Team captain Nichola Fryday has said the Ireland women’s rugby team will be making a ‘fresh start’ in today’s test encounter against Japan at the Ecopa Stadium in Fukuroi (kick-off 11am Irish time/7pm local time).

The first of two meetings with the Japanese on an historic summer tour for the Irish, Fryday readily accepts that her side are on an alternative path to most of their international counterparts.

Whereas there are 12 teams across the globe (including Japan) who have their sights set on October’s Rugby World Cup finals in New Zealand, Ireland are forced to look beyond this point having fallen short in their quest to qualify for the tournament. The presence of six uncapped players in today’s match day 23 suggests the dawn of a new era and this is something Fryday and her colleagues are on board with.

“We’re kind of looking at this as our fresh start, because we’re in a different scenario to the other teams. Everyone else is trying to prep for a World Cup, but we’re just looking at the start of our cycle again now,” Fryday remarked from the squad’s hotel base yesterday.

“We’ve started and this is the most time we’ve had together as well as a team, which is really starting to stand to us now as well. We’ve been in camp for nearly two weeks together and still another week to go. We’re all absolutely loving it and thriving in it.”

Of those who are set to make their debuts in today’s game, it is Aoife Dalton and Leah Tarpey who Fryday is arguably most excited for. Both players hail from the Irish skipper’s hometown club of Tullamore, whom Fryday was representing when she made her own international debut against Canada back in November 2016.

Additionally, Ailsa Hughes (who helped to set up the women’s team in Tullamore) has been restored to the starting line-up at scrum-half to further enhance an already strong Offaly influence within the Irish ranks.

“I’ve been seeing a few posts from home with all of us from Offaly who are on the squad. People always used to joke ‘oh sure Nichola, you’re from Offaly’ and now it has turned around and we have the highest contingent in the squad now. It’s a nice turn of events for me.” Fryday added.

“I’ve known the likes of Ailsa for years. Having her back in the starting squad, I’m delighted because she’s a friend as well as a team-mate at this stage.”

If it is to be a successful first outing for Dalton and Tarpey – not to mention fellow novices Méabh Deely, Natasja Behan, Dannah O’Brien and Taryn Schultzer – in the green jersey, the more experienced faces within this Irish side will most likely need to be at the top of their respective games.

While the back line head coach Greg McWilliams has selected for this contest have only gotten a chance to familiarise themselves with each other in the past few weeks, seven of the starting pack are retained from Ireland’s last competitive fixture – a last-gasp triumph against Scotland in Belfast on the final weekend of the Six Nations.