Given they had been sought after for so long, it was only natural that the news of professional contracts for Ireland's XV-a-side players grabbed the headlines when they were first announced two weeks ago.
Alongside that announcement was confirmation that the IRFU had appointed Gillian McDarby as their first 'Head of Performance and Pathways' for women's rugby, an appointment that former Ireland captain Fiona Coghlan believes has the potential to be even more crucial long term.
A former program manager with the Irish womens' team, McDarby is a former Irish national cyclist while she has served a number of roles in high-performance sport in Ireland across rugby and cycling.
The appointment didn't come out of the blue, with the role having been created and publicly advertised as one of the recommendations of the independent report into Ireland's failure to qualify for the upcoming World Cup.
The brief is wide-ranging, but on the face of it McDarby appears to be filling the David Nucifora role in women's rugby, overseeing Ireland's performance, and working on the pathways that will link Ireland's underage talent to senior rugby.
"This is a huge role," said former Ireland captain Coghlan.
"I think it's so important for where the game is going to go in Ireland. It's about getting as many numbers playing the game at a higher standard, and how it all links together.
"We've had huge numbers playing, an increase in numbers, and minis and underage level, but there never seems to be a link (to senior ruby)."
Coghlan pointed to the inexperienced squad brought by head coach Greg McWilliams on their tour of Japan as one of McDarby's biggest tasks to address.
"And then there is that step-up from 18's to seniors ,that is huge. Some of these girls, the like of Leah Tarpy, Ema Tilly, Aoife Dalton, they haven't played senior rugby and are on tour in Japan.
"There needs to be something to lessen that gap, and whether that's in the club game, or Interpro game, that's what we need to decide. Currently the Interpros aren't worth their salt because it's three or four ad hoc games you're training for and you're gone again for the year. There's no succession plan."
And the RTÉ Rugby pundit also believes the new women's rugby head will have to figure out a compromise to the on-going tug of war between the Sevens and XV-a-side programs, which has caused a number of high-profile players to miss out on this summer's tour of Japan.
"I think the marriage of the Sevens and the XVs, and where that stands, that's a huge role. I've said it before, I do not believe in Sevens players coming in, playing half a tournament and leaving. They're either all in and having played some XVs rugby into it, as opposed to what happened this year.
"That's another huge task for her (McDarby). It's getting those pathways right. I think there's huge opportunity for growth, and at a good rate and good standard.
"I think the contracts are absolutely amazing, but more important are the pathways that are available to the players to be able to step up to that standard, and that they're getting competitive gametime week-in and week-out, not jus at international level, but whatever the model is they decide underneath that.
"The link between underage to senior. There are a lot of 18 and 19-year-old who haven't played senior rugby that are now on tour in Japan because the pathways haven't previously been there for them to step up."
With Japan using the games against Ireland as preparation for the upcoming World Cup, Ireland's failure to qualify for the tournament in New Zealand means they are already into their cycle for the 2025 installment in England.
And Coghlan believes with such large turnover in the squad, the focus of this month's games in Shizuoka and Tokyo should be on performance rather than result.
"I wouldn't overly worry about the results, I think it's about developing the players, seeing what potential they have both on and off the pitch. I think they'll have a lot of downtime together to get to know each other and develop as people.
"Greg (McWiliams) will know what he wants going forward, and trying to find those players that fit, and that's been very obvious from the squad he picked, and going with fresh, young players.
"I wouldn't be overly concerned about the result. Next year's Six Nations is way more important. The players who progress to that, that's way more important. This will be Japan's sixth game of the summer so they'll be way more advanced on that side of things, although they did lose to South Africa last week."
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