VIKKI WALL ADMITS she must have wrecked her team-mates’ heads — and indeed, her own – when she first joined the Irish Women’s sevens rugby setup.
The Meath ladies football and AFLW star made the switch last summer, and earned her debut as Ireland won their first-ever Sevens Series leg in Perth in January.
To be involved in that historic win in Perth was ‘unbelievable’, Wall says, as long-serving stars like Lucy Mulhall, Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe, Stacey Flood and Emily Lane finally toasted success after years on the road.
“It was bigger than sport on that day, just how much it meant to everybody. It was a great day for Irish rugby.”
Wall didn’t play the final herself, but made her bow the previous day against Japan.
“It was next level,” the Dunboyne native reflects, having chosen the #42 jersey in a nod to the number of her home house.
“We played a few development tournaments, but that was the first cap for me. It’s getting to that level and getting a bit of exposure was good. Higher tempo than you’re used to. Obviously 30-odd degrees heat has a bit of an impact as well.
“The first minute is probably a bit of a shock to the system, but then you don’t really have much time to be able to adjust. You just need to throw yourself into the swing of things. A lot of work-ons, even from my short time on the pitch, but it was great to get out there.”
The whirlwind nature of it all sums up Wall’s past few months. An elite athlete long before joining the programme, it has been a baptism of fire. For her and the wider squad.
“Patience isn’t probably something I would pride myself on. It’s definitely something I always try and work on. But I have to give huge credit to the girls. I know the first month, I’d say I was wrecking their heads.
“Whether it was new drills or random questions, things that come second nature to them… any question I had, I was never turned away. There was never a huff, never a sigh, they were always so willing to help.
“Someone coming in kind of knocks training out of kilter a little bit. I was messing up drills quite a bit at the start. You know how frustrating that is.”
For all involved.
“You want to be able to perform and sometimes it’s just not clicking. A massive challenge, massive shift of sport, massive change in everything. Being able to break it down on a smaller scale probably helps or otherwise, I think I’d be a bit angry most days.
“Hopefully now I’m not disrupting training as much as I was a few months ago!”
What about the differences from her Gaelic football and AFLW chapters?
Wall doesn’t hesitate with her answer.
“I suppose it’s just time. You’ve got a lot more access obviously, it’s a professional sport. It’s nice to have your training done during the day and off-time in the evenings.
“I’m still living with one of the girls from the Meath panel and she’s not home ’till half 11 most evenings, and she could be gone all day Saturday, Sunday with games.
“It’s a privilege to be able to do it but definitely getting that bit more downtime to be able to recover is the main thing. The recovery levels probably aren’t the same within the GAA. You don’t have that luxury.”
The Olympic Games loom large this summer. Selection talk will ramp up over the coming weeks and months, with Wall unquestionably in the spotlight.
The two-time All-Ireland winner and 2021 Footballer of the Year is coy on it all, though, and won’t give much away as to where she’s at or the feedback she is receiving.
“I don’t think it’s specific chat about making an Olympic squad at the moment,” she concludes. “We still have another four World Series to go. The chat for me is to continue to try make a squad and get as much game time as possible.
“Obviously there’s individual things within my game that I have to work on, and you’re doing that week in, week out, with all the coaches. It’s basic skills, general game time and just getting as much knowledge as I can around the game.
“As a team, everyone’s trying to be as competitive as possible. It’s a massive year for Women’s Sevens in Ireland, getting to go to the Olympics. There’s that competitiveness within the panel the whole time, whether it’s for LA, Vancouver, the next competitions coming up, or for the Olympics in a few months time.”
- With reporting from Gavan Casey.
