Former NUI Galway student on brink of 6 Nations success

“It’s great to be able to row in behind each other.”

European Under-23 Rowing Champion Clíodhna Nolan talks to SIN on her recent success, NUIG Rowing Club and balancing both college and Olympic Qualification.

By Oisín Bradley

Sports editor sports.sined@gmail.com

NUIG student Clíodhna Nolan was to the fore at the European Under-23 Rowing championships in early September, as she powered to victory at the finals along with fellow Irishwoman Lydia Healey in Duisberg.

Speaking to SIN, Carlow native Nolan reflected on the achievement in a race in which they smashed the previous world record for the distance, and how she felt that it was due reward for the training during lockdown.

“It was brilliant to do so well. It had been such a strange year after spending months training in lockdown, so we were delighted to even have a race at all. We were so happy with even being able to race, so being able to win was something else, even on top of that.”

Nolan, who is studying Biomedical Science, remarked on how impressive the achievement was considering their relative inexperience in the Under-23 Lightweight Pairs event.

“It wasn’t a category that we would usually row in, but we took a chance with only having six weeks to prepare in that crew and in that boat. We had been going well in training and we surprised ourselves, and all things considered we were over the moon to get the win.

“It was fantastic both for the club and everyone around us to have something positive to take from the last few months.”

The academic year of 2020/21 will prove to be a challenging one for Nolan, who looks to balance the final year of her degree with the rigorous demands of trying to qualify for the Olympics in 2021.

She had pushed her final year back by a year last year in order to solely concentrate on her Olympic preparations, however Covid-19 scuppered those plans, and now Nolan has to juggle college life and being an elite athlete.

Despite those challenges, Nolan is raring to take on the challenge.

“Because last year was an Olympic qualification year, I was asked to take the year out and move down to Cork in order to train full-time. I moved down there for the year and obviously had no commitments to study or anything like that.

“I’ll be going through all the same trials and everything, but this year I’ll be in NUIG. It’ll be different, but it’ll be good to have different things to focus on, especially at the moment as a distraction from the training when there’s not much else to do at home!

Nolan is part of a group of four who are vying for qualification, and believes that the fact that the Tokyo Olympics was knocked back to next year could actually be beneficial.

“The four of us are all quite young, so we were more than happy to give it another year to try and qualify and prepare for the Olympics.

“At the moment I’m happy enough with the balance between studying and training.”

Nolan has been heavily involved with the college’s rowing club from the moment she walked through the door, however this year has justly decided to take a back seat in the committee.

Despite this, she believes that the club is in the safest of hands to flourish and develop as she sets her sights on the bright lights of Tokyo.

“For the past few years, I have been involved in the NUIG club. In my first year I was a first-year representative on the committee. In second year, I was the vice-captain and my brother Oisín was captain. It definitely taught me a lot about the club and what was needed to be involved in such a club and the amount of work that actually goes in to running it.”

“Last year, I was on the committee as a health and safety officer, but this year I’ve decided to take a step back.”

The friends which Nolan had made while involved in the club on the banks of the Corrib is clear in how she talks about the club, and per the European champion, it’s a camaraderie she wants everyone to share in.

“I think the sense of friendship and camaraderie in all of our training is a big part of what makes us good. We train as one club: the men and women train together, and it’s excellent in a college setting having both clubs train together.

“There’s a great mix of about 40 men and 40 women, to have everyone alongside each other both in the boats and in the gyms. In the disciplined training it’s great to be able to row in behind each other.”

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Former NUI Galway student on brink of 6 Nations success

Paddy Henry

Former NUI Galway student, and Ireland back Robbie Henshaw is on the brink of securing another 6 nations winner’s medal.

A bonus-point win against France in Paris will be enough to ensure that Andy Farrell’s side reign supreme in the Championship, which was paused in February owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Henshaw, a former Arts student at NUIG was on the bench for his side’s Italian Job last weekend, where they put a half century past the hapless Azzurri at the AVIVA. He looks set to start at centre for the men in green at the Stade de France in place of Garry Ringrose.

A bonus point victory would see Athlone man Henshaw secure his third 6 Nations winners medal and the 27-yearold’s first since 2018.

The former Connacht man has featured in all four of his side’s fixtures in the campaign to date, scoring once in Ireland’s only defeat so far, a bruising 24-12 loss to England at Twickenham back in February.

There will be a strong Connacht contingent on show for the Saturday showdown with Bundee Aki set to start alongside Henshaw at centre, while Ultan Dillane, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham are named among the replacements.

While a win with four tries will guarantee Henshaw and Ireland the 6 Nations crown, a lower scoring game could also secure Andy Farrell his first championship in his debut season at the helm.

His side are ahead of England on points difference, by a margin of 23, but with the last year’s Rugby World Cup Runner’s-up due to face an Italian side without a win in the tournament for five years, anything other than an English rout in Rome seems out of the question.

France for their part could yet break Irish hearts in the city of love and can stake a claim of their own for their first 6 Nations crown since 2010. Les Blues sit third in the table as it stands and Fabien Galthie’s men would need a bonus point victory against Ireland on their home patch to stand any chance of success on ‘Super Saturday’. Even if they pull that off, they would need to better England’s result against Italy by more than three points, which given the calibre of each side’s opposition seems unlikely.