The Ireland rugby international has many plates spinning at the moment. She is undertaking a PhD at Trinity College, Dublin, a physiotherapy internship with Leinster as well as two training sessions midweek and ‘camp’ on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the High Performance Centre in Abbotstown, on the outskirts of Dublin.

 

One less thing to consider though is the World Cup. News of the postponement is just sinking in with Dane and she admits that Tuesday’s announcement was hard to take in.

 

“I honestly didn’t believe it for a second because that was what we’ve been talking about for the past two or three years, or since I got into the Irish team. It has always been at the back of our minds.

 

“That is the epitome of our game is getting there, so to say it was postponed was gutting but now we have changed our focus to the Six Nations and that’s in April/May time. We were ramping up for a game in Spain (World Cup qualifier) in two weeks time and now that has been cancelled so, we just feel like we’re forever training and there’s no certainty of games which is a little bit frustrating.”