New Ireland cap Ellena Perry: 'It's all been a bit crazy'

RTÉ News​

a day ago

It's the familiar faces that have made Ellena Perry feel at home in Ireland camp.
The former England international joined Scott Bemand's training squad less than a month ago, coming on board after prop Christy Haney suffered a hamstring injury that would ultimately rule her out of the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
Bemand had been an assistant coach with the Red Roses when Perry won her 11 caps, the last of which came in November 2020.
"It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks, it's all been a bit crazy," the 28-year-old told RTÉ Sport.
"Scott rang me about three weeks ago Monday and I was at work. He messaged me and said are you free for a call so I said yeah.
"It went from there, really."
Of course, it wasn't as simple as that and Perry required international clearance from World Rugby as both parties took advantage of the rule allowing players to switch allegiance to a country with a family link if they hadn't represented their home country in three years.
Perry's grandfather, William, was born in Derry and passed away before she was born.
There was more logistics to be sorted out after that, with leave from her work as an administrator in an insurance company and childcare arrangements for her son, Bert.
Having PWR club team-mates Sam Monaghan and Neve Jones in the Irish set-up was also a contributing factor in making the move.
"I play at Gloucester-Hartpury with Neve and Sam, and I told them that I had an Irish granddad," added Perry, who won her first Ireland cap against Canada last Saturday.
"It's a similar camp. I was with Scott back in 2020. I do know Scott quite well, so it is nice to have familiar surroundings.
So what was it like when the moment arrived, coming on as a second-half replacement for Niamh O'Dowd in Belfast?
"I was really honoured, the girls have been so amazing," she said.
"I was just really proud to be part of the group and for them to allow me to come in and be part of the group, and put the green jersey on.
"The girls here are class."
Haney, who had been a cornerstone of the Irish scrum, is a tighthead and Perry plays on the other side, however, she has some experience at 3.
"I used to be a tighthead back in the day, but I got switched over to loosehead and I haven't hit any scrums at tighthead for a while," she said.
"I think if I had the opportunity I could try and go back there but mainly loosehead.
"I pride myself on set-piece and ball-carrying.
"I had my son a couple of years ago and I've come back a different player, a different shape."
Quiet by nature, Perry, who retired for a spell after having her child, plans to let her rugby do the talking.
"I'm quite a reserved person and a little bit stand-back," she said.
"There is loads of experience here. Sam and Tricky [Edel McMahon], the captains.
"I try to focus on my own game and get everything right. I'd say I am more of a reserved player."
'I think there's something big coming from this Irish team' #RTERugby podcast panellists @HannahOConnor22 and @jonnyholland10 give their #RWC2025 predictions - full podcast with @micilglennon here https://t.co/dpVmhQ0U29 pic.twitter.com/baAQBfff35
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) August 14, 2025
But there are shoes to be filled quickly with Ireland kicking off their Pool C campaign against Japan on Sunday week, before games against Spain and defending champions New Zealand on the following two Sundays.
"It's really important just to take every game as it comes," she said. "We can't underestimate anyone. They'll be tough games.
"We've been looking at Japan and they will be hard. We've got to improve going into both games and hopefully it will be a big game against New Zealand.
"We finished strongly [in the wins over Scotland and defeat to Canada] so we just need to build on how we finished.
"The fact that we improved in the second half is promising but we've got a lot to work on."