and then we look to make quick decisions about whether to tackle low, hit high on the body, go for the turnover on the deck or look to counter-ruck.

Niamh Briggs was back in the team at fullback for the win against Wales and her experience was important for us. She identifies space really well from behind the backline and her communication and organisation are so helpful for all of us too. On top of that, she carries the ball into contact powerfully and her hands are great. It's easy to see why she was Women's Player of the Year in 2013.

imageHaving Niamh Briggs back in the team was a boost, but Jackie Shiels is pushing for a place too. ©INPHO/Donall Farmer.

Having Niamh back in the team also meant I was relieved of the place-kicking, which maybe hadn't gone so well against Scotland in round one. As an out-half, my key performance indicators would largely be based around attacking decisions; where do we look to exploit the defence, do we need to kick in behind them, do I need my forwards to keep the ball in tight?

Moving forward in the Six Nations, we have been keeping hard at the training this week, with a team session on Tuesday and individual skills last night. We were in the gym too, and we'll do that again on Saturday together as a group, just to keep that focus over the weekend.

Our next game, like the men's team, is at Twickenham and we're playing for a Triple Crown too. England are definitely another step up again on Scotland and Wales; they're a very complete team. Their set-piece is strong, they can move the ball and they're really powerful.

There's obviously a bit more added pressure, but Phillip always makes sure we focus on the fact that this is just another Six Nations game. We've simply got to concentrate on the processes that have helped us to win up until now. Playing in Twickenham is going to be an amazing experience and we're hopeful of making it even more memorable by getting a win over there.

Let's hope we can keep inspiring Katie as well.

Nora Stapleton is the Leinster and Ireland out-half. You can follow her on Twitter. Nora made her debut against Italy in 2010 and was part of the Grand Slam-winning team in 2013.

Ireland Women face England on Saturday the 22nd of February at Twickenham, with kick-off at 6.20pm.

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