|
Irish Rugby Prop and Captain, Fiona Coghlan has scooped The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council 'Sportswoman of the Month' award for February, following her successful campaign in leading from the front as captain in this year's 6 Nation's Championship. This is the first time an Irish rugby player has been awarded the accolade and no more well deserved than 'Chief' Coghlan with her strength from the front in driving an inexperienced team to success, including two wins so far against Italy and Scotland.
Dealing with the loss of key players and competing with a new-look squad - including 10 uncapped players among the 25 selected for the 2011 Championship - Ireland have performed admirably with Fiona's leadership skills to the fore. Now one of the most experienced female Irish rugby players with over 50 caps to her name, the Clontarf native and Leinster senior squad member has no doubt felt the pressure of helping the new caps find their feet whilst trying to maintain the teams focus on the championship. No doubt Head Coach Philip Doyle is just as impressed with Fiona's captaincy skills as the squad are cited by rugby watchers as the most impressive team of the 6 Nation's campaign to date.
Commenting on her 6 Nations crusade Fiona said, "We're still not where we want to be and we have two games to go, but we've taken plenty of encouragement from the three performances so far, and we're just delighted with how well the new players have done."
The team remains third in the Six Nations table behind France and defending champions England. Their remaining fixtures will see Fiona lining out with her team-mates against Wales on the 13th of March before they wrap things up with a mouth-watering clash with England on Friday, March 18th.
|