2015: A Golden Year for Irish Rugby. Both the Irish men’s and women’s teams became Six Nations champions in competitions filled with drama, passion and grit. Here is a match-by-match breakdown of both tournaments, following the journeys of each team – and their similarities and differences – which ultimately led to victory.
Category: Sport
A celebration of Ireland’s greatest rugby year
Relive, game by game, the key moments in Ireland’s historic 2015 Six Nations campaign, which culminated in a nerve-shredding final weekend when both the women’s and men’s titles were still up for grabs.
Through interviews with players like Sean O’Brien, Niamh Briggs, Nora Stapleton and Robbie Henshaw – as well as members of the backroom staff – journalists Kate Rowan and Peter O’Reilly provide a unique glimpse into the mindset of the two camps. Kate looks at recent advances in the Irish women’s game, while Peter outlines the transformation in the men’s fortunes under Joe Schmidt, ‘the best coach in the world’. They highlight the contrasts between the amateur women’s and professional men’s set-ups and the lifestyles of the players on each team.
Six Nations, Two Stories offers unrivalled depth of coverage of a breakthrough Six Nations season: the first time that Ireland won both senior tournaments in one year, renewing optimism in the future of Irish rugby.
Kate Rowan is a freelance sports journalist based in Dublin, specialising in features. Kate has travelled widely covering rugby including the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, Ireland’s 2012 June to tour to New Zealand and the 2013 British and Irish Lions Tour of Australia. She regularly wrote features for the Irish Independent online and has worked extensively writing for governing bodies including World Rugby (formerly IRB) and IRFU. She has also covered women’s rugby extensively from club to international level, including Ireland’s Women’s 2015 Six Nations winning campaign.
this book is packed with first-hand player accounts and the untold stories of how they dealt with balancing injuries, careers and families with the demands of the sport they love and managed to come out triumphant. Relive a truly magnificent journey through the eyes of the players and the colour picture sections that really bring the stories to life. This is a perfect book for rugby enthusiasts and sports fans alike
will sit happily on any rugby fan’s bookshelf
a cracker of a read
these are indeed two very different stories, but what this book does more than anything else is focus your attention on the fact that neither is any less an “Irish Rugby Team” than the other. An absolute must-read any time of year, but particularly this one
offers unrivalled coverage of the 2015 Six Nations success of both the Irish men’s and women’s rugby teams … fascinating insight … this book delivers it all … a celebration of Irish rugby and a quick and enjoyable read for sports enthusiasts
