Dual Ireland Sevens and 15s player Aoife Doyle is in confident mood ahead of the 2020 Six Nations opener against Scotland.
The winger was speaking to Off The Ball ahead of the game against the Scots at 1pm in Energia Park on Sunday and was unfazed about her first international 15s game after a lengthy spell away.
“I’m so excited. It’s been five years since I’ve played. To get the opportunity to play at home as well, it just bills it all. So I’m really looking forward to it.
“Any skills you learn from sevens, and likewise with the 15s, it transfers into both sports. Your fitness, your skills, how you read the game.
“As a winger, you want to know how to exploit space so I’ve learnt a lot from sevens to bring into 15s. I started playing 15s when I was 12 years old so it’s what I started out with,” Doyle said.
Sevens puts more emphasis on fitness than physicality, although both games have plenty of both, but the Munster woman was looking forward to the physical challenge that test rugby offers.
“Yeah, definitely you have much more collisions in this game and I suppose it’s something you have to get used to but you’ve no choice really.
“You’re in training and you’re just thrown into it. You’ve no other choice than to get involved. I love the physical side. I mightn’t be the biggest but I really enjoy it.
“In the sevens games, you’re coming up against big, strong girls with a lot of pace too so there’s a lot of contact involved there too so I suppose there isn’t much work needed,” Doyle commented.
Ireland are coming off the back of a poor campaign last year, winning only one of their five fixtures and finishing fifth, above Scotland.
While Doyle wasn’t involved in last year’s tournament she doesn’t feel that it will affect the team going into this season’s Six Nations.
“What makes a good sportsperson is being able to move on from the past. That happened last year and we’re in a different place this year.
“The girls aren’t going to look back on that. They’re looking for a fresh start and it’s going to be a good campaign for us this year,” Doyle said.
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