Head coach Tom Tierney has said Ireland will need to deal with the increased pressure of being hosts if they are to contend for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
It was announced on Wednesday that Ireland had won the right to host the 2017 tournament, with games to be held in Dublin and Belfast.
The news was a further shot in the arm for the women’s game in Ireland, which has gone from strength to strength in recent years.
As well as winning Six Nations titles in 2013 and 2015, Ireland announced themselves on the global scene last year when they beat New Zealand on their way to the World Cup semi-final in Paris.
Speaking to RTÉ Sport about the awarding of the 2017 tournament, Tierney, who only began his tenure as head coach last December, said the tournament gave Ireland an irresistible target and end-point of a long-term project.
“It’s going to be a privilege, for me personally, but also for the women’s game to have something like this coming on the horizon,” Tierney said.
“What has happened in the past is in the past" - Tom Tierney
“It just goes to show the strength and growth that’s happening in the women’s game in Ireland and in the world, and to get it here is absolutely fantastic.
“I know it’s only two years away, but [they will be] two years of hard planning and hard work to make sure that we are as competitive and that give the best account of ourselves as possible.”
He insisted that, notwithstanding Ireland’s recent success, they had it all to do to prove themselves contenders once again in the global competition.
“What has happened in the past is in the past,” he said.
“We can learn from it, we can look back on it, but we’re not going to actually stay back there in the past with it.”
The likelihood of larger crowds, and a greater focus on Ireland’s performance is a pressure Tierney and his players will have to cope with.
Though in the past Ireland have attracted a loyal but relatively small fan base, matches happening in Dublin and Belfast mean that interest levels are likely to increase greatly.
“That’s going to be a huge challenge on top of all the rugby issues, and all the rugby areas of work that we need to concentrate on,” he said.
“That pressure is something that over the next two is just going to build, bit by bit by bit. And when it comes to the big games, then it’s about just concentrating on the game, and then concentrating the work that we’ve done, and the processes that we’ve employed. And not let that pressure, and not let the occasion get to us.
“And that’s the challenge, and it’s going to be a hard challenge. But it’s going to be worth it, if we’re serious about being contenders for the World Cup, and to be world champions.”
