Sophie Spence has been added to the Wales Women's management team as a coach intern.
Former second-row Spence called time on her Ireland career three years ago after failing to make the 38-player squad for the 2018 Six Nations.
She'd already started on her coaching career while still playing, gaining experience at Dublin City University and Leinster, while also setting up her own rugby academy.
Spence moved to Wales last year and has been working as the forwards coach at Division 1 West men's side Penclawdd.
The 33-year-old's appointment is part of the Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme, which aims to address the lack of female coaches at high-performance level across men’s and women’s rugby by giving aspiring elite female coaches opportunities in high-performance environments.
Spence will now link up with newly-appointed head coach Warren Abrahams and skills coach Rachel Taylor to help the Welsh gear up for the tournament, where they'll face defending champions New Zealand, Australia and the winner of the Final Qualification Tournament in Pool A.
"I’m keen to be as involved as possible," Spence told the Welsh Rugby Union. "I’m looking forward to learning from Warren, and Rachel, who I’ve played with for the Barbarians. I’ll observe and I’ll also deliver whenever I’m needed as part of the team.
"After coaching at university level in Dublin and with Leinster, I was always keen to keep progressing as a coach.
"I contacted the Welsh Rugby Union when I moved over to Wales to see what opportunities were out there. I knew what path I wanted to take and looked for a senior men’s team as a new challenge. I’ve really enjoyed coaching at Penclawdd. We're on an upward spiral and having moved up from Division 2, we were sitting around sixth place when the season was suspended.
"And now the World Rugby internship is a huge opportunity for me and the rest of the interns. I’m sure we will learn so much from each other and the experience."
