From Killinchy to Dubai

From Killinchy to Dubai

13 December 2017

BRITTANY Hogan’s rugby career just gets better and better.

The 19 year-old Killinchy girl is just back from the Middle East, having been part of the Ireland Development team which finished second at the prestigious Dubai Women’s Sevens tournament.

This weekend she lines out for the Ulster senior team in a crunch women’s interprovincial against Connaught in Belfast.

She’s also bidding to break into the Ireland senior squad for the Women’s Six Nations Championship and is a member of the Cooke club side which is riding high in the All-Ireland League.

Not bad for someone who took up the sport only three years ago when a friend invited her to attend a ‘taster’ session at Ballynahinch Rugby Club.

Brittany admits that she “eats, sleeps and drinks rugby.” She’s either playing matches or training fives days a week. Somehow she also manages to squeeze in student life at UUJ where she is studying Sports Science.

“It’s all a bit unreal,” she says. “I’m definitely kept busy.”

A former pupil at Down High School, where she was head girl, Brittany said playing at the Dubai Sevens was her best experience to date.

Ireland won four out their six games and only narrowly lost the final 15-10 to a crack Australian club side.

Brittany played in five of the matches as a forward, instead of her usual position at centre in the 15-a-side game.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable,” she said. “The final was played in a big stadium in front of 30,000 spectators. Experiences like that make all the training and hard work worthwhile.”

Among the fans cheering them on was Ireland rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll. “It was great to see him there supporting the team. After the match he came and congratulated us all.

“Dubai was something else. There were teams from England, Wales, Australia, South Africa, Belgium, Russia, Kazakhstan and the United States. The standard of rugby was really high.”

Also off the scale were the magnificent surroundings — and the scorching temperatures.

“It was absolutely roasting,” she continued. “It was probably in the high 30s and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We were melted.

“Right in front of our hotel were ten huge skyscrapers all lined up in a row. We managed to visit the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, which was incredible.”

It’s all a far cry from when Brittany first put her hands on a rugby ball at Ballynahinch. However, those watching her back them quickly realised she was a special talent.

Within just a few months she had been selected for the Ulster U-18 side and from there she won a place on the Ireland U-18 sevens team for the European Championships in 2015 and 2016.

She now trains twice a week with the Ireland senior ladies’ squad in Dublin, as well as keeping up her training with Ulster and Cooke.

But she’s taking things one step at a time and her immediate focus is this weekend’s interprovincial against Connaught at Deramore Park, home of Belfast Harlequins.

She believes Ulster have something to prove after defeats by Munster and Leinster.

“Those results didn’t reflect the way we played. We will really be going out to win on Saturday.”