Hall of Fame
Rugby Players Ireland was proud to induct Dr Claire Molloy, Stephen Ferris and Jamie Heaslip into the Heineken Rugby Players Ireland Hall of Fame. Established in 2003, the Hall of Fame recognises former players who have made an outstanding contribution to Irish rugby, both on and off the field. Molloy, Ferris and Heaslip join a distinguished group of previous inductees who have shaped the game and helped elevate Irish rugby to new heights.
The trio were honoured at a special ceremony hosted by Darren Cave at the Marker Hotel in November, where they were joined by family, friends and former teammates including Lynne Cantwell, Cian Healy and Sean O’Brien who each contributed their own unique insights.
Autumn Internationals
Ireland had a mixed month with wins over Japan and Australia sandwiched by defeats to New Zealand in Chicago, and a powerful Springboks side in Dublin. The overriding sense of disappointment surrounding the series was compounded by injuries to Jamie Osborne, Stuart McCloskey, Ryan Baird and Mack Hansen, however Caelan Doris made his return to action, delivering impact from the point of his introduction against the All Blacks and continuing to impress throughout November.
There was another notable highlight with Tom Farrell, having first trained with the squad in 2019, belatedly making his Test debut against the Japanese. At 32 years old, he became the oldest back in the professional era to earn his first cap for the team.
Achievement
Tadhg Beirne has been included in the 2025 World Rugby Men’s 15s Dream Team line-up, adding to his British & Irish Lions Player of the Series honour and his Rugby Players Ireland and Guinness Rugby Writers Of Ireland Men’s Player of the Year awards.
Beirne is one of six players in the 2025 side to make the World Rugby Dream Team for a second year in a row. It is his third Dream Team selection in all, having first been honoured in 2022.
Our congratulations also to Aoife Wafer (Women’s XVs Player of the Year), Dylan O’Grady (Men’s 7s Player of the Year) and Hannah Clarke (Women’s 7s Player of the Year) on their respective awards at the Guinness Rugby Writers event.
Central Contracts
Our congratulations to all 35 players who have signed central contracts with the IRFU, including seven players who have been awarded their first national contracts.
Forwards Ailish Quinn, Beth Buttimer, Ivana Kiripati, Jane Neill, and Jemima Adams Verling have joined the full-time centralised programme for the 2025/26 season, while backs Caitríona Finn and Chisom Ugwueru have also earned their first senior contracts. The list also includes Erin King who continues her rehabilitation from a significant injury sustained in last year’s Six Nations.
A number of players – including Linda Djougang, Méabh Deely, and Siobhán McCarthy – have left the programme but remain players of national interest, while Niamh O’Dowd and Brittany Hogan have taken up playing opportunities with Gloucester-Hartpury and Sale Sharks respectively.
Meanwhile, we were delighted to see Dorothy Wall return to action for Exeter Chiefs having missed out on the Rugby World Cup with an Achilles injury.
APDNI
In recent days we had the first meeting of the Athlete and Player Development Network Ireland, which brings together PDMs and Performance Life Skills Consultants from the GPA, RPI, Sport Ireland Institute, Cricket Ireland and PFA NI. The group came together to establish a Community of Practice (CoP) across high performance sport on the island of Ireland. The hope is that this initiative will empower practitioners to better support athletes in their personal development and contribute to the long-term success of Irish sport.
HerForm
This month marked the official launch and presentation of HerForm, an international, gender-specific training programme for female athletes at the HerForm to HerSolution Conference in Dublin. The project is being led by Rugby Players Ireland through Finola Roache and Pamela Gilpin.
Female athletes navigate a distinct set of personal and systemic challenges, including issues of identity, self-care, and mental health, alongside structural barriers like under-representation, unequal resources, and limited high-performance support. HerForm is specifically designed to bridge this gap. This EU-funded online course comprises five comprehensive training modules that directly address the multifaceted complexities of the female athlete experience.
Targeting both female athletes and their support providers, the complete course is freely accessible at herform.eu.
The Dublin Conference served not only as the official programme launch but also as a critical forum offering detailed insights and solutions to the personal development challenges faced by aspiring female athletes. The event drew a targeted audience, including athletes, service providers, coaches, support staff, CEOs, and decision-makers across high-level sport, education, and training.
Top-tier speakers contributed crucial support perspectives on women’s sport, including Maria Walsh (Member of the European Parliament), Nancy Chillingworth (High Performance Manager with the Olympic Federation of Ireland), and Paola Ottonello (European Commission Sport Unit). High-level athletes such as Edel McMahon, Eve Higgins, Silvia Turani (Italy Rugby), and Lisa Koop (Germany Basketball) provided invaluable, lived-experience insights from across the European continent.
Incidentally, Eve was very in much demand this month. In addition to her HerForm commitments, she was also the keynote speaker at both the IRFU’s Women’s Rugby Networking event and at the Sports Law Bar Association (SLBA) Conference 2025 at the Law Library.
Dual Career for Carty
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Paul Currie
In his LinkedIn post that carried an article with Rugby Players Ireland, Jack Carty said that his players’ association have “been there through it all – college, performance on the pitch, and building something meaningful beyond it.”
Jack Carty’s life has been all-go these past 18 months. From building Cognitive Blends & Project Padel Galway with Fergal Hynes to significant personal milestones, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind… and that’s before he even steps on the field.
A life driven by curiosity and commitment, Jack shows that when you design your own path and keep things in order off the pitch, you create the space to focus, switch gears when needed, and still perform at the highest level – even in the busiest seasons.
Read the interview with Jack here.
Recover Well
We were very sorry to learn that Byron Ralston is likely to miss the remainder of the season through injury.
“I needed to start finding myself”
In an interview with The42.ie, Anna McGann spoke about how she has dealt with a difficult few years with the passing of her dad, and her disappointment at missing out on Olympic selection for Paris 2024.
In the piece she cites Aoife Lane of Rugby Players Ireland for encouraging her to focus on something outside of rugby during her ACL injury spell to escape the mundanity of rehab. McGann launched a jewellery brand called Chaos the Label last year.
The 5Rs of Rugby
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/James Crombie
In collaboration with The Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Derby, we were proud to share the findings of two new studies on elite rugby players’ mental health.
The research evaluates the 5Rs of Rugby programme (Recognise, Reach Out, Refer, Remain Supportive, and Realities of Rugby) was introduced through workshops with all four Irish provincial squads during the 2023/24 seasonwhich builds mental health literacy, challenges stigma and encourages help-seeking across professional rugby in Ireland.
Deirdre Lyons, who co-authored both studies, says: “The 5Rs of Rugby gives players a shared language to look out for each other and seek help.”
Sports Book of the Year
Our congratulations to Andrew Porter who has won the Eason Sports Book of the Year for his deeply personal account of his life, successes and struggles both on and off the pitch in his autobiography Heart on My Sleeve.
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