All Eyes on Ireland's Women's Rugby team this summer

With the Women’s Rugby World Cup set to be held in Ireland in August, 2017 is shaping up to be as huge a year for our women’s team as their male counterparts. One of the team’s stars during the World Cup – as well as during their upcoming Six Nations campaign – is likely to be 32-year-old Sene Naoupu. The New Zealand-born inside centre moved to Ireland a number of years ago when her husband, George, began playing with Connacht (he has now transferred to Harlequins, following the Western province’s landmark PRO12 win last year).

Sene now lives in Guildford, where Harlequins are based, but she’s been travelling to Dublin for training ahead of the team’s Six Nations opener against Scotland. She is hugely positive about the growth of the women’s game in Ireland in recent times.

“The IRFU has done huge work and the game is definitely on the rise,” she enthuses. “This has been the case not just in Ireland, but around the world. Certainly, over the last few years, I’ve really noticed the shift in focus, to the idea that we have not just one but two teams representing us. In the time I’ve been based in Ireland, it has become much more popular with girls. They take it up at a young age and keep it going, whether it be touch rugby or what have you.”

Although there has been a patronising attitude to the sport in some quarters – most notably evidenced in Niamh Horan’s widely derided Sunday Independent report on the sport a few years ago – the profile of the game has continued to grow on the back of some exceptional results, most notably a thrilling 17-14 victory over New Zealand at the 2014 World Cup in France.

The eventual winners of that tournament were England, and the presence of the world champions in the Six Nations means a tough campaign is in the offing for Sene and her teammates.

“It will be difficult but we’re really excited about the young talent coming through,” she says. “France are the reigning champions and you have England as world champions as well, but I think it will be great preparation for us ahead of the World Cup later this year. Playing against top teams like that, it’s invaluable experience and everyone will be stronger for it.”

Given her husband’s involvement in Connacht’s incredible PRO12 triumph last year, Sene had a unique insight into one of the most remarkable ever Irish sporting stories.

“It was unbelievable,” she reflects. “Rugby had such a phenomenal rise in the west over the past few years. Seeing it first-hand was awe-inspiring and it finished off on a very special moment last year. But, you know, it was just reward for all the work that had been put in by everyone, from the manager Pat Lam to the captain John Muldoon. The wonderful thing, though, is that it’s being built on – the marketing people are right on top of it now and selling out stadiums, which is some achievement. I mean, that’s what the goal would have been five years ago – to get it to that point.”

Connacht’s PRO12 win was undoubtedly a massive milestone for Irish rugby, but life moves on and Pat Lam has signalled his intention to continue his career elsewhere when the current season ends. George Naoupu himself, of course, has also moved on. But while he and Sene are now both based in Guildford, Ireland still figures prominently in the couple’s lives.

“Rugby in Ireland all comes under the one umbrella,” explains Sene. “As well as playing for Ireland I’m also involved in the Rugby Sevens – they’re over in Sydney in a training camp at the moment in preparation for the Australian leg of the Sevens World Cup. I’m over and back for the Six Nations training, and then once the tournament kicks off I’ll be there for a good while. It’s busy, but I like it.”

Was it simply time for George to move on?

“The development of Irish rugby is absolutely where it needs to be,” replies Sene, “in that they’re looking for homegrown talent. My husband is hugely experienced, but it’s time for the young guys to come through. We’re just really fortunate that we were able to come to a prestigious club in Harlequins. It’s been fantastic, a win/win situation. Ireland is accessible to me from London too, which is important. We had to think through the options George had – and thankfully it’s worked out.”

As well as their rugby commitments, Sene and George also have a fitness business, Senshaper, which has bases all over Ireland.

“We still have it in Ireland and we launched a class here in Guildford last week,” notes Sene. “The plan had been to launch it in February, but we got it done earlier. Other gyms are going to pick it up from March too, so it’s going well.”

The daughter of Samoan parents who moved to New Zealand, Sene actually had a musical upbringing, with instruments always lying around the house when she was growing up.

“Funnily enough, my parents weren’t from a rugby background,” she reflects. “It was all music! I mean, I’m probably the least musical of all the family, so I stayed in sport, but it was a huge part of our family. We all played instruments – there was a room just dedicated to that, with drums, guitars, keyboards and everything else. We’d just jam away – we played a mixture of styles.

“I’m the eldest of four and I have four step-brothers and sisters in Australia as well, and we’d play rock, hip-hop and plenty of other stuff. In terms of getting mentally right for matches, I’m one of those players who likes to get the headphones on, get some good music going and tune into what we need to do. I love to listen to my own stuff before the team tracks start up – Claire Molloy acts as our DJ in the changing room!” What songs does Sene like to hear before she heads out on the field? “Well, I know you’re the music magazine!” she laughs. “I like the usual rock and hip hop stuff – the Dropkick Murphys are usually in there. It definitely gets the adrenaline going.”

One debate that took place after the last men’s World Cup in 2015 – and which also applies to the women’s game – was the contrasting styles of the northern and southern hemisphere teams. Despite high hopes going into the tournament after back-to-back Six Nations wins, Ireland were ripped apart in the quarter finals by a superb attacking display from Argentina. Having grown up in New Zealand, does Sene see a notable difference to the way the game is approached in the different hemispheres?

“I actually think it’s changing, to be honest,” she suggests. “The rugby style over here is evolving and it has become more expansive – it’s not as confrontational as it used to be. Some teams might retain that aspect, and of course you need to be winning in the collision areas to get those platforms out wide, but in general – even in the women’s game – it’s changing. You need that belief in your play to get those passes going from the props to the backs.

“Once you have that, and you’ve developed your skills sufficiently, it gives you a powerful new dimension. It’s becoming a weapon over here. New Zealand have a long tradition in that area obviously, but people are really working on it now. And actually, once it’s fully realised, it puts northern teams in a powerful position because they’ll have both styles. Getting that attacking approach fully nailed down isn’t always the easiest here, because the weather militates against it, but teams are getting there.”

As we head into the 2017 season, it’s clear that Sene is hugely excited about what lies in store for Irish rugby.

“Really, it’s a huge honour to be involved,” she says. “It’s an enormous year. With Ireland hosting the Women’s Rugby World Cup, it should be a big promotional tool and generate a lot of interest. The women’s game is getting bigger all the time and events like that help push it on to another level. Obviously, the hope is that more kids get involved on the back of it. That’s the key really – because the greater the participation, the better it is for everybody.”

The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 takes place from August 9-26. rwcwomens.com