St Mary’s Helps to Find Irish Rugby Rio hopefuls

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) Women’s 7’s team will be holding an assessment day this month to find potential athletes who will join the women’s Irish Exiles Rugby team at the next 2016 Rio Olympic Games, but one talented student at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham has already proved that she has what it takes to get to Rio. Anna Caplice is a first year PGCE student specialising in Modern Foreign Language at St Mary’s and is currently in her second season as part of the Women’s Irish 7’s team. She said, “Being part of the Irish 7’s squad has been a huge privilege for me. Training alongside some of Irelands finest athletes has brought an abundance of opportunities to learn and be inspired by their hard work and commitment to the game. The Exiles give girls, like me, the opportunity to work or study in the UK and still be spotted by Irish coaches.” The University College has a large sporting community and many students are of Irish heritage, making it a potential hot-spot for athletes, like Anna, who could join the Exiles on the road to Rio. The assessment day will be held at Birmingham University on Saturday 25th January and any elite female athletes with Irish heritage, and a desire to represent Ireland in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, are encouraged to attend. For more information please contact Mark Jackson of the IRFU on mark.jackson@irfu.ie.