Ireland captain Nichola Fryday says she is “proud, not discouraged” despite losing to Wales in Saturday’s opener of the Women’s Six Nations.
Fryday captained Ireland for the first time under new manager Greg McWilliams and said she was “proud” of her team.
“I’m looking forward to the next few weeks because we’ve shown glimpses of the rugby we want to play,” she said.
“We’re very disappointed but I’m proud of what the girls did out there. They left everything on the pitch and saved Wales, it was a clinical win.”
Victory at the RDS ended a seven-game losing streak for Wales in the Women’s Six Nations and called for some revenge on a 45-0 defeat by the Irish last year.
However, Ireland then failed to qualify for the Rugby World Cup before Adam Griggs relinquished his role as head coach and captain Ciara Griffin, back-line support Lindsay Peat and Claire Molloy retired from international rugby.
Players past and present have criticized the IRFU’s handling of women’s football ahead of an internal review after a tumultuous 2021.
“Ireland strives for improvement”
With the appointment of McWilliams and fresh faces in the squad, the Six Nations marked a new beginning for Ireland in 2022 and Fryday said the failure to qualify for the World Cup meant Ireland could think outside the box.
“Yes, we’re not going to a World Cup, but we’ll try to develop and implement what we’re trying to do,” added the second row.
“We have time now this year to try that. We have to take the positive out of the situation.
“You could see that in our attack when we started our fast-paced game with a fast ball, so we were in front.
“Hopefully there will be more opportunities to play this style of rugby in the next few weeks.
“We want to go out every week and gain more and more experience in the squad. We’re just taking it game by game now.
“It’s going to be a tough game in France but we’re really looking forward to this challenge.”
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