Vikki Wall's switch to rugby was all about reaching the Olympics next summer but for the moment the former Meath and North Melbourne footballer is focusing on her own game.
"Her dream is to go to the Olympics," said IRFU head of women’s performance and pathways Gillian McDarby when the union announced Wall had been contracted to the Sevens programme last September.
The 25-year-old had a handful of non-cap matches under her belt before making her competitive debut against Japan in the World Series in Perth last month, a tournament that Ireland went on to win.
Speaking last November head coach Allan Temple-Jones said he reckoned Wall was ahead of schedule in her bid to get up to speed with a new ball, new rules and a new code.
As she was unveiled as Lucozade’s newest ambassador, the Dunboyne woman has spoken in depth about the challenges she has faced in adapting to the sport, including the fact that if successful she will ultimately take the place of a player who has been in the system for longer.
"I suppose patience isn't something I would pride myself on and it's definitely something I always try and work on but I have to give huge credit to the girls," the double All-Ireland winner said.
"Like, I know for the first month, easily, that I was in there, I was wrecking their heads.
"Whether it was new drills, whether it was just random questions on things that would probably be second nature to them... any question I had, I was never turned away.
"There was never a huff, never a sigh, things like that. They're always so willing to help.
"Whether it's sitting down and going through analysis, like just asking basic questions and just getting them to explain things 10 times over until I actually have a handle on it. I just can't give them enough credit for how good they've been.
"Someone coming in probably knocks things off kilter a bit.
"I was messing up drills quite a bit at the start and you know how frustrating that it - the cohesion of a drill. They have been unbelievable to me and I'm very, very grateful, but hopefully I'm not disrupting training now as much as I was a few months ago."
Wall took her place in the 'forwards’ for her debut, lifting in the lineout, pushing in the scrum and even getting an offload that led to an Irish try.
"It was next level," she told RTÉ Sport.
"We played a few development tournaments but that was the first cap for me.
"Getting to that level and getting exposure was good. Definitely a higher tempo than you are used to, 30-odd degrees heat has a bit of an impact as well especially in the thick jerseys as well but we were there for a couple weeks beforehand so we were acclimatised.
"Getting time against Japan was great. The first minute is probably a shock to the system but then you don’t really have much time in the Sevens games to adjust so you just throw yourself into the swing of things.
"A lot of work-ons, even from my short time on the pitch but it was great to get out there."
The Irish team went on to make history, bucking 29-game losing run against hosts Australia in the final to claim their first SVNS World Series title.
She said: "I’m fairly fresh in the door but to be able to see people experiencing it, Lucy Mulhall, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Stacy Flood, Emily Lane to name a few who have been knocking around for quite a while [was great].
"Having gone through quite a few losses, and they are the backbone of the programme so to be able to see it from their perspective and to just see how it was bigger than sport on that day, how much it meant to everyone and to be somewhat part of it was unbelievable.
"It was such a great day for Irish rugby and for all the work that has gone into this programme over the last while."
After getting her first taste of World Series action, Wall says the immediate goal is making the cut for the final four events of the season. Talk of Paris – for which Temple-Jones can only take 13 players – has to be put on hold.
"I don’t think it’s specific chat about making an Olympic squad at the moment," added Wall, who played a season of AFLW in 2022.
"We still have another four World Series to go.
"For me the chat is to continue to try to make the squad and to try and get as much game time as possible.
"There are things within my game I have to work on and you do that week in week out with all the coaches we have.
"It’s just basic skills, general game time, things like that, getting as much knowledge as I can within the game.
"That’s what I need to work on. As a team everyone is trying to be as competitive as possible. We have more World Series and then Olympics at the end of the year and it’s a massive year for women’s sevens in Ireland.
"There’s that competition within the panel the whole time, whether it’s for LA or Vancouver, the next competitions, or the Olympics in a few months’ time."
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