Linda Djougang: I was googling 'what is rugby?'

RTÉ News​

3 days ago

The last time Ireland qualified for the World Cup - as opposed to being guaranteed their slot as hosts - Linda Djougang wasn't entirely plugged in to what was happening.
It was only a year later when the future Ireland prop would type the fateful words 'what is rugby?' into Google after failing in her attempt to get her name removed from a tag rugby team-sheet at a finance company where she was interning.
Her complete ignorance of the laws of offside notwithstanding, the Wanderers head coach - who happened to be there - liked her hustle and asked if she'd be interested in playing a spot of 'real rugby'. Cue more googling.
"It wasn't the plan," Djougang says of her start in the game back in 2015.
"I signed up for tag rugby just to make friends with my colleagues at work. The game was cancelled and everyone else removed their name from the list.
"But the elite team - at the company - were playing a final and they needed a girl and I was the only one that didn't remove my name from the sheet because I wasn't good at technology.
"So, they were like, 'who's Linda? Do you want to play in this tag rugby final?' 'Yeah, why not?'
"They were like, 'do you know rugby? Have you ever learned to play rugby?' 'No.'
"I spent the whole day at work, googling 'what is rugby?'
"I showed up at Wanderers, which became my first rugby club. I didn't know any of the rules. I was always offside. The ref was like, 'if you're offside one more time, I'm going to give you a yellow card.'
"Then my friend passed me the ball and I ran the pitch. They were all screaming at me to score. I dropped the ball because I didn't know the rule about grounding the ball.
"I got recruited there by the Wanderers manager. She came up to me after that tag rugby and asked if I wanted to play physical rugby. Real rugby. I asked her, 'what was real rugby?'
"I ended up playing for Wanderers in Division 4. I got recruited to go to the Leinster trials. Then I went on to Old Belvedere and Leinster and that's where my journey started."
Djougang's technological issues have proven fortunate for Irish women's rugby. The Cameroon-born prop - who moved to Rush in North County Dublin at the age of nine - has been a mainstay of the Irish set-up since 2019 and is now closing on 50 caps.
She's battled through lean times in the Irish set-up to get back to the World Cup. The early 2020s were a dismal period for the women's game here, dominated by arguments with the IRFU, the low point arriving with the failure to qualify for the 2022 Women's World Cup after losses to Spain and Scotland in the autumn qualifying tournament of 2021.
A further nadir was reached with a wooden spoon in the 2023 Six Nations - which was juxtaposed with the men's team's Grand Slam victory in the same year.
But things have taken an upward turn since then, following the appointment of Scott Bemand as head coach in the summer of 2023 and the decision to award central contracts to women internationals bearing fruit. Ireland finished the 2024 Six Nations with a rousing win over Scotland to claim third spot.
Their recovery was confirmed with a superb showing in the WXV1 in British Columbia last year, with a landmark victory over New Zealand the highlight. Another third place followed at the 2025 Six Nations, even if that campaign concluded on a bum note with a loss to Scotland.
"There's so many turning points," says Djougang. "But the main one was the introduction of the contracts, first of all. Also, the fact that we were so successful in Dubai (at the 2023 WXV3).
"There's been so much growth with the team. The fact that we've beaten the world champions. We came second in Vancouver. Winning against New Zealand was a massive moment for the players. We finished third in the Six Nations.
"We went to Vancouver as underdogs. Now we're definitely not underdogs. And we don't want to be underdogs."
It was the pool stage win over New Zealand in 2014 - back in the heady days of the mid-2010s - that propelled Irish women's rugby into the limelight.
That guaranteed a semi-final spot in what was then a 12-team tournament, with eventual champions England proving much too strong in the last-four.
Back in the World Cup for the first time since the ill-fated home tournament of 2017, Ireland's opening games are against Japan and Spain at Franklin's Gardens before facing off against top seeds New Zealand in Brighton. Navigating the pool is the main priority at this stage.
"We're trying not to get ahead of ourselves," says Djougang. "It's so important to get out of our pool. That's the most important thing for us. First up is Japan and we know what they can bring.
"We don't want to think way ahead of ourselves because the World Cup is so unpredictable."
Djougang has competition in the prop department from Ellena Perry, the former England forward having made her debut for Ireland against Canada last Saturday, after switching her allegience and waiting for the requisite five years.
"She's settling in the squad well. She's a quick learner. We love having her, she's challenging us and we're challenging her. We're so happy to have her."
Ireland v Japan, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton, Sunday, 24 August, 12pm
Ireland v Spain, Franklin's Gardens, Northampton, Sunday, 31 August, 12pm
Ireland v New Zealand, Brighton and Hove Albion Stadium, Brighton, Sunday, 7 September, 2.45pm.