“I was a bit speechless,” says Ireland rugby star Erin King. “I didn’t really know how to feel. I didn’t think I’d win it because all of the other nominees there are such excellent athletes and they had such great years as well. It was the stuff of dreams.” Sitting beside her mother Joanne at the World Rugby Awards last November at the opulent Salle des Étoiles in Monaco, King glanced around nearby tables — South African World Cup winners Cheslin Kolbe, Ox Nché and Jesse Kriel shared a joke, while All Blacks stars Damian McKenzie and Will Jordan posed for a photographer. Antoine Dupont was managing morsels of conversations in between selfie requests and glad-handing. Maddison Levi and Ellie Kildunne were in the building, too. Two fantastic players in the women’s game who, like King, were trying to soak in every possible moment and interaction at the ceremony. When it came to announce the award for Women’s Breakthrough Player of the Year, King sipped a drink, adjusted her sequinned dress and faced the illuminated stage. When her name was read out, she experienced that stunned 10 seconds we all get when your brain is whirring and everything is happening fast. A flapping hand was beckoning her to the stage.