Linda Djougang says time in France key to developing her game

Michael Bolton

As Ireland prepares for the Rugby World Cup, one player who will be crucial to Ireland's chances of success is Linda Djougang.

The Leinster prop has been a key part of Ireland's turnaround in fortunes, with Ireland missing out on the previous World Cup in 2022 following qualifying defeats to Spain and Scotland.

Initially, times did not get any better, with a wooden spoon in the 2023 Six Nations, before the appointment of Scott Bemand helped turn around Ireland's fortunes.

For Djougang, developing her game as a prop came when she moved to France, as she joined French side ASM Romagnat in Clermont in 2021.

"In 2021, I went to France after the we were unsuccessful in the World Cup qualifier.

"I wanted to keep learning, I wanted to challenge myself, obviously it was a t=tough time for the team.

"For me personally, it was important to just put my head down and continue to learn. There is no better place as a prop than to go to France where they just love to scrum.

"I was really young, it was important just to go to the home of scrums and learn my masterpiece."

It has been a unique journey for the 28-year-old in rugby, who would not have taught back in 2015 she would go on to become an International player.

Having signed up to make friends at work, the rules were not known to Djougang , but nonetheless, those who watched were encouraged by what they saw.

I signed up for tag rugby just to make friends with my colleagues at work. The game was cancelled and everyone else removed their name from the list.

"But the elite team - at the company - were playing a final and they needed a girl and I was the only one that didn't remove my name from the sheet because I wasn't good at technology.

"So, they were like, 'who's Linda? Do you want to play in this tag rugby final?' 'Yeah, why not?'

"They were like, 'do you know rugby? Have you ever learned to play rugby?' 'No.'

"I spent the whole day at work, googling 'what is rugby?'

"I showed up at Wanderers, which became my first rugby club. I didn't know any of the rules. I was always offside. The ref was like, 'if you're offside one more time, I'm going to give you a yellow card.'

"Then my friend passed me the ball and I ran the pitch. They were all screaming at me to score. I dropped the ball because I didn't know the rule about grounding the ball.

"I got recruited there by the Wanderers manager. She came up to me after that tag rugby and asked if I wanted to play physical rugby. Real rugby. I asked her, 'what was real rugby?'

"I ended up playing for Wanderers in Division 4. I got recruited to go to the Leinster trials. Then I went on to Old Belvedere and Leinster and that's where my journey started."

Fast foward to 2025, and 48 caps later, and Djougang could win her 50th cap at the World Cup.

Since Beamand took over, Ireland qualified for the World Cup through a third place finish in the Six Nations, and secured memorable wins over New Zealand and Australia.

Now a team that showed they can compete with the best, Djougang beleives teams will be looking at Ireland differently at the World Cup.

"The fact that we played so well in Vancouver and came second among top tier one teams, the fact that. The fact we had Australia and we were able to perform.

"We are defenitley not going into this World Cup as underdogs. I think the fact we are fifth in the world, our goal is too keep growing.

"We know what other teams think of us, but for us it is to perform and keep winning and performing. At the end of the World Cup, to have no regrets and leave the jersey in a better place."