Last night Lynne Cantwell was inducted into World Rugby's Hall of Fame.
The former Ireland international joined an illustrious list and became the first Irish woman and 13th player from the island to receive the honour.
The 43-year-old followed in the footsteps of Brian O'Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Keith Wood and Jack Kyle to name just a few.
It’s good company and just recognition for Ireland’s most capped female player.
The Dubliner made her international debut in 2002 and lined out 86 times, consecutively, for her country, in the days before it was fashionable.
When she hung up her boots in 2014 she had a Grand Slam title to her name and appeared in the World Cup semi-final.
Cantwell was also a member of the first Ireland Sevens team back in 2006.
Alongside England legend Rochelle 'Rocky’ Clark, she took the plaudits at a glitzy ceremony in London.
While it's nice to be recognised, the woman charged with overseeing the next phase of Ireland’s ‘Green Wave’ as the IRFU’s head of Women’s strategy, says it's another kind of recognition that gives her hope for the future.
The scene: A wet and windy runway at Bristol Airport a few hours after Ireland narrowly lost their Rugby World Cup quarter-final to France.
Standing patiently between the shuttle bus and the Aer Lingus propeller airplane was Irish rugby royalty.
Tania Rosser (58 caps), Fiona Coghlan (‘only’ 85 caps) and Cantwell mooched along the line but they were spotted.
An elderly couple first inquired about Rosser's credentials and was subseqently introduced along the line to the former captain and the record caps holder.
Then they siddled up for a hug, offered and gladly accepted, from the pioneers of the women’s team.
An educated guess was that these fans were relatives, grandparents perhaps, of some of the current team, on their way back having shouted themselves hoarse at a rainswept Sandy Park hours earlier.
Were they related to a player?
"No, this is the thing," Cantwell tells RTÉ Sport.
"They were a 'camogie' family from Wexford. He was a wonderful man, definitely in his 70s.
"I spoke to him on the way onto the plane he was saying, ‘oh, it's just disappointing, there was a couple of empty seats, you know, it should be full’.
"And I was like, ‘well done for saying that’, but at the same time this is incredible.
"It's so to see people that are not 'rugby people'. We want supporters to look at it say, this is great sport.
"We are very lucky and have to leverage this World Cup. It's practically a home World Cup and it's going to be the last European World Cup for eight years.
"There's so many more of them out there that love this and want to know more about it.
"The other lady I was sitting beside on that plane, she was from Offaly.
"She wasn't a relative of any of the players, she was actually a cousin of [former Ireland player] Sinead Ryan.
"But I don't even think that was the connection. She said that she just went to all the men's World Cups and why wouldn't she go to the women's?
"It’s just brilliant that type of fan is joining in. It's really special."
Cantwell is an executive committee board member with Sport Ireland and between 2021 and last year oversaw the development of the South African women's programme, for whom she was still consulting during the World Cup.
They beat Italy on their way to the last-eight.
She came on board with the IRFU last January but didn’t play a part in the World Cup preparations, spending her time instead consulting with the clubs.
Head-hunted by CEO Kevin Potts, Cantwell says she wouldn’t have joined without getting assurances about the road ahead.
"Kevin Potts has got a very strong vision of what he wants the future of Irish women's rugby to look like," she says.
"That was a really important factor in me considering any role.
"They wanted to create a head of women's strategy role that was able to look ahead longer term, beyond World Cup and Olympic cycles.
"One that linked the whole thing together with the domestic game, the commercial and comms.
"When he spoke to me originally about the union’s vision, it was great to hear.
"We've all been part of the history and it's really important that one, leadership is in place and they have a belief in vision that isn't just a fleeting thought.
"And two, that there's a professional plan there attached to that vision, which includes roles and jobs and funding and authority and consent to do what's needed.
"And a willingness for that to look different to what it does do in the men's game."
The travails of the women’s game in Ireland have been well documented at this stage.
Failure to build on the home World Cup in 2017 led to missing out on the 2021 World Cup. There was discontent among the players, a fierce missive aimed at the IRFU hierarchy was signed by 62 former and current players, and captains stepped away.
Head coaches Adam Griggs and Greg McWilliams came and went; Sevens, at times, took priority and the squad was unsettled.
How to keep the 'green wave' rolling - Next steps crucial for IRFU
Scott Bemand arrived after the 2023 Six Nations wooden spoon and at last some feelgood factor came in the form of a WXV3 title, World Cup qualification and a win over the Black Ferns.
Two wins and two defeats at the World Cup saw Ireland bow out in the quarter-finals but a ‘Green Wave’ had started. Incidentally, Cantwell and the union are currently discussing whether or not to take on an 'official' team nickname, a la Red Roses or Black Ferns.
But for now it’s about ensuring the wave continues.
Cantwell says the Sevens, who were relegated from the World Series last year, have their 2028 LA Olympics Games map planned out already but must start from a couple of tiers down.
Decisions about whether or not the likes of Béibhinn Parsons or Eve Higgins would be deployed to Sevens during 15s windows will be made along the way and the union’s World Cup debrief will form part of the reasoning.
"Each cycle you prioritize different goals and therefore the talent in it," the former centre, wing and out-half adds.
"After the review we'll know more about what players are prioritized for and the different competitions throughout the next year or two."
There won’t be any change to the Celtic Challenge for the coming season, however, what it will look like after that is up for discussion amid suggestions it becomes an Under-20s tournament.
While the Irish teams have been using the competition to hone their internationals, the Welsh and Scottish unions haven’t sent their top players.
"It was apparent very quickly that those games weren't very competitive," says Cantwell.
"The advantage was that the girls were all together and they maintained that competitive advantage going into this World Cup and did what they did, but that's not going to sustain that type of impact going forward.
"Therefore the broader conversations that are being had, internally and across all of the provinces and how can we roadmap with each of the provinces for what those Celtic Challenge teams look like going forward."
Back to the clubs. The IRFU’s model has been top down for the last number of years: Ireland, Leinster, Celtic Challenge.
Somebody who has given so much to the game. As a player, and as a coach 💚
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) September 16, 2025
All the emotions from Lynne Cantwell as @MaggieAlphonsi surprises her with the news of her induction into the World Rugby Hall of Fame 🏉#WorldRugbyHOF pic.twitter.com/OhN18xzdua
Will the clubs get to feel a bit of the love?
She says: "If what girls are seeing on their TVs, a local World Cup, resonates with them, and if they have talent to want to give it a go, then we need to be able to leverage that.
"Our local clubs are that platform. For me, they're the heartbeat of every community.
"At the same time, we sit in a sport whereby there's a national governing body, which now I'm part of.
"The governance of the game is about volunteers within our clubs and our community and our provinces, and therefore it's our job to work with clubs to help them.
"We want elite senior players playing in that top layer of our domestic game is really important.
"It's really important that our Under-18s to Under-23s levels, that we invest heavily in that into the domestic game.
"They're the conversations that we are having with all of the clubs and internally and within the provinces."
There is a huge job ahead for Cantwell but she’s engaged and enthusiastic about the task.
Last night, however, was her moment.
"Look, it's lovely," she says of the award.
"Now that I'm older, I probably take these things a little bit more gracefully.
"In the past I would have been very Irish about things where you're just like, 'God, it doesn't matter, let's move on and talk about something else'.
"But just from an Irish level, I think it's been special because it gives credibility to the work that we're doing here at a leadership level.
"There's a lot of work to do in Irish sports and Irish women's rugby still."
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