Beibhinn Parsons dipped her toes back into Sevens rugby this week, but the dual Ireland international has eased any worries that she'll be going back to the shorter form of the game during the Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
The Irish Sevens squad play in Hong Kong next week during the fallow Six Nations weekend coming up, but Parsons will remain with the Irish XVs side after tomorrow’s Round 2 meeting with Italy at the RDS.
The availability of the winger, as well as several other stars who feature in both codes, has been a source of contention for several years in Irish rugby.
Last year, former head coach Greg McWilliams had no access to his Sevens contingent for the duration of the championship, with Olympic qualification for the Sevens prioritised ahead of the Six Nations, while in 2022 Parsons was among those who featured in the opening three games before returning to the shorter format of the game.
Whether or not it was something stressed by new head coach Scott Bemand, or a realisation from those higher up in the IRFU, the relationship between the women’s Sevens and XVs set-ups appears to be a bit more give-and-take, with Parsons, Eve Higgins and Aoibheann Reilly linking up with Bemand’s squad both for the WXV tournament in October, as well as this Six Nations.
Bemand has spoken of the good working relationship he has with Sevens head coach Allan Temple-Jones, an example of which saw Parsons, Higgins and Reilly slot into one of their training sessions this week, "to keep things ticking over".
"There’s still a bit of crossover, and the communication is really good between both codes, but for now we’ll be sticking in the Six Nations," Parsons said this week.
It’s hard to believe that Parsons is still just 22.
The Ballinasloe native burst onto the scene when she made her Ireland debut at the age of 16, and five-and-a-half years later she’s the most recognisable star in the Irish women’s game.
But with the DCU student juggling time between both professional programmes with the IRFU, the focus on Olympic qualifying has seen her feature far more for the Sevens side in the last two years. Her return to the XVs team in the Dubai tournament last year was her first outing with them for 18 months.
This Sunday, Parsons will play her first home international since April 2022 when Ireland host Italy at the RDS. Her last outing in front of a home crowd came against the same opposition two years ago.
With the SVNS series being a traveling circus with no Irish stop on the calendar, it will be a rare chance for Irish supporters to see a generational talent playing a game in this country.
"If I could be in two places at once, I would love to do that.
"But it was such a really important year for us in the Sevens and we got our goal over the line of qualifying for the Olympics, so mission was accomplished.
"I was more than delighted to come back to the squad with a new coaching set-up and everything, it’s been such a privilege to play across both codes.
"It sort of fell into place and with the WXV I got a real good understanding of the game-model and now coming back it’s been seamless. I’m really well looked after so it’s been really good," she added.
Having the likes of Parsons and Higgins available is a major boost on the pitch for Bemand, but off the pitch it’s also vital as the IRFU looks to grow the women’s game.
Last week, Ireland’s players played in front of just under 16,000 supporters in Le Mans, a part of France that isn't a traditional rugby stronghold.
It might take a long time for Ireland to get numbers like that through the gates, but the rise in popularity of the Republic of Ireland women’s soccer team, and the steadily impressive attendances at the All-Ireland ladies football championship finals in the last decade show what’s possible.
The hope this weekend is that the RDS might see a new record attendance for a women’s international in this country, with 6,113 the current mark, set in the 2022 championship against Wales.
Parsons believes there’s no reason why Ireland can’t draw numbers comparable to the French in the future.
"It's incredible and playing in France in front of their home crowd. You see how much they back women’s sport, the amount of people showing up, the anthems, the chants that they’re singing.
"It was just incredible so I can’t wait for this weekend to see what Ireland has to bring."
Among those in the crowd will be the Ballinasloe crew.
The east Galway town wouldn’t be known as a hotbed of rugby, but is doing plenty of heavy lifting in the current Ireland squad, with Parsons, Reilly and wing/full-back Meabh Deely all coming through the club to the current Ireland team.
"It’s hard not to think about it because my parents are normally in the stands and if it's not them then it’s Aoibheann’s or Maebh’s [parents] because we’re all from Ballinasloe.
"It’s brilliant to have that support in camp with girls I played with from day one. They always travel if they can to my games.
"Ballinasloe has been massive. They have never stopped supporting any of us."
Parsons starts once again for Ireland this weekend, with head coach Bemand making four changes to his side after the defeat to France last weekend.
With Dannah O’Brien coming in at out-half, it looks like Ireland may look to play a more attacking game, having understandably taken a kick-heavy approach in Le Mans a week ago.
And Parsons says after getting back up to speed with the XV’s game in Round 1, she’s hoping to kick on in front of a home crowd on Sunday.
"Of course, playing your first 80 minutes after a while there’s a few things to iron out. The coaching staff have been really good and I’ve gotten all the detail that I needed.
"A win would be absolutely massive. We’re desperate to be part of a successful Ireland. That’s something that we talk about a lot.
"Yeah, we had a defeat against France – and we’re not completely happy losing to France - we don’t want to go there and just surrender and take a loss. We want to go there and compete with these teams.
"Italy coming to our shores is something that we don’t take lightly. We want to go out fighting, show them a physical game, impose ourselves and fire shots. We definitely want to come away with a win."
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