Born: 27 September, 1981 – Dublin, Ireland

Still Ireland’s most-capped women’s player 11 years post-retirement, Lynne Cantwell has contributed massively to the game on and off the field.

Brought up in a Gaelic football and soccer household, Cantwell’s first sport was, however, athletics, which she continued to pursue while studying sports science at the University of Limerick. It was after meeting Sarah Keane, the daughter of the late former Ireland men’s international Moss Keane, that Cantwell swapped her running shoes for rugby boots. It turned out to be an inspired decision, as Cantwell became a key player for not only the student side but also the newly-formed UL Bohemians.

Starting out as a winger, the pacy Cantwell won her first cap for Ireland off the bench against England in March 2002. Ireland struggled to get results in those early years, but together with other generational talents like Fiona Coghlan and Joy Neville, they became a real force.

Cantwell, who transitioned to the centres and occasionally played fly-half in the green of Ireland, won 86 consecutive caps over 13 years, sharing in the 2013 Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam and competing in four Women’s Rugby World Cups – 2002 in Spain, 2006 in Canada, 2010 in England and 2014 in France, where they famously defeated New Zealand for the first time to reach Ireland’s first-ever semi-final.

She was part of Ireland’s first-ever women’s sevens team in 2006, formed part of the squad for Ireland’s first Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow in 2013, and helped Ireland qualify for their first World Series in the 2013-14 season. Post retirement, she joined Ireland’s Touch World Cup team, playing senior mixed touch at Malaysia 2019.

In more recent years Cantwell has been an Executive Committee Board member with Sport Ireland. She and her family relocated to Cape Town to join Rassie Erasmus and Charles Wessels by taking on the role of Women’s High-Performance Manager for SA Rugby. She is now Head of Women’s Strategy for the IRFU.