Vikki Wall faces a "massive challenge" to fulfill her Olympics Games dream but is ahead of schedule in her transition to Sevens rugby, according to Allan Temple-Jones.
The two-Ireland All-Ireland winner with Meath and former North Melbourne AFLW player was parachuted into the Ireland Women's Sevens programme this summer, and into a squad that had already secured qualification for France.
The 25-year-old was named in a 19-woman squad for the upcoming World SVNS series, which gets under way at the weekend in Dubai, however, Ireland can only take a panel of 13 to Paris.
"It's a massive challenge," head coach Temple-Jones (below) said when asked about adapting to the code in such a short timeframe.
"Especially [as] we’ve got a fairly settled squad that have played on the World Series and have played international Sevens rugby for many years.
"So it is a challenge for her, not hiding behind anything. But it's one that she’s standing up to.
"She’s competing with the girls already. Again, there are nuances within the game that she’ll get more adept to the more she plays.
"So we’ve got to expose her to more and more rugby and with that that will accelerate her ability to play on the World Series.
"To be brutally honest, a transfer-athlete like that and the nuances around the tackle and the breakdown, [she's] probably a bit ahead of schedule and that's full credit to her.
"She’s asking good questions, she’s getting stuck in at training.
"I don’t think you have a set timeline with regards to integration.
"A lot of Australians take two or three years to bring into their system from even touch rugby. Full credit to her, she’s really committed to the programme, which is great for us. I would say she’s ahead of schedule."
Wall (above) impressed in the AFLW after making the decision to move to Australia ahead of the 2022 season.
Temple-Jones, who took over from Aiden McNulty in March, said that getting Wall used to another different tackle was among her targets.
"It’s your traditional tackle and breakdown stuff with regards to rugby and those sort of nuances around the level changes are so important within the game around player safety," said the South Africa native.
"It's that level change within the contact, basics around your tackle technique and that sort of thing. And then the breakdown which is quite a new thing for anyone outside of rugby.
"Those are probably the two attributes, but she’s taken pretty well to the attacking side of it. She can see space well and she runs into space so it's good to see from her."
Team-mate Megan Burns (above) says the Dunboyne woman is working hard to get up to speed and can make the Olympics squad.
"I get on great with Vikki, you can tell she's come from team sports," said the 23-year-old Killeigh woman, who played her underage rugby with Tullamore RFC.
"She fit right in and she's been going above and beyond with extra analysis, asking questions.
"She knows she has a bit of a disadvantage around game-knowledge and all of that but those things she can pick up and she's been doing phenomenal so far.
"Look, it's very individual, some people can excel and really pick up the game quickly.
"She's a great athlete and in my mind nothing is ever impossible, so I think she'll do the work and at some stage we'll see her out there.
"But day in, day out she'll be in here pushing it so we'll all drive those standards."
Burns (above), who qualified as a physiotherapist two years ago, played numerous sports during her childhood but was drawn towards rugby and made her senior Sevens debut in 2018.
"I was into everything under the sun," she said.
"I played a lot of hockey, I had Leinster trials. I did horse riding, I did ballet.
"Funny enough, I went from hockey to rugby to ballet...trying to get the muck off my knees, my ballet teacher wasn't too impressed but yeah, I loved all sport growing up.
"Everyone was trying to get me playing football and soccer and everything but I think I fell in love with rugby, I fell in love with Sevens particularly when I played in France [in the 2017 U18 European Championships] and Lucy Mulhall [Sevens captain] was our coach and I realised, wow, I'm just in awe of her.
"She's the player I want to be. She's the person I want to be more so, rather than even the player. That's where it kicked off for me."
Burns is one of a number of players who have come through the Tullamore set-up, where her father, Johnny, is a coach.
Former Ireland XVs captain Nichola Fryday, as well as Ailsa Hughes, Aoife Dalton, Leah Tarpey and Shannon Touhey played with the club, as did Jordan Conroy, Cormac Izuchukwu and Ronan Foxe on the men's side.
Peter Bracken, a Champions Cup winner with Wasps in 2007, played his underage rugby at the Offaly club.
"I'm not sure how, we've gotten a good few of the girls and a few lads coming through the programmes," she said.
"There's a great set-up in Tullamore, that's where I started my women's rugby.
"Like in here, there's a great bond and a great culture in Tullamore. The teams always come together for Christmas parties, things like that. The love for the game is there in Tullamore, maybe that's the key.
"My dad has done a lot of coaching, he has coached the senior men's team previously and he's now coaching my younger brother so yeah, it's great to have him involved.
"He takes pride in getting me this far. He works with schools for Leinster. He sees how great this programme has been for me and he'll tell all the young girls and lads that I'm his daughter, and 'get up to the club'."
Watch Connacht v Leinster in the URC on Saturday from 7pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on www.rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app or listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra
