It was as if she had never been away. Thirty-one tackles, a try at a pivotal time and the player of the match award in an Ireland victory – it’s safe to say Claire Molloy is back.
The Round 4 clash between Ireland and Italy on Sunday was the first international for anyone on show for at least eight months but it had been even longer than that since Molloy pulled on the green jersey.
The 32-year-old took a sabbatical following the 2019 Championship to focus on her medical career and has spent the bulk of this year on the frontline dealing with the day-to-day impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
Molloy is a doctor in the A&E department at the University of Wales Hospital in Cardiff – just over two miles from Principality Stadium, which became a field hospital earlier this year as the virus began to spread.
So while lockdown for some meant a chance to recharge the batteries, recover from lingering injuries or take up new hobbies, Molloy was dealing with challenges of an altogether more harrowing nature.
“Conversations about deteriorating patients are occurring over the phone because we can’t talk face to face,” she told the Irish Times back in April.
“A big element for patients when they deteriorate is they don’t have a member of family there. That has been tricky for staff to cope with.
“But it is a privileged place to be, on the frontline, you do feel like you are contributing to the cause.”
Molloy has never been one to turn down a challenge. She made her Ireland debut in 2009 and has gone on to captain her country at World Cups in both Sevens and 15s.
In 2014, the openside was part of the first Irish team – male or female – to beat New Zealand and a Grand Slam was clinched the following year as Molloy established herself as one of the finest back-rowers in the world.
Balancing rugby and her medical studies is a task she has coped admirably with, leading Ireland into the 2017 World Cup while working at an A&E department in Abergavenny, but she reached a point where medicine had to come first – which led to her sabbatical.
Molloy admitted after Saturday’s successful return that an international comeback was never too far from her thoughts in her time away, particularly when the Women’s Six Nations matches were re-scheduled as a result of the pandemic she has been dealing with at close quarters.
“I took the break after 2019 Six Nations to focus on my medical career, to complete a vital year of training to become an emergency medicine consultant,” she said on Saturday.
“I had in the back of my mind that I wanted to come back and, like everyone’s plans in 2020, things changed.
“The Six Nations wasn’t finished, I got in touch with (Adam) Griggs (Ireland head coach), and I had been playing club rugby (for Wasps) at a high standard to keep myself ticking over while focusing on my medical career.
“In August, the fixtures were announced and they initially said ‘we have a good squad here, we’re going to stick with that, but if there’s an injury we’ll definitely consider you’.”
A knock picked up by Edel McMahon, one of Ireland’s stars of the first three rounds of the Championship and Molloy’s teammate at Wasps, left the door ajar and the 32-year-old’s return to the Ireland fold was confirmed in September.
She was back in the No.7 shirt on Saturday to win her 70th cap and put in a dominant performance which allayed any fears her time away from the game could have reduced her impact.
Molloy beat four defenders in her 10 carries, gaining 52 metres in the process, and was her side’s leading tackler by a distance.
Her try on the stroke of half-time saw Ireland go into the break with a 14-7 advantage, which they extended to 21-7 by full time as Griggs’ side wrapped up their third win of this season’s Championship.
“Lindsay Peat is an incredibly strong ball carrier, she left the ball up in the air – there was a bit of a juggle, swivel and a dance but I got the ball down,” Molloy said.
“Our defence coaches were very honest with us and said it would be scrappy and messy and the first 20 minutes were an example of that.
“But I was just so excited to be back on the pitch, particularly at Energia Park, which is one of my favourite places to play.”
That excitement is no doubt shared by the Ireland faithful, who can now revel once more in having a master of her craft available and firing on all cylinders.
Among those with nothing but admiration for Molloy’s exploits is her former Ireland teammate Fiona Coghlan, who won 85 caps for the Emerald Isle and lavished praise on the flanker this week.
“She is world class. She would walk into any team in the world. She’s phenomenal,” Coghlan said.
“To take a year out, to keep yourself in that shape, while you are doing emergency medicine – she is just a freak.
“Now she is flying back and then going back to work in the hospital. To be able to stay at that standard and still have that hunger is just unbelievable.
“What she has done for the women’s game in Ireland, and globally, is on a par with what Brian O’Driscoll has done.”
Strong words indeed – yet nothing more than Molloy deserves after her heroic efforts on and off the field in the toughest of years.
And with a Six Nations to finish, another to come next year and a World Cup on the horizon, Dr Molloy is not done yet.
