In the past three years, Ireland have stepped up to become a nation to be feared. Take your eye off them at your peril. New Zealand know this all too well after their shock defeat in WXV 1 last autumn.
Now ranked number five in the world, the only countries which sit above Ireland in the World Rugby Rankings are all World Cup semi-finalists from 2022- Ireland in comparison, were not even at that World Cup. A remarkable rise.
And as a consequence, the country’s best players are becoming house-hold names. Aoife Wafer, Neve Jones, Aoife Dalton and Linda Djougang.
Players no doubt the Black Ferns‘ coaching team will have their eyes on for when the two sides meet once again in the World Cup pool stages.
Djougang, now a mainstay in the Ireland front row, has witnessed Ireland’s journey first hand from the crippling loss to Wales in the 2017 World Cup which saw the country miss automatic qualification for 2021, to beating six-time champions New Zealand last year.
The 29-year-old herself admits how ‘nerve wracking’ it feels preparing for the sport’s pinnacle event with only one player in the current squad having played in the tournament before.
“It’s exciting that we’re finally going to a World Cup after so long,” said the prop.
“It was really hard last time round, watching other teams getting ready and going to the World Cup and knowing that you weren’t part of that journey, it really hurt. The fact that we’re all experiencing it for the first time and are preparing for that journey together is really exciting.”
Rewind eight years ago and hooker Cliodhna Moloney is the only player to have experienced Ireland’s home World Cup from the pitch. At that time Djougang hadn’t yet made her international debut having only just signed for club side Old Belvedere.
“In 2017 I was in the UCD (University College Dublin) Bowl watching (the World Cup) from the sidelines. I’d just started playing in 2015 and was still new to the sport and I didn’t really know much!
“I had moved to Old Belvedere and there were so many players from Old Belvedere that were in the World Cup! Players like Marie Louise Reilly, Sophie Spence, Nora Stapleton, Jenny Murphy, Ailis Egan.
“I remember going to Kingspan for the final. And I remember not knowing much about rugby then, but I remember telling myself that I have to qualify for the World Cup.
“And I think we’ve been searching for that for so long. That tournament and those players left a legacy where we had to continue to fight and it’s a journey that we’re just continuing.”
And a journey not without its bumps or diversions. With the rise in Ireland’s performances and results of late, it was a surprise for many when they lost their final game of the 2025 Six Nations against Scotland, in a breathless contest in which Djougang scored.
“It was really tough to finish the campaign the way we did. Especially because we started on a real high.
“But we need to be able to take that loss, and now we have another opportunity in August to right the wrongs. A lot of things didn’t go our way, but that is just life and we need to be able to fix the problem quicker, problem solve quicker and we have that experience now.”
And Djougang explains in her former job as a theatre nurse many parallels can be drawn between nursing and high performance.
“I’m just so lucky to be able to do nursing. As a theatre nurse, seconds means a lot. You know, to be able to think quick and be able to problem solve quick (is important).
“And I think you bring that on the pitch in those tough situations. You discover a situation, and even with tiredness, we need to problem solve if something is not working.”
With the focus now on the Rugby World Cup, Ireland have the not-so-small task of facing reigning champion Black Ferns in their pool alongside Japan and Spain.
However, Djougang admits the team are ‘lucky’ to have previously played against all the teams in their pool.
“We know we don’t have an easy pool. We toured Japan back in 2022. Those two games were crucial to us, just in having the ability to understand the culture and understand the players.
“And obviously, WXV last year was a good experience to play against New Zealand. They are the best in the world and we have massive respect for them. And I know after the WXV upset happened, they definitely will come back stronger.
“We also played Spain in the WXV 3 final (back in 2023). They have very technical and fast players.”
Djoungang is always quick to turn a perceived negative into a positive. Such as Ireland potentially losing the element of surprise as everyone has woken up to the fact that they can beat anyone on their day.
‘We wanted that. We went into WXV 1 wanting to get respect, to earn all respect. And I think we gained that.
“We’re not the underdogs anymore. We don’t want to be the underdog. We’ve got nothing to hide behind. And I think we should be proud of that. We want to compete with the best at the top.”
One thing is for sure, despite feeling nerves at the prospect of playing in a World Cup, Djougang and Ireland deserve to be there, and unlike previous years, no one is writing them off.
