 Djougang with Ireland in 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 17 May 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 82 kg (181 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| University | Trinity College Dublin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Rugby player, nurse | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Linda Djougang (born 17 May 1996) is an Irish rugby player and nurse from Balbriggan, Co Dublin. [5] She plays for Old Belvedere, Leinster and Ireland women's national rugby union team. She works fulltime as a nurse in Dublin and is a brand ambassador for Energia Group. [5]
Djougang moved to Ireland from Douala [6] in Cameroon at the age of 9. [5] She grew up in Rush, Dublin where she attended Rush and Lusk Educate Together National School. [7] [8] [9] [10] She studied general nursing at Trinity College Dublin from 2015 to 2020. She worked as a part-time care assistant from 2016 to 2020. She also worked as an intern at Grant Thornton International. [7] In 2020, she began working at Tallaght University Hospital. [11] [9] Djougang speaks English and French fluently. [12] [6]
Djougang began playing rugby at the age of 17 [13] when a friend invited her to a game of tag rugby. [10]
It was not until she was in university at Trinity College Dublin, while on a work placement, that she first encountered rugby. She was spotted playing ‘tag rugby’ in Wanderers RFC whose team manager Michelle Byrne invited her to join the club.
A year after starting with Wanderers she got a trial with Leinster. She took a year out of college in 2017 to concentrate on rugby and moved to All Ireland League club Old Belvedere in order to get experience at the top level. In 2018 she made her inter-provincial debut for Leinster, versus Ulster.[ citation needed ]
She soon began playing for Wanderers Rugby Club before moving to Old Belvedere. [14] She has also played for the Dublin University Football Club. [15]
In December 2019 she scored a try for Leinster against Harlequins in the first women’s club game to be played in Twickenham. [16]
In August 2021, the Irish Rugby Football Union announced that Djougang would move from Leinster Rugby to ASM Romagnat rugby féminin . [17] Djougang originally played as a blindside flanker before moving to loosehead prop and then tighthead prop. [14] [18] As of 2021, she has 12 caps for Ireland. She has scored 1 Six Nations try and a total of 5 Six Nations points. [19]
Belvedere College S.J. is a voluntary secondary school for boys in Dublin, Ireland. The school has numerous notable alumni in the arts, politics, sports, science, and business. Alumni and teachers at Belvedere played major roles in modern Irish literature, the standardisation of the Irish language, as well as the Irish independence movement – both the 1916 Rising and the Irish War of Independence. The school's notable alumni and former faculty include two Taoisigh, one Ceann Comhairle, several cabinet ministers, one Blessed, one Cardinal, one Archbishop, one signatory of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, two Supreme Court Justices, one Olympic medallist, thirty Irish international rugby players and numerous notable figures in the world of the arts, academia and business. Belvedere College forms the setting for part of James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Leinster Rugby is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup.
The Leinster Senior Cup is a major rugby competition in Ireland, involving all senior rugby clubs in Leinster, i.e., clubs from Leinster competing in the All-Ireland League. From 2006 until 2016 it was known as the Leinster Senior League Cup during the period when the Leinster Senior League had been discontinued, but reverted to its traditional name for the 2016–17 season upon the revival of the Senior League. From 2011 to 2016 only the top senior teams competed and those in the lower divisions of the All-Ireland League competed for the Leinster Senior League Shield.
Old Belvedere R.F.C. is a senior Irish rugby union club based on Anglesea Road in Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland. Old Belvedere was originally founded in 1918–19 by former pupils of Belvedere College. Old Belvedere enters senior men's teams in the All-Ireland League, the Leinster Senior League and the Leinster Senior Cup. In 2010–11 they were All-Ireland League champions. Between 1940 and 1946 the club won the Leinster Senior Cup seven times in a row. This remains a competition record. Old Belvedere also enters men's and women's teams in various senior, junior and youth leagues.
Dublin University Football Club (DUFC) is the rugby union club of Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland, which plays in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League.
Hugh Patrick MacNeill OBE, commonly known as Hugo MacNeill, is a former rugby union player who played for Ireland, Leinster, the French Barbarians and the British and Irish Lions during the 1980s. During the late 1970s he also played soccer for University College Dublin and Dublin University. After retiring from sport, MacNeill went on to serve as a director for Goldman Sachs. He has also worked as a rugby pundit for TV3 and BBC Radio 5 Live.
Aviva Stadium also known as Lansdowne Road or Dublin Arena is a sports stadium located in Dublin, Ireland, with a capacity for 51,711 spectators. It is built on the site of the former Lansdowne Road Stadium, which was demolished in 2007, and replaced it as home to its chief tenants: the Irish rugby union team and the Republic of Ireland football team. The decision to redevelop the stadium came after plans for both Stadium Ireland and Eircom Park fell through. Aviva Group Ireland signed a 10-year deal for the naming rights in 2009, and subsequently extended the arrangement until 2025.
Ailis Egan is a retired female rugby union player. She played Prop for Ireland, Old Belvedere and provincially for Leinster. She was a member of the Irish team to the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup. She scored a try against the United States in their 23-17 win in the pool games at the 2014 World Cup.
Nora Stapleton is a former Ireland women's rugby union international. Stapleton represented Ireland at the 2010, 2014 and 2017 Women's Rugby World Cups. She was also a member of the Ireland teams that won the 2013 and 2015 Women's Six Nations Championships. Stapleton was a member of the first Ireland teams to defeat both England and New Zealand. Stapleton has also played two other football codes at a senior level. As a women's association football player, she played for UCD in FAI Women's Cup finals and UEFA Women's Cup campaigns. She has also played senior ladies' Gaelic football for Donegal.
Sophie Spence is a former Ireland women's rugby union international. Spence represented Ireland at the 2014 and 2017 Women's Rugby World Cups. Spence was a member of the first Ireland teams to defeat England and New Zealand. She was also a member of the Ireland teams that won the 2013 and 2015 Women's Six Nations Championships. Spence is a British Nigerian who qualified to represent Ireland through her mother, who was originally from Lisburn, County Antrim.
Shane Delahunt is a professional rugby union player from Ireland. He primarily plays as a hooker. Delahunt currently plays for Irish provincial side Connacht in the Pro14.
Andrew Gerald Porter is an Irish professional rugby union player who plays as a prop for United Rugby Championship club Leinster and the Ireland national team. He was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 2021.
Lindsay Peat is an Ireland women's rugby union international. Peat represented Ireland at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. Peat is an all-round sportswoman. In addition to representing Ireland at women's rugby union, she has also played for the Republic of Ireland women's national association football team at U-18 level, captained the Ireland women's national basketball team and played senior Ladies' Gaelic football for Dublin. Between 2009 and 2014 she played in three All-Ireland finals. She was a member of the Dublin team that won the All-Ireland title in 2010 and she scored two goals in the 2014 final.
Sene Naoupu is an Ireland women's rugby union international. Naoupu was a member of the Ireland team that won the 2015 Women's Six Nations Championship. She also represented Ireland at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. She is also an Ireland women's rugby sevens international. Naoupu is a Samoan New Zealander who originally emigrated to Ireland in 2009 with her former husband, George Naoupu, the former Highlanders, Harlequins and Connacht rugby union player. Naoupu is also a lifestyle coach and fitness trainer and operates her own business, Senshaper. In 2016, Naoupu was listed by The Irish Times as one of the thirty most influential women in Ireland.
Katie Fitzhenry is a women's rugby union player from Coolcotts in Wexford, County Wexford, Republic of Ireland. She plays as a centre for Blackrock College RFC, Leinster Rugby, the Ireland women's national rugby union team and the Ireland women's national rugby sevens team.
Hannah Tyrrell is an Ireland women's rugby union international. Tyrrell represented Ireland at the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup. She was also a member of the Ireland team that won the 2015 Women's Six Nations Championship. Tyrrell is also an Ireland women's rugby sevens international. She has also played two other football codes at a senior level. As a women's association football player, Tyrrell played for St Catherine's in two FAI Women's Cup finals and played for Shamrock Rovers in the Women's National League. She also plays senior Ladies' Gaelic football for Dublin in the Ladies' National Football League.
Roman Salanoa is an American-born, Irish-qualified rugby union player who plays as a prop for United Rugby Championship club Munster.
Thomas Clarkson is an Irish rugby union player who is currently a member of Leinster's academy. He plays as a prop and represents Dublin University in the All-Ireland League.
Kathryn Dane is a rugby union player from Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. She plays scrum half for Old Belvedere and Ulster Rugby and has represented Ireland since the 2018 Women's Six Nations Championship. She works as a physiotherapist.
Aoife McDermott is an Irish rugby union player from Riverstown, Co Sligo. She plays lock forward for Railway Union RFC, Leinster and the Ireland women's national rugby union team. She is a qualified Intellectual Disability nurse and works currently in clinical research.
