Ireland Rugby Social: ‘Enjoying rugby has made me play better’ – Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald

In a wide-ranging interview with Gavin Andrews and close friend Lindsay Peat, Moloney-MacDonald talks through how she first got into rugby, moving to England to improve after the disappointment of the 2017 World Cup and her relationship with Exeter teammate and England international Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, who she married last year.

She also spoke of how she is relishing Ireland’s final game of this year’s tournament against Scotland which will take place at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

Over 30,000 tickets have been sold for the first stand-alone Ireland women’s fixture at the Dublin venue.

For Moloney-MacDonald it marks another milestone as she plays at the Aviva for the first time, eight years on from training in the gym under the stadium while at Railway Union.

She has echoed the sentiments of many teammates in the build-up to the game in hoping it will not be the last time they will play at the Aviva.

“I weirdly haven’t been to the Aviva that much which is a reflection on my rugby career because I moved away, but I am very excited,” she added.

“When I did play my rugby I was at Railway. Sandymount is around the corner and that is where I lived for the four years in Dublin and we used to gym under the stadium at 5:30 in the morning, three times a week before work. It was a dungeon!

“It’s very important for us to tie everything together as a team and finish on a high. We want to put the best parts of all our performances together.

“Hopefully there will be no going back from it. That’s the main thing, if we perform, there’s a great crowd, we get a win, in the Aviva, stand-alone fixture, that’s the standard set. Next year you’re looking at more.”