After a year out of the game, Aoibheann Reilly is just happy to be back playing rugby.
The dual-code Connacht scrum-half suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the summer of 2022, and has just returned to the game ahead of the upcoming Interpros, which kick off the new season on Saturday.
Back training since June, Reilly returned to the game in Hamburg last month at the European Sevens, and is now embedded in 15s pre-season work with Connacht ahead of their opening encounter with Leinster.
"It happened just stepping, catching a high ball and stepping on landing, a classic non-contact injury," said Reilly, regarding her injury. "It happens, and I'm lucky, I’m still young and have lots to learn and, hopefully, have still lots to give and I’m delighted to be back for the start of this season, it’s a great time to get back.
"I didn’t want to rush back because I know with ACLs you can often ruin the recovery by coming back too early so I pretty much set out to come back in a year’s time."
Putting the last year behind her, Reilly is now looking forward to the next 12 months and is hoping to catch the eye of incoming Ireland coach Scott Bemand, with the inaugural WXV series coming up in Dubai later this year.
And then there is also the possibility of representing Ireland at next summer’s Olympic Games, in the Sevens format.
Reilly admits that it was hard to watch on from the sidelines last May as her team-mates secured safe passage to the Paris Games, however, she was delighted to see her team achieve the goal of qualification for the very first time.
"It was great to see the girls qualify, that’s all that matters," said Reilly.
"I’m glad now that I’m back for the year that matters. Even watching the Six Nations I had serious FOMO, I really missed being out on the pitch with the girls, so I’m delighted to be back now this year.
"I'm a centralised contract player which means I’m available for selection for both teams. I’ll play anything at this stage after a year without rugby."
As a result of the long-term injury, Reilly had a watching brief for the 2023 Six Nations campaign, which saw Ireland really struggle against the big hitters of European rugby, and now that there is a new regime in place, with the arrival of the former Harlequins and Leicester scrum-half, the Ballinasloe native is looking to catch the eye over the next few months with a place in the Ireland squad up for grabs.
"It's brilliant," said Reilly, when asked her opinion on the moving of the Interpros from January to the start of the season.
"We’re just coming out of a pre-season block here, itching for some game-time now with our provinces and then that’ll lead in nicely to XVs [WXV competition].
"It’ll be brilliant to have some games under our belt. It’s nice that we have more games this year with the Interpros, the XVs coming up in October and then leading into the Six Nations."
"Not yet," said the Blackrock College scrum-half, when asked had she spoken to the new Ireland coach. "But it’s really exciting to get a coach of his calibre involved in the Irish set-up, and he’s a scrum-half himself I believe, so I’m very excited for this year and can’t wait to see what he brings to the squad."
Looking ahead to the opening clash with Leinster, Reilly is not putting any pressure on her performances but rather concentrating on getting back to basics and ensuring that she can consign the ACL absence to the past, allowing her to look forward to the upcoming season.
And she is anticipating a great atmosphere for the opener as the emerging Connacht side look to open up with the scalp of the impressive Leinster outfit.
"I was nervous (coming back), but I was also so excited to play. My goal wasn’t really performance, it was just getting the match-day feel back and being confident in how I was running and moving and in collisions and I was really happy how it went for me personally, as a stepping stone to coming back and giving me some confidence ahead of these Interpros.
"(The Interpros are about) getting gametime under my belt and re-gaining my confidence, but for us as a squad we’ll be up there competing with the top teams and believe we’re just as likely to win it as the others…I really back the team that we have.
"It’s great to have the home crowd. Last year, in that final game against Munster, it was at home and we had such a huge crowd. They were so loud and it would be great to see that support there again this year 'cause it really drives us on."
