When Ireland fell agonisingly short of a place in the Women’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals back in September, Béibhinn Parsons needed a break.
“I booked a one-way ticket to Bali and I stayed there as long as I could,” the Ireland wing told RTÉ Sport this week, ahead of the upcoming Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
Along with a couple of her Ireland team-mates, the 24-year-old did her best to completely switch off from rugby, admittedly not a hard thing to do in that part of the world.
The one-way ticket did eventually have a return trip home for her graduation from DCU, but the few weeks away allowed Parsons to completely decompress after a year of major highs and crushing lows.
Even being away with team-mates, rugby was hardly mentioned once during that end of season holiday, although she admits the persistent ‘What might have been’ thoughts never really went away in her own mind.
“I think that French game stuck with all of us for a long time, and ‘What could I have done differently and how we could have changed that result?’, so yeah, that definitely stuck with me, but I think I was just thrilled to get through the campaign and be back in rugby,” she said.
Getting back to play at her first World Cup was a silver lining, after a season of injury hell.
Her Olympic dream with Ireland Sevens ended with a broken leg in Paris in August 2024, ruling her out of Ireland’s memorable WXV1 campaign in Canada, before a second fracture not long after her return ruled her out of the Six Nations last year.
Parsons suffered broken leg at the 2024 Olympic Games
“For me it was still a really positive experience because I’d gone so long without playing rugby that you have to take the good with the bad,” Parsons, who has won 31 Ireland caps, added.
“I felt like I was away from it for so long, so I really tried to focus on the positives.
“We were up and watching the final and it was a bit surreal thinking that the semis and the finals were something that we could have been a part of, so it was bittersweet at times but overall the World Cup was a success I would say, and hopefully in 2029 we’ll go deeper into the competition.”
It’s already been six months since that World Cup exit, with a new Six Nations championship on the horizon, while Parsons has been building her gametime back up with the Clovers in the Celtic Challenge.
Ireland finished third in each of the last two championships, a major improvement on their wooden spoon campaign of 2023, but if this side are to become World Cup contenders in 2029 as their head coach Scott Bemand predicts, three wins will have to be the benchmark this year, with home games against Italy, Wales and Scotland all to come.
As they have done in recent seasons, Ireland will be using their home games to spread the women’s rugby gospel around the country, hosting Italy at Dexcom Stadium – a homecoming for Galway’s Parsons – and Wales at Affidea Stadium in Belfast, before finishing their campaign at home to the Scots in their first ever standalone game at Aviva Stadium.
Parsons played three of Ireland’s four games at the World Cup last year
“I think that’s class, and to have it as the last game, like a grand finale, I think it’ll be a real celebration and I’m hoping that we stack our performances week on week and we get those home wins, so people are really bought in and they want to come and they want to have a look at us,” the Ballinasloe native says of their 17 May game at the Aviva.
“Young kids and families really like to stop you on the street and have a chat and it’s so nice to see.
“Especially on the back of the men’s Six Nations, if you’re at games or going to the Aviva, people would be stopping you for photos and things like that which is lovely to see.
“It really does feel like we’re supported as well, and that people are really interested, saying that they can’t wait for our Six Nations to start and to get involved and all the feedback I’m hearing is that people have bought tickets for Dexcom, bought tickets for the Aviva, so I can’t wait to see what crowds we get.
“But being in the crowd, watching the lads playing it was just like a ‘pinch me’ moment.
“I cannot believe that we get a fixture here and I think it’s a tribute to everything that Irish rugby have done recently and how much support we really do have that this is a place where we can play our rugby.
“If you told me when I got my first cap that I could potentially play there I would never have believed you.”
Parsons has won 31 caps for Ireland
That May finale seems like a long way away, particularly with two daunting trips to France and England to come.
They will get to play in another iconic ground, Clermont Auvergne’s Stade Marcel-Michelin, when they face the French in late April, but they open the championship away to England at Twickenham on 11 April, where there will be an attendance in excess of 60,000 for the Red Roses’ first game since becoming world champions.
“Sometimes that sharpens the mind and focuses you and we know what we’re going over to; we’re going over to world champions in a packed-out Twickenham stadium.
“It’s going to be a big game but we’re all really excited and we want to take on the challenge. Last year the girls went 50-odd minutes with them and we want to just go deeper into that match and really see what we can do.”
Two years ago, Parsons was part of an Ireland team who experienced a chastening 88-10 defeat to England on their last visit to London.
But she believes the callouses Ireland developed that afternoon will stand to them when they return to Twickenham next month.
Ellie Kildunne score a hat-trick when Ireland last visited Twickenham
“I think that was massive for some girls. It was the biggest crowd they’d ever played in front of, and even the bus going driving into the stadium, the streets were lined and lined with people and it was packed out and it was the loudest game I’d ever been at.
“So it was huge for loads of players, but we have that in the bank now, we know what that feels like so we’re going in with our eyes wide open now.
“Genuinely, I’m so excited for this Six Nations, I feel like we’ve got so much momentum.
“We have some players returning, we have uncapped players that are really strong and we have a lot of players now with World Cup experience, so I think yeah this is just probably the strongest squad we’ve ever had.”
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