After Ireland's performance at the Rugby World Cup on home soil, it was Ruth O'Reilly who shed light on some of the problems that were plaguing the setup in the lead-up to and during the tournament.
The prop, who left the Ireland camp through injury after the loss to France, joined Cliona Foley on the Off The Bench podcast to discuss those issues and the fallout that followed her interview with Gavin Cummiskey.
You can listen to the full interview with Ruth O'Reilly on the podcast player and stream/download on iTunes. Also on the podcast is a chat around the issues in women's sport with journalist Sinead Farrell and ex-Dublin goalkeeper Cliodhna O'Connor joining Cliona:
"Probably the one major regret I have was that it was so late in making the decision to talk to someone about the issues we had been having," O'Reilly told Cliona.
Ireland's Ruth O'Reilly and Paula Fitzpatrick celebrate after the game ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
"You know, it kind of sounded like sour grapes in some respects in retrospect on my part or crying after the horse has bolted and for that maybe I was a little bit sorry, a little regretful that we hadn't spoken up sooner.
"I did get a little bit of flak about the timing of it, the fact that the World Cup was still going on and it was perceived as a bit of a betrayal of the family."
Ruth O'Reilly ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan
When asked if that came from team-mates, she responded "not really" and that it was "more a perception from other people I may have met" and additionally that in general the feedback from people to her decision to speak out was "positive".
"Unfortunately, the backlash on the day from the squad management was that I wasn't included in any of the winding up celebrations, let's say, of the World Cup," she said, adding that she was "advised that there wasn't a badge or a pass for me for the event".
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