Fiona Coghlan (born March 3, 1981) is a former Ireland women's rugby union international. Coghlan represented Ireland at the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

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and 2014 Women's Rugby World Cups. She also captained the Ireland team that won the

2013 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2013 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2013 RBS Women's Six Nations, due to the tournament been sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the 12th series of the annual women's rugby union competition. Matches were held in ...

. In 2013 Coghlan was named '' The Irish Times'' / Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year after captaining Ireland to their first ever Six Nations, Grand Slam and Triple Crown titles. Coghlan was a member of the first Ireland teams to defeat , and . She was the Ireland captain on the latter two occasions. In addition to captaining Ireland, Coghlan also captained her club team,

UL Bohemians UL Bohemian RFC is a rugby club based in Limerick, playing in Division 2A of the All-Ireland League. It is affiliated with the University of Limerick. UL Bohemians are sponsored by UL Sport, Samurai Sports and HOMS Solicitors. The symbol of th ...

, her provincial team, Leinster and was captain of the first ever Barbarians women's team.

Early years and education

Coghlan is originally from Clontarf, Dublin. Her family supported

Clontarf F.C. Clontarf Football Club is an Republic of Ireland, Irish rugby union club based in Clontarf, Dublin and playing, as of 2018, in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League (rugby union), All-Ireland League. History Having played firstly in a field a ...

and attended Ireland rugby union international games. In her youth she was actively involved in various sports including tennis and horse riding. She attended Holy Faith Secondary School, Clontarf, where she played basketball and hockey, winning numerous school medals. In 2001 she began attending the University of Limerick where she completed a Bsc in Physical education and Maths teaching.

Rugby union

UL Bohemians

Coghlan began playing women's rugby union while she was a student at the University of Limerick. She played for the UL Ladies team at intervarsity level, winning four cup and league titles. She also played for

at national level, winning eleven All Ireland Division One titles.

Leinster

Coghlan represented Leinster in the IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series. She had originally trained with

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

before making her Leinster debut in August 2002. She subsequently helped Leinster win three titles in 2005, 2011 and 2013. Coghlan captained Leinster when they won the 2011 title.

Barbarians

On 10 November 2017 Coghlan captained the Barbarians against

in the invitational team's first women's match which was held in Thomond Park. The Barbarians won 19–0.

Ireland international

Coghlan was included in the training squad for the

2002 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2002 Women's Rugby World Cup was the second World Cup fully sanctioned by the sports governing body the International Rugby Board (IRB). The tournament was held in Barcelona, Spain. The formatThere are 16 teams at the IRB Women's World Cup 200 ...

before she made her Six Nations debut for Ireland on 2 February

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

against . Coghlan subsequently represented Ireland at the

and 2014 Women's Rugby World Cups. In 2008 she was first named Ireland captain, taking over the role permanently in 2010. During the

2009 Women's Six Nations Championship The 2009 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2009 RBS Women's 6 Nations, was the eighth series of the rugby union Women's Six Nations Championship, due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland. England comfor ...

, she was a member first Ireland team to defeat . Coghlan captained the Ireland team that won the

. In 2013 Ireland also achieved both a Triple Crown and Grand Slam. In 2013 Coghlan was named '' The Irish Times''/ Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year after captaining Ireland to their first ever Six Nations, Grand Slam and Triple Crown titles. Coghlan was also captain when Ireland defeated both and for the first time. On 9 February 2013 Ireland defeated England for the first time while on their way to winning the

. On 5 August 2014 Ireland defeated New Zealand for the first time during a 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup pool stage game. Coghlan subsequently retired as an Ireland international after captaining Ireland to fourth place in the

2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du R ...

. In 2019, she was on the first panel to determine the World Rugby women's-15s player-of-the-year award with Melodie Robinson, Danielle Waterman, Will Greenwood, Liza Burgess,

Lynne Cantwell Lynne Cantwell (born 27 September 1981) is an Irish rugby union player. 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final ...

Gaëlle Mignot Gaëlle Mignot (born 26 February 1987) is a French female rugby union player. She represented at the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup, and 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup She has played the majority of her career for Montpellier (women's rugby union) ...

Jillion Potter Jillion Paige Potter (born July 5, 1986) is an American rugby union player. She was the captain of the 2016 USA Olympic women's Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics, rugby sevens team. Childhood Jillion Potter Austin, Texas to parents Sco ...

, Stephen Jones, and Karl Te Nana. She was also on the voting panel for the World Rugby Men's 15 Player of the Year award.

Gaelic football

Since 1997 Coghlan has intermittently played Ladies' Gaelic football for Clontarf GAA, playing as a full forward. She won an Intermediate All-Ireland medal in Club competition with Clontarf in 2018

Teacher

Coghlan has worked as a P.E. and

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

teacher at Lucan Community College.

Honours

Rugby union

; Ireland * Women's Six Nations Championship **''Winners'':

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* Grand Slam **''Winners'': 2013 * Triple Crown **''Winners'':

; Leinster * IRFU Women's Interprovincial Series **''Winners'': 2005, 2011, 2013 : 3 ;

*All Ireland Division One **''Winners'': : 11 ; UL Ladies *Inter-Varsity League **''Winners'': : ? *Inter-Varsity Cup **''Winners'': : ? ;Individual *'' The Irish Times''/ Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year ** 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coghlan, Fiona 1981 births Living people Irish female rugby union players Ireland women's international rugby union players Leinster Rugby women's players UL Bohemians R.F.C. players Barbarian F.C. players Rugby union players from County Dublin Dublin ladies' Gaelic footballers Irish schoolteachers Alumni of the University of Limerick Mathematics educators Ladies' Gaelic footballers who switched code