THE NEXT COUPLE of weeks are set to be testing ones for Ireland women’s international Robyn O’Connor as she looks to strike the ideal balance between her sporting and college lives.

A try-scorer on her Ireland 15s debut against Italy in the Women’s Six Nations at Dexcom Stadium on 18 April, O’Connor also featured on the left-wing when Scott Bemand’s side lost out to France at Stade Marcel-Michelin in Clermont seven days later.

She will also don the number 11 jersey at Affidea Stadium in Belfast this evening as Ireland return from a fallow week in the Championship with a round four showdown against Wales.

There is also the small matter of a closing round encounter with Scotland at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow week (17 May), but the 20-year-old won’t be focusing solely on rugby in the build-up to that fixture.

A business management student at TU Dublin, O’Connor has five exams to sit in a short space of time — albeit two of them will take place in the week that follows the Scotland game.

“They start next week, and they’re all done in the space of a week, so it’s going to be pretty intense. TUD have been very good at working around the training schedule, so I don’t miss any training sessions,” O’Connor explained at the IRFU High Performance Centre on Wednesday.

“I think the college have been quite good at letting me sit [exams]. Because, for example, TUD have five campuses. I’m in Aungier Street, and there’s a campus at Blanchardstown, which is a 10-minute drive from here. So I’m allowed to sit some of my exams there, which makes it a lot easier. So I’ll be able to zip over and zip back.”

While O’Connor is a relative newcomer at senior test level, she has been a regular visitor to the IRFU High Performance Centre in recent years.

After being announced as one of 37 female players on central contracts with the IRFU in August 2024, she later made her bow with the Ireland Women’s 7s for the Dubai leg of the HSBC SVNS Series that took place from 30 November to 1 December in the same year.

Earlier in 2024, O’Connor (who has also represented the Ireland U20s in recent times) was named in an initial 35-strong squad that Ireland 15s head coach Bemand selected ahead of a test international against Australia at Belfast in mid-September and the subsequent WXV 1 tournament that kicked off in Vancouver a little over a fortnight later.

Although she didn’t make the final squad that travelled over to Canada for the latter, O’Connor took an awful lot from that early experience in the 15s set-up as well as her time with the 7s programme.

“That was following the Interpros, and I came in. It was my first time being around the 15s national set-up. I think I’ve definitely built a lot from then to now. I became a lot more confident in myself, but it was still a great experience to be in and around the girls. Learning from them, learning from the coaches. Being in a high-performance environment.

“I feel like 7s, it’s a great sport for fine-tuning all those skills. Your passing, your tackling. Which is very helpful when you’re an edge player in 15s because you’re going to get those one-on-one tackles that you have to make. Those crucial moments on the field.”

Despite now being part of a senior international set-up, O’Connor’s sporting prowess has extended beyond rugby in the past.

The GAA and her club of Glynn Barntown would have been a big passion for the Wexford native when she was younger, but the influence of her father, James, ensured she grew a strong interest in the oval ball game.

Their current Director of Rugby, the elder O’Connor has been heavily involved with Wexford Wanderers RFC for a number of years, and this is where her daughter’s journey in the sport first began.

“He puts his heart and soul into the club. He’s the one who really got me involved to start my rugby journey. He was kind of always at me in my ear. Because I always would have been big on GAA and I never really wanted to go towards the direction of a rugby ball, but he was always encouraging me to join, and I did,” O’Connor added.

“I would have played senior camogie with Glynn Barntown and then a bit of football there with the junior team as well. That was kind of my first step up from underage sports to senior level. That definitely helped me a lot in terms of bridging the gap between the physicality levels.”