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Rugby

26th Nov 2014

Twitter tributes pour in for retiring Irish Rugby Grand Slam star Grace Davitt

The centre won a Six Nations title in 2013 and helped Ireland to a World Cup semi-final

Patrick McCarry

The IRFU, Ulster Rugby and former Ireland captain Fiona Coghlan and scrum-half Tania Rosser have been quick to heap praise on the retiring centre

Grace Davitt has announced her retirement from the Ireland Women’s Rugby team after a 55-cap career that spanned nine years and three World Cups. The Meath native made her Ireland debut in 2005 and formed a reliable midfield partnership with Lyne Cantwell for the best part of a decade.

Cantwell was part of the Ireland team that won the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2013 and reached the World Cup semi-final – beating New Zealand along the way – during the summer.

Davitt never shirked a tackle in her career and, as a ball-trucking centre, copped her fair share of bruising hits. During this summer’s World Cup, she received this pass from Nora Stapleton but was dropped to the turf an instant later. The huge hit did not prevent Davitt from offering up clean ball at the resulting ruck.

ball at the resulting ruck.

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