Fryday and Co getting a glimpse into pro-rugby schedule in Japan
Ireland women’s captain Nichola Fryday believes the summer tour of Japan has provided her with a glimpse of what a career as a professional rugby star might look like.
Just before Fryday and her team-mates jetted off to East Asia for a two-test series with the Sakura Fifteen, the IRFU announced that 43 full-time player contracts were to be handed out later this year across the 7s and 15s codes.
Speaking in advance of today’s second test with Japan at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo (kick-off 11am Irish time/7pm local time), the Offaly native outlined how beneficial this tour is proving to be for the wider squad.
“Your sole focus becomes the rugby side of things. You can dedicate and plan out your day to be fully focusing on rugby as if it were your job. It has been invaluable to this group. It has given us an insight into what it will actually take to be a full-time rugby player. It has been an amazing experience to start it off,” Fryday said.
This feel-good factor within the camp was significantly heightened in Fukuroi City last weekend, when Ireland recovered from a 15-point deficit to eventually defeat Japan 57-22 in an opening test. With thoughts of those back home very much at the forefront of her mind, Fryday is hopeful their rematch in Tokyo can run along similar lines.
“We want to finish this tour off, come home and be proud of our performances. Make our supporters and our family at home proud as well. That has been the overriding theme while we’ve been over here, that we want to do the people at home proud. For us, that means we want to get that second test win as well and finish this tour off on a high.”
While Japan have made six changes to their starting line-up for today’s game, head coach Greg McWilliams has kept faith with 12 of the side that got the job done in Fukuroi seven days ago. Two of the three alterations made by the Dubliner are enforced, with injuries to Sam Monaghan and Dorothy Wall leading to call-ups for Grace Moore and Jo Brown.
The latter’s inclusion is the subject of much curiosity with the Worcester Warriors flanker having previously picked up seven international caps in the white of England. Having been in a rival squad to Brown for the 2019 Six Nations, Fryday is thrilled that World Rugby’s new eligibility rules means they are now permitted to line out in the same pack.
“Jo has been great. She came in and threw herself into it. She has trained hard and she has really gelled with the whole group. You can’t ask for more from a person coming in as a new cap. We don’t really look at that side of things [eligibility rules]. For us, she’s one of us and I’m happy that she is getting her chance to get that first cap,” Fryday added.
R Matsuda; H Nagura, M Furuta, S Nakayama, K Imakugi; A Otsuka, M Abe; S Minami, N Nagata, Y Sadaka; Y Sato, M Takano; S Saito, I Nagata, A Nagai.
M Lavemai, K Taniguchi, S Kato, K Tamai, O Yoshimura, M Tsukui, M Yamamoto, K Hosokawa.
M Deely; N Behan, A Dalton, E Breen, A Doyle; D O’Brien, A Hughes; L Feely, N Jones, L Djougang; H O’Connor, N Fryday; J Brown, E McMahon, G Moore.
E Hooban, C Pearse, K O’Dwyer, T Schutzler, J Keating, M Scuffil-McCabe, L Tarpey, E Tilly.