Coghlan desperate for success

Coghlan has been a cornerstone of the Irish pack for ten years, captaining the side for four, and while the World Cup 2014 is her key aim before deciding on her future, she admits she would love to experience silverware.

“Ten years feels like a long time but you wouldn’t do it unless you loved it. There are a few of us on the team who have been around for that length of time – Lynne Cantwell and Joy Neville too and you would love to end your career having won something together.  The focus for all of us is now qualifying for the World Cup and we’ll see from there.”Although Ireland have never finished higher than third in the 6 Nations, hopes are high this season that the side can better its position from last year, though Coghlan is cautious about looking too far  ahead.

“We can’t look beyond the first game against Wales away from home. We haven’t won there in a while and we’ve had some really tough matches there so that’s all we can think about. This year World Cup qualification is our key aim. We put ourselves in a good position last year and we need to build on it.”

With Ireland’s two home games being England and France this season, they are in a positive position to build on recent achievements and Coghlan is looking forward to the games at Ashbourne.

“We love playing there. It’s a lovely ground with a really good pitch so we always feel good when we run out there. We haven’t talked about the home games yet because Wales is our focus but I know everyone will look forward to those. People talk about a weakened England team but I don’t know if there is any such thing – they have massive strength in depth and they will be really strong. France can be unpredictable so it’s hard to look ahead.”

Having been around through good and bad times for Ireland, Coghlan is well placed to judge the progress her side has made in recent years.

“The game has become more professional and the standard of coaching we are getting has taken a step up. We have loads of new girls now who come in not knowing what it’s like to lose to certain teams and it’s refreshing. Everything about how we train and play has changes. In the early years, you could be on the pitch for three hours the night before a game being flogged whereas now it is all monitored and everything you are doing is very very finely planned.  It’s a very good place to be.”