If any of this Ireland squad are looking for an insight into how much of a rugby town Clermont-Ferrand is, they don't have to go far.
It’s nearly five years now since Linda Djougang, at the time a promising but inexperienced international, made the move over to France to join ASM Romagnat, the women’s affiliate of Clermont Auvergne.
"IRFU Broker Clermont Switch For Linda Djougang," was the headline on the Irish Rugby press release in August 2021, who gave themselves a great pat on the back for their role in facilitating Djougang’s switch from Leinster to ASM for the 2021/22 season.
At the time of the move, she was 25 years old and had 12 caps to her name, but as she prepares to return to the city on Saturday night for Ireland’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations clash with France at Stade Marcel Michelin, the 29-year-old's will make her 55th international appearance, the most experienced player in this Irish squad.
And she admits her season playing in Clermont with ASM has had a big impact on making her the player she is today.
"I feel like I built my core skills there, especially in the scrum, because when I went I was really just breaking through into the Irish system," Djougang, who turns 30 next month, says.
"It was after the World Cup qualifier in Italy that I went there. For me, it was really to just be like [learning] with scrummaging.
"I’m still learning, I'm such a young prop, too, and it was just really gaining that experience and no better place to go than France to learn to just get that experience with the scrummaging and the way they think about the scrum.
"They are just so passionate about scrummaging and I'm passionate about scrummaging. We can talk about it all day, but I just love the way they play, the offloads constantly, the French style is so different.
"And I feel like they play such a different system compared to even England and all that. It's just 'Joué’. It's so different.
"But it's also that passion that they have about the sport that is incredible to see. So it was really good for me to just be part of it and understand the culture. And it was really easy to fit into."
'It's up to us to get our best game out there!' - Ireland make one change to take on France in Women's Six Nations #RTERugby #RTESport pic.twitter.com/OeY8ftNKzr
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) April 23, 2026
Djougang returned to Ireland in 2022 when the first wave of professional contracts were handed out by the IRFU to XVs players, and has arguably been the most important player to Scott Bemand, as well as his predecessor Greg McWilliams.
She will win her 55th Ireland cap on Saturday night in France, achieving that mark in the space of just 56 games, missing just one game since making her debut in 2019.
Interestingly, the tighthead prop has stepped away from her full-time IRFU contract since the World Cup as she looks to balance her rugby with her career outside of sport.
Formerly a nurse, Djougang completed a masters in sports management shortly before the World Cup, and has taken up a job with Medserv, a medical billing service.
While some players have struggled to keep their places in the national side when they have turned down full-time contracts, the reality is that it would never happen to a player like Djougang, who has been the anchor of an improving Irish scrum in recent seasons.
As such, she is still involved with the IRFU as a ‘player of national interest’.
"Everyone has been so good in supporting me," she adds of stepping away from her full-time contract.
"Like, I'm able to be here [in camp] and I don't have to really worry about work. I played the whole Celtic Challenge, so they were able to support me in that.
"I think that it also important that when I went in for the job they knew that I was an athlete and also coming from being a full-time athlete. They were able to support me in that transition.
"To be honest, they've been so good and they understand what I do, they understand my commitment to rugby, they understand what an athlete is and to be honest, I'm also able to transition that aspect of athlete and the mindset that we have and bring it to the job.
"It's a different transitional skill, but it's also worked perfectly, the corporate life is so different to the professional life, but there's so much skill that can be transitioned, it's really good for me to be able to experience that, so that even in the future knowing that it's not going to be a big shock for me when I finish here to go into the outside world, that I'm used to it."
The move away from professional rugby doesn’t appear to have impacted Djougang on the pitch, if the early Six Nations outings are anything to go by.
And as she returns to Clermont with Ireland, she believes there would be no better place for her side to record their first ever Women’s Six Nations win away to the French.
"It is a home pitch for me in the past, but it just brings even more revenge, just going in and playing my best rugby," Djougang adds.
"Now it's just really focusing on trying to not play the game in your head, and don't think much about it, and show up.
"We've been waiting for it for a while now. We were so close in the Six Nations a year ago and in the quarters so we know what we're capable of.
"And to be honest, we're going in with such a confidence too because we know that they're waiting for us. We know that it's going to be a challenging game, but to break into the top four [in the world] we have to give that extra 10%.
"We have to do the impossible. So yeah, it's not going to be easy, but it's never meant to be easy."
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