Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Now, fresh from their Six Nations win against Wales at the weekend, I'm joined by the captain of the Ireland women's Six Nations team, Erin King. Hello.
Hi there, how are you?
I'm delighted to have you here.
Nice to meet you.
Great weekend.
Yeah, no, it was a great weekend off in Belfast.
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Chapter 2: What was the significance of Ireland's recent Six Nations win?
We played Wales and we're really looking to get three home wins. So to get the second home win was, yeah, we're delighted.
And how are you feeling after the game? Physically okay?
Yeah, physically okay. The body's okay. All the girls came out of it pretty unscathed. So yeah, it was a really positive win.
Does everyone have to do an assessment of how you're feeling after a game like that?
Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, physically and mentally, how is everyone? We all check in with each other and the medics all check in with us. Yeah, we're really well looked after.
I mean, going into that game, Ireland was ranked a good bit higher than Wales. So people like me would have said, oh, sure, we're bound to win this. I would assume you never go in feeling like that, right?
No, to be honest, like you never know what's going to happen and what other teams are working on. And we place a big emphasis on ourselves and that's the main focus. But yeah, Wales had been going pretty well during the Six Nations. You know, we do a lot of analysts. We analyse everything that they do. And yeah, to be fair to them, they really brought it to us in that first half.
It was a bit of a challenge to get it over the line. But yeah, it was a great game.
You got there in the end. So then this weekend at Scotland, isn't it? Here in Dublin at the Aviva.
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Chapter 3: How do players assess their physical and mental state after a game?
Does that make a big difference to you, having a huge home crowd in the stadium?
Yeah, like 100 percent. Like it's why we do it. We talk about what we call our green wave a lot, which is all the people that have been on our journey and helped us with our journey and all our fans that support us and our families and anyone who wore the green jersey before us. So, yeah, it's great to see and feel that support.
We've come a long way from, you know, even just five years ago, we were playing in England. you know, tiny stadiums and we get a couple thousand people. So to see women's rugby going in the trajectory it's going is so positive and really exciting.
Okay, now I want to talk a little bit about you and about your background because you were born in Australia, isn't that right?
Yeah, yeah.
And then you moved around quite a bit.
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Chapter 4: What challenges did Ireland face against Wales during the match?
Yeah, moved all over, lived in the Middle East for a while and then came to Ireland when I was 12.
When you were 12? Yeah. So the Irish is your maternal... My grandad, yeah. Maternal grandad. Yeah. So where did you come to live when you moved here when you were 12?
I came to Blessington in Wicklow. Yeah, beautiful Blessington Lakes and everything. And yeah, settled in. I've always played rugby, so joined Nace Rugby Club straight away. And that's kind of been my kind of continuous factor through my whole life.
Yeah, I saw you said that, which is really interesting because you move around a lot, which is unsettling for a child. But rugby was always there for you.
Yeah, always how I found my friends and always fit right into wherever I was all over the world playing rugby.
So the injury then, talk to me about the injury. When was that? Was it more than a year ago now?
Yeah, it was about a year ago in our Six Nations last year. I played rugby sevens for years and I got to go to the Olympics in 2024 and was having a great year, started playing 15s and then was playing my first Six Nations. And unfortunately, in our third game against England, I had a really big, serious knee injury and it was...
Which you played through, didn't you?
Yeah, I ended up playing the full game, which made me kind of think it wasn't anything too serious and then got the results from the scan and it was actually an injury that they hadn't really seen before. So it was really uncertain if I'd get to play again or if I'd even run again. Gosh, what was it?
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Chapter 5: What does Erin King think about the upcoming game against Scotland?
Like rugby gives me so much. And we also had a World Cup in the summer. So I knew I was going to have to miss that. But... In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't that important. All I wanted to do was play rugby again in any capacity, whether that just be for my club or whatever it was. That was my goal all along.
And I kind of had this mentality to leave no stone unturned and do everything I could to get back.
What did that look like?
It was long, tough days. I think I was in our training facility, you know, for 10 hours a day doing anything I could.
Were you supposed to be doing that now, 10 hours a day?
I probably went a little bit overboard, to be honest, but that's kind of the person I am. And I was kind of like, just control the controllables, try to be as fit and as strong as I can be and put my knee in the best place to come back. And then, yeah, I played my first match back in January and then...
It's really quick recovery, you know, given how serious the injury was. It's incredible.
Yeah, it was kind of exceeded everyone's expectations and all the physios and no one really knows how I'm doing it now still. And a lot of people still kind of question it, but it's working for me.
You're not nervous about it, though. I mean, I don't see any signs on the pitch that you're thinking, oh, I need to protect my my knee.
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Chapter 6: How has women's rugby evolved in recent years?
But I suppose I'm lucky I'm surrounded by a lot of good leaders in my team and I lean on them a lot as well. We have a leadership group and I have vice captains and we kind of delegate the workload. But yeah, I've had to learn a lot of things and... And I kind of said from the get go, you know, I'm not going to be perfect. But the reason Scott made me captain was just me being myself.
So if that's what I can stick to and I don't lose sight of why I'm in the position I'm in, I'll be happy and just enjoy it.
What do you see the main job of a captain being like? What's the difference between being a player and being the captain?
There's probably a little bit more responsibility to, you know, how you act and how you lead. I'm a little bit more conscious of that. And I want to put my best foot forward for the girls. And I don't want to just talk about doing things. I definitely want to lead by example and lead through action. So I'd never tell them to do anything or anything. talk about things that I wouldn't do myself.
So definitely I wouldn't say I talk as much as most captains, but I definitely would hope I lead the girls by example and I would do anything for them and they're my main priority.
Well, listen, it's such a pleasure to have you in and I'm delighted to have you in in between these two games. Wales, as we said, the great win at the weekend and then Scotland. And if you are around, there are tickets still available for that match. Do go and see the Irish women taking on Scotland in the Six Nations. Erin King, such a joy. Thanks so much for being with us.
Continued success to you. The Clare Byrne Show. With Aviva Insurance. Weekday mornings at 9. On Newstalk. Conversation that counts.
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