Enjoying rugby has made me play better - Moloney-MacDonald

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Moloney-MacDonald made her Ireland debut in 2015, but had to wait 11 years to hit 50 caps for her country

ByLauren McCannBBC Sport NI Journalist

Published14 May 2026

Ireland hooker Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald said that enjoying her rollercoaster rugby journey "has made me play better".

The 32-year-old won her 50th cap for Ireland in their opening 2026 Women's Six Nations game against England in front of a record crowd at Twickenham.

She made her debut for Ireland in 2015, but after a spell in the international wilderness between 2022 and 2024, has had to wait longer than most to hit the milestone.

Despite that spell out of the squad, Moloney-MacDonald feels "privileged to experience it all" during various ups and downs in the past decade with the women's team and believes they are in a really strong place now.

"It makes me enjoy this a lot more and understand how lucky we are, because I'm maybe one of the only ones in the current squad who has been through all the different cycles in the last 10-11 years of Irish rugby and women's rugby in general," she told the Ireland Rugby Social podcast.

"Yes I compete and compete hard, but I understand how lucky I am and it should be fun. I'm here to enjoy rugby now, that's made me play better.

"There's not really anything we have to worry about form a culture point of view. 'Tricky' [Edel McMahon] and Sam [Monaghan, former Ireland co-captains] did great work in those initial few years when I wasn't here. They embedded a groundwork that doesn't need to be mentioned anymore. The squad are a brilliant group of people."

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Aviva game will be 'incredible'

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Moloney-MacDonald played against her wife and England international Claudia for the first time in this year's Women's Six Nations

In a wide-ranging interview with Gavin Andrews and close friend Lindsay Peat, Moloney-MacDonald talks through how she first got into rugby, moving to England to improve after the disappointment of the 2017 World Cup and her relationship with Exeter teammate and England international Claudia Moloney-MacDonald, who she married last year.

She also spoke of how she is relishing Ireland's final game of this year's tournament against Scotland which will take place at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.

Over 30,000 tickets have been sold for the first stand-alone Ireland women's fixture at the Dublin venue.

For Moloney-MacDonald it marks another milestone as she plays at the Aviva for the first time, eight years on from training in the gym under the stadium while at Railway Union.

She has echoed the sentiments of many teammates in the build-up to the game in hoping it will not be the last time they will play at the Aviva.

"I weirdly haven't been to the Aviva that much which is a reflection on my rugby career because I moved away, but I am very excited," she added.

"When I did play my rugby I was at Railway. Sandymount is around the corner and that is where I lived for the four years in Dublin and we used to gym under the stadium at 5:30 in the morning, three times a week before work. It was a dungeon!

"It's very important for us to tie everything together as a team and finish on a high. We want to put the best parts of all our performances together.

"Hopefully there will be no going back from it. That's the main thing, if we perform, there's a great crowd, we get a win, in the Aviva, stand-alone fixture, that's the standard set. Next year you're looking at more."