Munster and Ireland coach Niamh Briggs says there are already noticeable improvements in the players who have taken up professional contracts with the IRFU.
It's early days for the Women's 15s High Performance Programme, with 10 players having taken up professional contracts with the IRFU, bringing to 29 the number of professional players across Sevens and 15s.
And while the Sevens players will be unavailable to the provinces for the Vodafone Interprovincial Series due to their World Series commitments this month, the contracted 15s players have been made available to their respective sides.
It means Munster will have centre Enya Breen, and flankers Dorothy Wall and Maeve Óg O'Leary available for Saturday's opener against Ulster at Musgrave Park (4.45pm).
And head coach Briggs, who doubles up as assistant coach for Ireland, says the improvements in their game are already apparent.
"They've been really good," she said of the contracted trio.
"They've come back in incredible shape, they've only been contracted since the start of November, and the differences in their core skills and fitness have been big from where we were in the summer in Japan.
"I'm excited for them to get playing, and they can showcase it. They've been really good."
With those players based full-time out of the IRFU High Performance centre in Dublin, it means Munster and the other provinces only have limited access to the professional players on a training week.
But Briggs says the timeshare hasn't been difficult to manage.
"To be fair to the lads in the IRFU, it's been communicated from day one that we would get them.
"It's a similar working model to how an academy works day-in day-out for AIL teams, you get them for one night a week at training, and we had them for the Christmas period which was great, and now we get them one day a week which is completely fine.
"Once you know, and we got a huge bulk of work done in the week we had them, they're just topping up."
With the All-Ireland League final between Blackrock and Railway Union postponed by a week until 17 December, it tightened up the window of preparation for the Interpro series, with the squad enjoying a few days off either side of Christmas, before returning to the pitch on 27 December, training every second day since.
Briggs steps up from assistant coach last season, swapping roles with former head coach Matt Brown, who led the province to the title in 2021, when they saw off Leinster in the final round to take the title.
The Interprovincial series kicks off a busy few months in the women's calendar, with the three rounds of games quickly followed by a Combined Provinces XV taking part in the inaugural Women's Celtic Challenge Tournament, which gets under way on 29 January, before the Six Nations later in the spring.
And while Briggs admits there may be some trial and error with the new Celtic competition over the coming years, it will provide an ideal opportunity to give players quality opposition ahead of the Six Nations.
"I think in theory, this model of the season makes complete sense, when you're looking at the over ending goal being the Six Nations, and who makes that elite team.
"If you're going from the club into an Interpro, and into a Celtic Cup, it's like steps on a stairs. This is absolutely an unbelievable opportunity for these girls to showcase their talent and put themselves in that shop window.
"Short term, it's really cool for Greg [McWilliams] to be able to get a look at other players who could potentially come into the Six Nations.
"We're talking about growing the depth of Irish rugby for some time, this is something else that can help us do that. It also gives us more time with players to see them from a training environment.
"It definitely has its teething problems for where it fits in the calendar, but for a first year it's a really exciting project. I think we can't judge it over this year, it's three or four years down the line where we can judge its merit, whether it provides the level of competition you want for the players."
