MAYBE IT’S PARTLY because Amée-Leigh Murphy Crowe has become so integral to the Ireland XVs team so quickly, or simply because there are so many less experienced players in Greg McWilliams’ squad for this year’s TikTok Women’s Six Nations, that the Clanwilliam wing feels ‘senior’.
The 26-year-old has more than found her feet on the pitch but, given that she made her longer-code debut only as recently as this time last year, she’s still settling into the international fold outside of the white lines.
So, a team-bonding session organised by the coaching staff a couple of weeks ago was as valuable an experience to the Railway Union woman as it was to the even fresher faces in McWilliams’ first Ireland squad.
“So, two weekends ago, they took us to the Avon [Adventure Centre] in Blessington,” Murphy Crowe says. “They put us into groups and y’know, like, getting to know each other — like how people communicate, how teams work together and stuff like that — really helped because that’s more off-the-field stuff.
You’re probably seeing different sides to people that you wouldn’t have thought of. Like, I’m pretty much afraid of heights and people might not have known that about me — and I was abseiling down this big, massive wall and people were just so encouraging! They just get to know you more as a person.
“We actually went back after the Avon and watched the Irish game (the men’s game v Scotland) and bonded over that, y’know? Chatting away, comparing things that our team might do compared to theirs, and what we might learn from the men’s game. Then we just gathered around for dinner, had the chats again, and it was just about spending time with each other.
“Knowing each other really well allows you to be more comfortable with one another on and off the pitch,” Murphy Crowe says. “I think that was shown at the weekend: everyone is so comfortable around each other. Whether you’re trying something new or doing something that you’ve done repeatedly, you’re still getting encouragement from players around you and that’s exactly what you want: You want to see girls trying new things but you also want girls to keep doing their ‘super-strengths’, as we call ‘em.”
That need for courage on the ball speaks to the ethos of new head coach Greg McWilliams and his “amazing new coaching ticket”, as Murphy Crowe describes them, which includes former Ireland skipper Niamh Briggs who is working with the players with a particular focus on passing technique and timing. “We have a game-plan”, Murphy Crowe stresses, “but they encourage you to be yourself and be creative if you see something that’s on. If you see it and your gut tells you, then I think you should go with your gut — and they back you.
“When I first came to senior rugby I played with Briggsy and she was just putting us away down the wing. She knows the game… She, like Greg, is so encouraging to try new things and that’s what you want as a player. You don’t want to be held back.”
As Murphy Crowe once more laid plain with her stunning finish to open the scoring against Wales, she takes serious stopping once she hits the accelerator — although she stresses that Beibhinn Parsons still clocks the fastest time from pillar to post. “Flying it,” she says of the Ballinasloe product.
It must be close between them, though, surely?
“It’s close enough…but she’s definitely way faster,” Murphy Crowe smiles. “But to be fair, she works so hard, like. She’s such a diligent player, such a diligent person; such a nice… Such a sweetheart of a person as well, like. I couldn’t have a nicer competitor, if you get me.”
Greg McWilliams’ arsenal will be shorn of two bullets for Ireland’s final game of the Six Nations against Scotland on 30 April, however, with Murphy Crowe and Parsons’ IRFU-contracted Sevens duties taking precedent in what is a World Cup year for the shorter code: the home fixture with Scotland clashes with the opening round of the World Sevens Series in Langford, Canada.
“It is a balance alright”, says Murphy Crowe, “but we put all our trust in Greg, Aiden [McNulty] our Sevens coach and David Nucifora. The three of them are going to decide what’s best for the team.
Doing so well in Seville (Ireland reached their first Sevens final in January and were edged out by Australia) has grown the Sevens game and having the backing of the 15s girls is amazing. It’s almost like having this one united team together, pushing you on. It’s not like two separate sides or trying to take on the World Cup on your own.
“They (the IRFU) have made it quite clear what priorities lie ahead for the Sevens programme: that we have to qualify for the World Cup this summer and hopefully head to Cape Town in September.”
On the plus side, Murphy Crowe’s remarkable career with the national Sevens team — she has scored over 100 tries in 140-odd games since 2014, and topped the try-scoring charts on the World Series in ’18/19 — dictate that she is one of the few players in this inexperienced Irish side who has experienced something resembling the atmosphere that awaits them in Toulouse this Saturday.
Whereas, as coach Niamh Briggs pointed out, several of last Saturday’s matchday squad in Dublin had never before played in front of a large crowd, Murphy Crowe has the t-shirt from Paris.
“I’ve played in the Stade de France in a jam-packed Sevens tournament so I know exactly how loud that crowd is going to be and how buzzing the whole area will be.
“I’m absolutely relishing the opportunity because it’s not often you get to play the top teams in the world.”
This week on the Front Row – The42’s new rugby podcast in partnership with Guinness – panellist Eimear Considine makes a welcome return… and she’s brought her Ireland roommate, Hannah O’Connor, along too. They chat about broken noses, tanning routines, initiation songs and balancing the Women’s Six Nations with teaching, plus how one fan named her child after Ireland winger Beibhinn Parsons! Click here to subscribe or listen below:
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