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Ireland starlet Katie Corrigan: 'I have really tried to back myself and play with confidence'
This time last year Katie Corrigan had just played for Ireland in the under-18 Six Nations Festival at Wellington School – now she is set to play in front of a massive crowd of 45,000 plus at Twickenham this Saturday as her rapid rise hits new heights.
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The 18-year-old winger, who started playing at the Tullow club in County Carlow around six years ago, has been well-known in Irish rugby circles for quite a while as an exciting young talent.
And in the last few months, her stock has grown and grown week on week, first as the Old Belvedere and Leinster speedster helped the Wolfhounds win the Celtic Challenge title and then, more recently, as she has earned her first three full international caps.
Ireland head coach Scott Bemand backed her to start in week one of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations in Le Mans away to France on her debut and, since then, she has scored tries in the home loss to Italy in Dublin and the very important home bonus point win over Wales in Cork last weekend.
“It has certainly been a busy few months,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I was often playing 13 before I went to play for the Wolfhounds in the Celtic Challenge, so not only have I been stepping up the levels to play recently, but I have also been adapting to a new regular position on the wing.
“It has been a lot of learning, but the Celtic Challenge was a great place for me to do that learning first of all and I think playing regular games in that competition against Welsh and Scottish teams really helped me to make the next step up when I was called into the Irish squad ahead of this Six Nations tournament.
“I thought this whole experience might have been overwhelming, but that Celtic Challenge stint was a great staging post and made me feel more confident ahead of the Six Nations.
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“Communication is a massive thing as a winger, you have to be talking all the time out there on the pitch and I have been working on that, but I have also been working on my confidence.
“If you have any self-doubt at the top level then I think you will struggle to get anywhere, so although it has been daunting, over my first three caps I have really just tried to back myself and play with confidence.
“I have been making mistakes at training, but the squad are right behind me and are backing me and it has made me feel positive. It has also made me want to play my natural game and really try to bring a spark to matches when I can.”
Ireland will arrive at Twickenham at the weekend for their round four Six Nations clash as massive underdogs with England hunting another title and another Grand Slam.
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But the visitors will have a spring in their step after the 36-5 triumph over Wales last weekend at Virgin Media Park – their first victory in the competition since round five in 2022 – and they are still battling it out for third place with two games to go.
“I feel like we were ‘on it’ right from the start of the day and in the warm-up everything just felt calm and controlled,” Corrigan said about the victory over Wales.
“Everyone was relaxed, there was nothing hectic about things and we took those good vibes out onto the pitch and managed to execute the game plan that we wanted. It felt unreal to win for the first time in an Irish shirt.”
Ireland were 21-0 up at half-time and got the second period off to the perfect start when Corrigan charged down a kick and then scored the bonus point fourth try within 90 seconds of the restart to really knock the stuffing out of Wales.
“We work on our kick chase and our kick sprint quite a lot in training and, in this situation, it was good to be able to block down a clearance kick and then get the bounce so that I could pick up the ball and score under the posts,” Corrigan continued.
“I had scored my first international try in the defeat to Italy, but this was a totally different feeling because it came as part of a win.
“We had said at half-time that we wanted to start the second half as if it was 0-0 and not to get ahead of ourselves and I thought we did that. To score the team’s fourth try just after the break set things up nicely.
“Playing in France was an experience in week one, but both the home grounds have been really good and it has been so good to have family and friends there watching us over the last two outings.
“The crowd at Virgin Media Park against Wales were closer to the pitch than the crowd at the RDS versus Italy and that made the noise even louder and gave me a real buzz. Wherever we are the fans are always cheering us on and it means so much to us all.”
There will no doubt be a fair few Irish in the crowd at Twickenham this weekend, but Corrigan will probably have to pinch herself when she runs out of the tunnel at the home of English rugby.
“I would never have believed you if you’d told me a few months ago that I’d potentially be getting a chance to play at Twickenham, no way,” Corrigan said with a smile.
“Before I went to France for the Six Nations opener and played in front of 15,000 or so there I had never really even played in front of 2,000 so to think that there will be over 45,000 there this weekend is kind of mind-blowing really.
“Playing for Ireland so far has been a bit like a dream for me and now playing at a stadium like this seems like another dream.
“It’ll probably take me a few minutes to get used to the surroundings, but then I’ll just try and embrace it and I think the rest of the squad will too.
“The way we felt after the Italy loss drove us on to get better and beat Wales and we don’t want that Italian feeling again any time soon.
“The team is coming together really well and we’ll go out at the weekend and give it everything we have as we continue to build.”
Comments on RugbyPass
I bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments