IT’S A SIGN of the mark that Claire Molloy made in the green jersey that she is only just over two months retired from international duty and already inducted into the Guinness Rugby Writers of Ireland Hall of Fame.

The 33-year-old openside flanker will play on with Wasps over in England but she was yesterday announced as a new member of the Hall of Fame along with former Ireland wing Simon Geoghegan.

Molloy can reflect on many good times with Ireland, including the Grand Slam success in 2013, the win over New Zealand at the 2014 World Cup, and her try-scoring return from sabbatical last year.

Over the course of 74 caps for Ireland, Molloy became one of the best players in the sport.

Unfortunately, it all ended in miserable fashion in September as Ireland failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup, with Molloy limited to a bench role for the Qualifier Competition in Italy.

The under-performance by Ireland still hurts now.

“We all recognise as senior players that qualification was all in our hands and our control as a team,” says Molloy.

“It was us that was going to decide whether we qualified or not, and unfortunately we didn’t make the best decision on the pitch and that’s where we ended up.”

It was a tough time for her personally. Molloy had become used to being a key figure for Ireland but in Parma she wasn’t in the matchday 23 for the first game versus Spain and then only featured off the bench against Italy and Scotland.

Even in that final game as Ireland lost against the Scots, Molloy showed her class with a hugely impactful final 20 minutes in which she made three turnovers.

Molloy was initially dropped by head coach Adam Griggs after a defeat to France in the Six Nations earlier this year, with injury niggles over the course of 2021 holding her back.

Molloy carries against Italy last year. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

“It’s frustrating and I suppose I began to have a real lack of confidence,” says Molloy. “When selection is not going your way and you have been so lucky and privileged that it has for so many years… I have been lucky to wear that number seven shirt and then when it’s taken away, reflecting on it, I would love to have had more confidence in myself and say, ‘Look, you’ll get there. You’ll play well again.’

“But I definitely think it played into the last month of my career. I was probably at my lowest confidence I have ever been at as an international player.

“That last 20 minutes against Scotland, I kinda forgot about all that and just played the way I could. I wish that had been my output the entire time but it’s just difficult.

“Don’t underestimate the pressure to perform. I wish I had done better. I wish I had been confident and backed myself, but that wasn’t to be the case.”

Like so many of her team-mates, Molloy found it jarring to read IRFU director of women’s and 7s rugby Anthony Eddy’s words about Ireland’s failure following the tournament.

“If we look at the progress in the last eight years of the women’s game, unfortunately it has been on a downwards decline,” says Molloy.

“From the success of [the World Cup in] 2014, the Six Nations in 2015, we were in a Grand Slam decider in 2017, and unfortunately we have fallen behind the rest of the pack really.

“So, I think what we would like to see going forward is just accountability that we haven’t let the outcomes of the 2018 review that was proposed and the goals set by the IRFU and the committee, going forward, how does that look in terms of their own internal and independent review and what outcomes will be changed from that, how we will we address this, how will we catch up with teams like France and England in terms of strong domestic league structures.”

Molloy scores a try against Wales. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

Everything comes back to that domestic structure in Molloy’s eyes, having seen the improvement of the Premier 15s in England up close during her time with Bristol and Wasps.

“In 2017 post-World Cup, England made the controversial decision not to reward the players with professional contracts and invest in the Prem 15 structure,” says Molloy.

“It was a very unpopular decision at the time and they were widely criticised across the media for this, but what we have seen in the last four years is the investment in the league has built a competitive structure to become a building ground and a pathway for highly successful athletes.

“You look at the nominees for World Player of the Year and that’s three English athletes.

“There are talented [Irish] girls playing the game, we just don’t want them lost to the ether in AIL or having to seek opportunities outside the country to play the game.

“You look at the vast number of Irish players in the Prem 15s playing the game to develop themselves best as athletes.

“Well, it would be great to have an AIL that attracted players back, with Linda Djougang off in France.

“That’s a high-quality front row player that is now being developed abroad. There’s players in Ireland now who won’t get the experience of playing against her or with her to become highly competent front-rows like Linda is.”