The Countdown is on to the Rugby World Cup!

Not long to go now! Full fixtures can be found at http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/fixtures/poolstage.html 

All of the Ireland matches will be shown live in St. Mary's RFC Clubhouse. More details will be available on http://www.stmaryscollegerfc.com 

St. Mary's crowned All-Ireland Plate Champions!

What a day it was last Saturday in Wanderers RFC! Beneath glorious sunshine, St. Mary's Women's team overcame City of Derry RFC to take the All-Ireland Plate Title. This is the third piece of silverware in three years for the team and is added to a trophy cabinet in Templeville Road that is already filling up!

Ireland Women's Home Match

Congrats to Dougie for getting her very first cap for Ireland at the weekend! She has again been named on the bench for this Friday nights clash with France at Ashbourne RFC.
Head along and support the girls in green and St. Mary's player Gill 'Dougie' Nolan.

Jamie and the black stuff
Just couldn't help putting this in! Althought the video itself is very staged the stats are awesome and nobody would doubt them having seen what Jamie puts his body through. Definitely turning into another talismanic player and leader ala O'Driscoll. Roll on Sunday and him and O'Brien together in the backrow!

Roundup of the Week

Well it has been quite an eventful week all around!
This week included the run up to our opening match to defend our Paul Flood Cup title. Starting off a new competition with a clean slate various things were instigated by the management including motivational posters in the dressing room along with a "This Is Our Team" initiative among the squad members. With some recent tough losses, the start of the cup campaign was seen as a chance to not only wipe the slate clean, but to take what had been learnt throughout the league so far and to put it to use. It also signified a bringing together of the team in the aim to further boost team morale. Picked up on twitter then, through the St. Mary's Women's Rugby twitter account @stmaryswomen was confirmation that the best teams employ similar strategies. Courtesy of Cian Healy (@ProperChurch worth a follow #ff) and straight from Ireland Camp down in UL, we discovered this:

Perhaps we should get our very own Rala a.k.a. Tony to begin a similar publication? All thoughts to stmaryswomensrugby@gmail.com

Another noteworthy mention...
This week our very own Dora The Explorer Maria "Ryaner" Ryan made it back home safely after 6 months travelling the world! To say a proper welcome home and look what you've been missing (apart from ourselves of course!) this is specially for her:

Will give you a couple of minutes to recover from that.
Yes that is body paint and wipe that drool off your chin.

And well we don't want to discriminate against Monaghan people and leave poor Tommy out (basically any excuse to throw this in!):

And finally, leaving the best til last... Gill "The loud one" "Dougie" Nolan has been named in the 25 player Ireland Women's Squad for the upcoming Six Nations Campaign.

Dougie's Leinster Mugshot

Yes that's right she is famous. Form an orderly queue now. A big congrats to Gill from all in St. Mary's, she well deserves it and best of luck to her! To see a proper write up on it, see this Thursday's Club Newsletter which can be found here http://stmaryscollegerfc.com/NewsItem_Preview.aspx?ID=207

Don't forget!
Our match this Sunday in the Paul Flood Cup is against Trinity in Santry with a kick off time of 1pm. All support greatly appreciated!

Three St. Mary's Players Named in Irish Squad

Three St. Mary's players have been named in the Irish Women's squad for the upcoming Six Nations competition. This is a great honour for the club and signifies real development for the women's team as this is the largest contingent that they have ever had in an Irish squad.

 Michelle Ross in action for Leinster in their recent Interpro match against Ulster

St. Mary’s and Leinster team-mates Orla Fitzsimons, Gill Nolan and Michelle Ross have been named in the 34 player Irish Training Squad. Nolan and Ross were named in the Irish squad last season. Nolan was unfortunate to miss out on the camps however, as she sustained an injury shortly after selection which ruled her out of the Six Nations campaign. Ross lined out in a Presidents XV against Scotland and was unlucky to miss out on inclusion in the match-day squads. While for Fitzsimons it is her first time in the squad.

This selection is due reward for the hard work put in by players with Province and club this season and over previous seasons. It also signifies the backing players receive from the club both from a coaching point of view and in a developmental sense. The recent disappointment of the postponement of the third round and final of the Interprovincial Competition due to bad weather was in some way eased as the players learnt of their inclusion in the Irish squad. Preparations for the Six Nations include training camps at weekends from now until the competition kicks off in February. The Irish team will host France and England in Ashbourne RFC and will travel to Italy, Scotland and Wales. Full fixtures and the latest news can be found at http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/women/172.phpN