'People say treat the World Cup like any other game, but I want it to feel different'
It was a painfully familiar feeling. Just over four months earlier, Parsons had broken her leg at the Paris Olympics. She missed Ireland's remarkable WX1 campaign as a result and now, just two weeks into her comeback at the Cape Town Sevens last December, a tackle had triggered a crunch of bone and metal which told Parsons all she needed to know. The shock overrode the pain to the extent there was no scream, no shout for help.
'I just placed the ball back and play went on and on,' Parsons tells The 42. 'The physios didn't come on for ages and I sort of turned around and look at the bench and was like 'I really need some help here', because it wasn't about the pain, it was just, heartbroken, heart sunk, I can't believe I'm here again.'
The two injuries essentially wiped a year out of Parsons' career. She wasn't on the pitch when Ireland stormed to a stunning defeat of the Black Ferns at WXV1 last year, a tournament where Scott Bemand's resurgent side would finish second in the table – clear of Canada, New Zealand, France and the US. She sat out the entire 2025 Six Nations. Ireland's meeting with Scotland in Cork on 2 August will be her first international at 15s level since the 2024 Six Nations.
She returns to a group driven by a renewed sense of ambition. In a month's time Ireland open their 2025 Rugby World Cup pool campaign against Japan in Northampton, before games against Spain and New Zealand.
Parsons has the talent to be one of the tournament's standout players. There's a reason she debuted at Test level at the age of just 16, becoming Ireland's youngest international in the process. Now 23, the Ballinasloe native is able to look back at that time and acknowledge the strangeness of it all, a young girl entering an elite, adult sporting environment.
'It was definitely daunting at times,' she admits. 'I was so young that I couldn't share a room with anyone, there was this child protection thing. I never had a roomie, so I had to be so on it with the schedule and where to be and stuff like that. So I think a lot of the time I was just sort of like, 'Oh my God, where am I meant to be? What am I doing?' All of it was so new to me.
Advertisement
Parsons debuted for Ireland at 16. Tommy Dickson / INPHO Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
'It was a lot to take in all at once, but the team were great and I never really felt that young, no one really made me feel out of place.
'But I remember a lot of it was me cramming doing school work. Anna Caplice, she helped me with my German oral. I could drive at the time and gave one of the girls, Laura Feely lifts from Galway, but on the way up we'd be chatting here and there and it would come to a point and I'd be like, right, I have 40 minutes left in this journey, I'm going to pull into Applegreen and do some work for my Irish oral. A lot of it was me just trying to manage everything and get through school, and they helped me a lot with that. But I just kept thinking I'll probably be out by next week or I won't ever get selected, so it all sort of came as a shock.'
GAA had been the most prominent sport for the Parsons – Beibhinn is a cousin of former Mayo footballer Tom Parsons – but rugby was the game that captured her imagination. Having first played at U11s, it was U13s before she was part of an all-girls team in Ballinasloe.
'I remember my first season of playing with the boys. Honestly I don't think I knew a single rule. I don't even think I knew I was playing rugby, but I just remember it being loads of fun and it was something different and it was much easier than Gaelic football I thought at the time, just get the ball and run! I enjoyed it a lot.
'When I was playing for Ballinasloe I never felt like there was any barriers, I never felt like I was any different to the boys team because the coaches and the staff and the volunteers and the parents were just so committed to us playing and winning, and that's the way I still see it down there.'
As it happened, she was pretty good at getting the ball and running. Parsons played her way to trials with Connacht and was soon catching the eye of the international coaches. Describing her family as half GAA-mad and half not the slightest bit interested in sport, the rugby world was a new experience. That naivety sheltered Parsons and those closest to her from some of the hype which surrounded this rising talent.
'Not coming from a rugby household, they didn't know what (to expect)… Like this 'first cap' thing, that was a new phrase for us and it wasn't really bigged up at all. We didn't make it into this massive thing and a lot of it went over my head and in some ways I didn't take it all in, but I'm sort of happy for that as well because I think if I was to make my first cap tomorrow, I'd be so nervous and rattled and just make it into something that's absolutely massive, whereas it was like ripping off a band aid without even noticing it then.'
She now has 26 Test caps to her name, alongside her achievements playing Sevens – which included a run to the quarter-finals in last year's Paris Olympics. Before it came to such a cruel end, Parsons loved the Olympic experience, the sheer size and scale of the event fuelling her desire to help Ireland put a mark on this World Cup.
An event like that has the ability to bring out your best or bring out your worst and it's a decision to really embrace the occasion.
'That's one thing I thought I did in the Olympics, I just wanted to go for it. I really wanted to embrace the occasion and instead of going into my shell, come out of it. That's definitely the way I want to approach the World Cup.
'People say to treat it like any other game, but for me that doesn't work, I want to know that I'm at a World Cup and I want it to feel different and I'm not just playing a club team in some backyard, I'm playing for my country at a World Cup and I think you should embrace that, not shy away from it.'
The good news for Ireland is that Parsons' recovery has gone according to plan. She praises the work of IRFU physio Eduard Mias, who oversaw her rehab plan, but admits to moments of frustration during the long process of building her leg back up, which included re-evaluating her running technique during the three months where the plyometric speed exercises which help build muscle power were off the table. The work felt worth it when she clocked her top speed of 9 m/s again.
'That was a big like monkey on my back. Then I could sort of be calm about it and be like, OK, at least I'm not defected.'
Parsons faced two long rehab spells over the last 12 months. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
Just like her early days in camp, Parsons balanced her training load with her education. Studying Communications in DCU, Parsons' teammates became subjects for her dissertation – Relational Dialectics Theory in Elite Female Sport.
'I had focus groups of the girls,' she explains. 'The theory is just balancing tensions, so say with media it might be the tension of wanting visibility but also the want of having privacy and how you balance that, or does that come up for you? So we just figured out what sort of tensions there are, is it you want to be really strong, but you also want to be really feminine? These sort of tensions that are rising and how you navigate that really.'
Parsons knows what a good World Cup would mean for this Ireland team, who had the seismic setback of not qualifying for the 2021 tournament. Given the lows the women's game has experienced on this island over the years, she also know the potential effect it could have on the game in Ireland.
'Those two warm up games . . . it's been so long since I've been on a 15s pitch and those moments after when you're with kids and they've travelled to Cork or Belfast, they're the Holy Grail. You just want to give people as much time as you can in those moments because you never know what it is that'll spark it off for them that they're like, I want to go for this and be serious about it.
'I had a coach once, Aiden McNulty [former Ireland Women's Sevens head coach]. We were going to a Sevens World Cup and he gave this presentation on how World Cups have the potential to change lives, and that's something I keep thinking of. I know it was for a Sevens World Cup, but he talked about him watching soccer World Cups growing up and wanting that… A World Cup does have the power to ignite something within someone and it's definitely something I'm cognisant of.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The 42
44 minutes ago
- The 42
The Lions can't win in some people's eyes but they're still a beast
THE NARRATIVE OF this Lions tour is already set in stone in many people's minds. If the Lions win this Saturday in Melbourne, the bigger story will be the Wallabies' woes. If Andy Farrell's men win the series 3-0, the focus on the Australians will become even more heightened. This weekend's second Test is seen as a foregone conclusion in some quarters. But while the Lions are favourites to win at the MCG, it's too early to call this one. There are two games left in the series. Stranger things have happened in rugby. The focus on the Wallabies is understandable, of course. We had been used to the Aussies winning World Cups and regularly beating smaller rugby nations such as Ireland. But Ireland haven't been minnows for a while. They're among the nations who have emerged to become contenders. The Aussies have clearly gone backwards over the same period. With that improvement in Irish rugby has come great expectation. If Ireland don't play well or lose these days, there tends to be a dramatic reaction. Heads are called for and disaster is declared. There seems to be demand for a complete 80-minute performance every single time now. High expectations are good but that's unrealistic. Those expectations have now transferred onto the Lions. Farrell's men smashed the Wallabies for large parts of last weekend's Test to earn a deserved, clear-cut victory on an eight-point margin. But it has been framed almost as an underperformance by some, despite it being a classic Farrell performance. Ireland at their best under Farrell have done this. They have taken teams apart in irresistible flurries of qualities, whirlwinds of excellence when accuracy is at 100% and physicality is through the roof. These souped-up purple patches often last 20 or 30 minutes and then the game is realistically over. It's human nature to drop off after such heightened blasts of quality. When you know you've got the game won, it is simply natural not to hammer into tackles quite as hard, not to chase at full speed every time, to lose a hint of focus on the basic skills. Advertisement There's arguably no such thing as an 80-minute performance in rugby these days, even if it's a laudable goal. Every coach pushes their team to be at their maximum potential in every moment, but it's rare to get to that sustained level. All the discussion of the opposition on this Lions tour means that Farrell's men really can't win in some people's eyes, even if they whitewash the series. It will just be written off as victory against a weak opponent. Lions supporters in Australia. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO The Lions have rarely played one of the traditional giants of the Southern Hemisphere when they're coming out of such a low ebb, but it's also true that the Lions don't win series very often. And that's a history of losing that Farrell has been utterly determined to change this summer. That's probably why the Lions have come across as distant to the Australian media and maybe even hostile towards the travelling Irish and British press on occasion. Farrell and co. don't care about this stuff, they just care about winning. One of the curious things about the coverage of this tour from back home is the philosophical discussion about the Lions' future and whether people really care about it anymore. You definitely have to be here to appreciate that people do still care. Rugby Australia say that this Saturday's game at the magnificent MCG in Melbourne is on track for a crowd of 90,000. That is a stunning figure for rugby and would be the second highest attendance at a Lions match ever. Adelaide welcomed a new record crowd for rugby in the city when the Lions played the AUNZ XV, Canberra had its biggest rugby crowd for nearly 20 years for the Brumbies game, and the Waratahs more than doubled their average attendance for their game. Last weekend's first Test at the 52,500-capacity Suncorp Stadium sold out. So even with the Wallabies working their way back from the Eddie Jones fiasco, there is still huge interest. The Irish, English, Welsh, and Scottish expats living in Australia are loving having the Lions here, while the masses of travelling supporters are clearly having a brilliant time. No one back home should be forced to love the Lions. It's fine for people to think it's a joke. But the people who are here certainly aren't thinking like that. The Ireland fans who are here are rightly proud of the huge batch of Irish players and staff who have made it on tour. There might never be similar again, so it's worth enjoying now. Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Every single one of the Lions fans is fully kitted out in official gear and not just the jersey. Hats, scarves, hoodies, zippies, tracksuits. Lions fans seem to have bought the lot. The Lions say they've had a 43% increase on jersey sales compared to the last tour, although it should be pointed out that no fans travelled on that one. Still, the Lions jersey has been a huge seller. And the official Lions Rugby Travel tours have more than twice the numbers of people with them in Australia than was the case in 2013. It was telling how big a roar Jac Morgan got last night at Marvel Stadium when his name was read out pre-match. There have been lots of Welsh voices about the place in the last couple of weeks, despite their dire representation in the Lions squad. They'd have hoped for more Welsh players when they were booking, but they're still here as Lions fans. This tour will generate record profits for the Lions, which is good news for the four unions involved. A new profit-share agreement means players get a bigger bite of the cake this time too, with those who do the full tour earning more than €100,000, with a similar fee going to the clubs who provided each player. Late arriving players' fees are worked out on a pro-rata basis. And Rugby Australia, as well as the host cities for each game, are in for similarly coffer-enhancing windfalls. So the Lions are going nowhere. These tours are absolute beasts and will remain so. New Zealand in four years' time already looks exciting. It may well be that the Lions big wigs look at changing things up or trying to take on new markets. France has been mentioned as one possible destination and while there are obvious challenges like the Top 14 schedule, it would be seriously exciting, a hell of a lot of fun, and undoubtedly highly profitable. Argentina showed their class against the Lions on a fantastic occasion in Dublin before this tour even started, which must also have been eye-opening for the powers that be. The Pumas would love to become a more regular part of this. But Australia has been a huge part of the Lions story and it would be a shock if the tourists turn their back on this great country. It is a wonderful place to trek around and while the Wallabies aren't what they once were, this tour and the 2027 World Cup should deliver a foot-up. On Saturday, Joe Schmidt and his men need to produce an upset that would completely rewrite the script.
The 42
2 hours ago
- The 42
'It's challenging but it's adding to the entertainment' - Goalkeeper view on new rules
KERRY'S SHANE RYAN says the new Gaelic football rules have been 'challenging' as a goalkeeper, but he is embracing them. The Kingdom face Donegal in Sunday's All-Ireland senior football final, the first played under the rule enhancements introduced by the Football Review Committee ahead of the 2025 season. 'It's been a huge change,' says Kerry shot-stopper Ryan. 'The first thing that comes to my head is that teams used to drop off your kick out, maybe 30/40% of the time you were guaranteed possession. There is no team dropping off a kick out, no team at any stage. All your kick outs now, there is some element of pressure on them. 'Second thing then obviously, the [40m] arc has condensed the space. So your ability to break momentum in the game is a little bit more challenging now, because it's harder to get a guaranteed possession. Advertisement 'And as always, a 'keeper is so reliant on what's outside him. He's only as good as the options that are given to him. Obviously, the 'keeper has to execute the kick, has to make the right decision on where the ball is going, but it's proving a challenge. And I think every team in the country has struggled in different parts of the year with their kick out. 'I suppose if I'm putting my goalkeeper hat on, you're relinquishing control a bit more than you'd like, but putting my GAA hat on, as a supporter, it adds great excitement to the game and it adds a chaotic nature to the game, which as we can see, the fans are loving. They're turning out in their droves to watch those games. So it's definitely challenging but I suppose it's adding to the entertainment to the game as well.' Elaborating on the differences amidst faster restarts and limited back passes, Ryan continues: 'I think for all the teams in the country, and particularly all the goalkeepers in the country, we probably have to reframe our mentality around how we analyse ourselves. 'A (kick out) percentage last year, like 65/70%. You probably would have been happy with that last year. This year you would bite a fella's hand off for it. So it's taken a while, and it's still a work in progress among people analysing GAA, coaches, players to kind of reframe how we're thinking about the kick out aspect of it. 'It's certainly something that's challenging, but it's enjoyable. It's enjoyable trying to break down teams, and it's enjoyable for the supporters as well, which we can see throughout the year.' Ryan, who plays outfield for his club Rathmore, makes some other interesting points about goalkeeping in general, and the mental side of the game. 'I think sometimes 'keepers get too much credit on kick out stats and get too much probably criticism on the other side of things when they don't go well,' he says. Ryan celebrates Kerry's All-Ireland quarter-final win over Armagh. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO 'I suppose the nature of the position, you are going to make mistakes. And the longer I've played at the top level, I've kind of tried to accept that they're just gonna happen. Obviously, you don't want them to happen, particularly in an All-Ireland stage, but they're going to. 'It's always a measure of a fella, how he reacts from mistakes rather than the mistakes themselves, and that's kinda how I try to perceive them. Because if you go out there fearing a mistake, you're never gonna express yourself. You're never gonna perform to your maximum. 'And that goes for all positions in the field, but I suppose when you're playing in goal, you drop a high ball. 90% of the time it's in the back of the net or it's over the bar. If I'm playing full forward for my club and I drop a ball, no one gives it a second thought. So it's trying to compartmentalise those individual errors and just trying to react positively to them.' Ryan has never specialised in goal for Rathmore, with whom he won Kerry, Munster and All-Ireland intermediate championships in 2022. His journey between the posts started with Killarney Celtic, where he played soccer until the age of 13 before Gaelic football took over. The 29-year-old was a goalkeeper for Kerry underage squads, and was drafted into the senior panel in 2019. Three years later, he was the All-Star shot-stopper, and an All-Ireland winner. Related Reads Two-time Kerry All-Ireland winner Tommy Walsh retires from Gaelic Football 'We all have our roles' - Donegal's long-serving point-scoring machines remain pivotal Jack and David have decided that this state of affairs will not do. At all. Now targetting a second Celtic Cross on Sunday, Ryan credits his soccer roots through his rise. 'I got a lot of the basics in terms of footwork, being vocal, being a presence in the box. Soccer would be far ahead of GAA there in terms of goalkeeper coaching from the youth stage. Now GAA is getting better. Definitely getting better. 'But I learned a lot of basics there that probably became second nature to me to maybe (instead of) goalkeepers who just played GAA and didn't get that coaching. It might have took them a bit longer to develop. And they are something that I still rely on, those basics.' *****
Extra.ie
2 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Schmidt feels the heat as Aussie critics turn on former Ireland boss
It's been a rough few days for Joe Schmidt. The fallout from the opening Test loss at Brisbane has been fierce in Australia. The Wallabies were overpowered at Suncorp Stadium and the 27-19 scoreline flattered the hosts. Schmidt has copped it from ex-players, pundits and supporters for numerous errors in judgement, be it preparation, selection or tactics. It's been a rough few days for Joe Schmidt. Pic: INPHO/Tom Maher The Kiwi is famed for his attention to detail. Schmidt's forensic analysis was the stuff of legend during his time with Leinster and Ireland. No stone was ever left unturned. But Schmidt has been in the firing line for what many observers believe was shoddy preparation before this eagerly-anticipated Test series. One prominent Australian journalist dubbed Schmidt 'Sleepy Joe' for his decision to call up Wallaby Test veteran James O'Connor at the 11th hour after regular fly-half Noah Lolesio suffered a serious neck injury against Fiji. James O'Connor was called up at the 11th hour. Pic:O'Connor, who played all three Tests against the Lions in 2013, has enjoyed something of a late career revival with the Crusaders in New Zealand. To many Australians, having the 33-year-old in the camp was a no-brainer. Schmidt didn't feel that way, instead backing the home-based No10s in his squad. When O'Connor was belatedly brought into the Wallabies squad, it was too late to get him up to speed to face the Lions. It's the reason why 22-year-old rookie Tom Lynagh was pitched in for his first Test start. Tom Lynagh during the first Test. Pic:Lynagh did well in difficult circumstances but O'Connor or Western out-half Ben Donaldson have been widely tipped to start the second Test in Melbourne on Saturday. Staying on the subject of bizarre calls, Australia's build-up to this series has been perplexing. The hosts were clearly rattled by the intensity of Andy Farrell's side, especially their suffocating blitz defence and ferocious commitment at every ruck. The hosts looked rusty. No wonder, given their sole warm-up game was against Fiji in Newcastle two weeks before the opening Test. The fact that Schmidt gave the players four days off after that narrow win was another head scratcher. Schmidt has copped it from ex-players, pundits and supporters for numerous errors in judgement, be it preparation, selection or tactics. Pic:The Wallabies will play a whopping 15 international matches in 2025 and that mini-break was seen as a way to keep the frontliners fresh ahead of what will be a gruelling campaign. Still, it did them no favours on Saturday. Why Australian rugby chiefs were only able to secure just one warm-up game in the schedule was another clanger. It was dreadfully poor preparation. The top brass had 12 years to prepare for the arrival of the Lions. Schmidt can't take the brunt for every bad call. However, the New Zealander needs to take responsibility for getting some key selections wrong. While Farrell won widespread praise for backing Tadhg Beirne and Tom Curry, his rival head coach didn't get the balance of his starting line-up right. Andy Farrell won widespread praise for backing Tadhg Beirne and Tom Curry. Pic: INPHO/Dan Sheridan There have been widespread calls for changes this week. Rob Valetini and Will Skelton were sorely missed and both key forwards are set to be back on board at the MCG. Valetini has been Australia's best player for the best two years and the powerful ACT Brumbies backrower will bring a bit of ball carrying ballast to the home ranks, something which was sorely lacking last time out. Skelton would be another huge addition but as Ronan O'Gara cautioned last week, the giant La Rochelle lock needs a few games to get up to speed. O'Gara has worked closely with the Wallabies giant for a long time. Still, Skelton – on his day – is a destructive presence. The Leinster players in this Lions squad know exactly what Skelton can do on a rugby pitch when he's in the mood. The home side desperately need a bit more oomph in contact. Rob Valentini has been Australia's best player. Pic:Schmidt is poised to beef up his Wallabies pack, with Ulster-bound Angus Bell also set to start while the performances of tighthead Taniela Tupou, second row Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and blindside flanker Seru Uru for the First Nations & Pasifika XV against the Lions on Tuesday will give him further food for thought. Former Wallabies captain Michael Hooper has called for Queensland Reds midfielder Hunter Paisami to be recalled after his star turn against the Lions a few weeks ago. Paisami's return would lead to a reshuffle in the Wallabies backline, but Hooper believes it would strengthen the home side's chances of levelling the series. Hunter Paisami in action for the Queensland Reds against the Lions. Pic:'You talk about Queensland Reds combination, Hunter at 12. Now Hunter in the Queensland Reds v Lions game was the best performer on the field,' he said.'He was awesome in that game, superb, so you put him straight into 12, Len (Ikitau) to 13, and then you put the big man, Joseph (Suaalii), out onto the wing.'Deploying Suaalii, the rugby league superstar who had a quiet game in Brisbane, would allow Australia to go after the Lions in the backfield. First, the Wallabies will need to fix the breakdown. Whatever about the way he prepared his team or the selection calls he made, Schmidt will be livid with the way his team were outmuscled in the collision zone. That has been this obsessive coach's USP throughout a trophy-laden career. In Brisbane, Schmidt's men were blown away at the contact area. Can he fix it in seven days?
