Ireland prop Linda Djougang says she's "gutted" for her team-mate Dorothy Wall, who was ruled out of this summer's World Cup due to injury.
Wall became the second high-profile Ireland player to be ruled out of the tournament in England, after suffering a torn achilles during Saturday's Guinness Women's Six Nations defeat to Scotland in Edinburgh.
The versatile forward would have been a key player for Ireland in the World Cup, having featured in every game of the championship, scoring four tries.
The 24-year-old had surgery on her torn achilles on Wednesday which will rule her out for several months, and she joins flanker Erin King on the sidelines for Ireland's World Cup campaign later this year.
"It's so hard, especially such an important year for us to have two pivotal players going out through injuries, and missing out," Djougang told the RTÉ Rugby podcast this week.
"I clearly remember on the pitch, it was beside me, and hearing your team-mate screaming that way, it's definitely not something you want to hear.
"Dorothy has been having such a good tournament and she’s probably my standout player. She’s so good, she’s our lineout leader and we had to adapt to that.
"A World Cup comes every four years and it’s something that we’ve been building on, something we've been dreaming of, and something we’ve been working hard to get."
Djougang, the most experienced Test player in the Ireland squad with 46 caps, says those injuries make her even more grateful for the chance of playing in the World Cup later this summer.
"When we didn't qualify a few years ago to go to New Zealand, Dorothy was part of that journey. For me, my heart just goes out to her. I know we spoke about representing our country at a World Cup, we spoke about that dream for us, I just feel so gutted for her.
"It’s been our goal, it’s been her goal. She’s been through all of it. She’s that pivotal player for us, and she’s definitely stepped up beyond even what we expect of her. She’s going to be a great loss.
"I think that it reminds us that this can be taken that quickly.
"It’s the sport we play, you can’t go in thinking you don't want to get injured. You try to give everything for your country, like Dorothy and Erin have been doing. It’s just unfortunate," the prop added.
Djougang scored one of Ireland's tries in Saturday's 26-19 defeat to Scotland, among four in total for the powerful Leinster prop over the course of the championship.
It saw an otherwise positive Six Nations campaign end on a sour note for Scott Bemand's side, but she believes Ireland will be a better team from their experience at the Hive last week.
"It was definitely very disappointing, but we knew why it was disappointing.
"I think that’s something that we can definitely build on. We knew that we probably didn't execute our gameplan and that we didn't kick where we needed to kick.
"Equally we didn't take our opportunities. We definitely are learning. This year’s Six Nations has been going well for us, and had also been eye-opening for us, to what we can do and where we want to get to. We’re quite lucky that we have another opportunity now in the summer to rectify those mistakes against Scotland.
"We know what we’re capable of and now, going into the summer, we have two games against Scotland and Canada and we definitely want to head to the World Cup with a good head on our shoulders," she added.
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