A WHOLE NEW WORLD

Ireland's first World Cup such an incredible adventure

- Derek FOLEY

VICKI McDonnell scored Ireland's first-ever Women's Rugby World Cup try - an old school No8, she knew what she was doing.

Ireland's 1994 RWC campaign wasn't quite as surefooted as they ploughed ahead despite being ignored by the IRFU and travelled to Edinburgh regardless.

It's the tale of the Hello! magazine gal, Millwall's FA Cup medal winner who desperately didn't want others to know, the outstanding deaf athlete at fullback, the British Airways exec and the accidental tourist...

Two weeks, five games, two wins, pizza, stew and more pizza, a rickety hotel and sleeping in an attic/annex that had a pathway through it to the roof for potheads.

Evening accounting for the spacers on the roof, this was an amazing trek, Irish women boldly going where no Irish women had ever gone before...

COUGH UP

"The jerseys were heavy woollen things, 20-times too big and if it got wet you were dragging it around.

"We all had to buy our own and if you swapped it, you had to buy another," says McDonnell.

"I'd at least had a job and got a leave of absence from the National Virus Reference Lab in UCD. My manager had encouraged me to write to our suppliers so I ended up with about ten of them giving us £100 at the time, which was great.

"There were others around the rugby community who gave us a bit of money which helped pay for accommodation and stuff."

John Etheridge, a Cheltenham-born Northampton Saint, had been contracted to Blackrock College as a player/coach that year and, injured, became more and more involved with the international women.

He became de facto coach along with Des Byrne. Philip 'Goose' Doyle would not take over until later but his wife Nicola, who played for Blackrock's Rockettes, was a key part of it all.

"There was actually a lot of animosity back and forth between those here and those in the UK," says McDonnell.