Linda Djougang’s journey from leaving her mother to travel from Cameroon to Ireland as a nine-year-old to playing in a Rugby World Cup is an unlikely but inspiring one.
Now aged 29, Djougang has reflected in an interview with BBC Sport how she left her native land for “better opportunities” and went from knowing nothing about rugby to representing her adopted country on the international stage.
“Back home you don’t really have much, but you appreciate what you have,” she said.
“I came over from Cameroon not really knowing much about Ireland.
“My mother put me on a plane and I met my dad at the airport, that’s where the journey really began for me. I left my mother behind, that was a big move.
“It could get lonely, but I’d been given this opportunity and wanted to make the most of it.”
The Ireland forward explains that rugby “was never on her radar” as she grew up in County Dublin, but she began playing when she was 17 and a friend invited her to a game of tag rugby.
Her interest developed when she went to university at Trinity College, Dublin to study nursing.
“I had to google ‘what is rugby?’,” explained Djougang of her initial naivety about the sport in which she would ultimately excel.
“We started playing and I didn’t know the rules. There are so many rules in rugby – I was offside all the time until my friend gave me the ball and said, ‘when I give you the ball I just want you to run in this direction and score’.
“I just ran as fast as I could and I put the ball down. Well I dropped the ball and I was like, ‘what just happened?’
“That was my first encounter of it and I still remember it very well. I’m so happy it happened because it was the start of that rugby journey for me.”
