Murphy Crowe is enjoying her new surroundings

The Tipperary flier was the leading try-scorer on the World Sevens Series in the 2018-2019 season and also the first non-Kiwi or Australian to achieve that honour. Now she's part and parcel of the 15s side in the Six Nations

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe evades the tackle from Elinor Snowsill of Wales on his way to scoring her side's first try during the TikTok Women's Six Nations Rugby Championship match at the RDS. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

MEMBERS of a certain gym in Dublin’s Windmill Lane may be unaware that the woman who sometimes checks them in at the front-desk is a rugby star.

Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (26) is actually a global superstar. The Tipperary flier was the leading try-scorer on the World Sevens Series in the 2018-2019 season and also the first non-Kiwi or Australian to achieve that honour.

But her relative anonymity is emblematic of the pecking order of Sevens in Irish rugby and the national sporting consciousness, as well as the difficulties that Ireland’s women, many of them doubling up codes, face in this year’s Six Nations.

Most of their opponents in Toulouse on Saturday (2:15pm, RTE) are on professional contracts.

Only players contracted to the Irish ‘Sevens’ get paid - reportedly on a sliding scale up to a maximum of €18,000 - so even the best, like Murphy-Crowe, have to work part-time to supplement their income.

Her lightning feet and eye-blinking side-steps may have lit up the RDS with that opening Six Nations’ try against Wales but Murphy Crowe was back in work on Monday morning.

Greg McWilliams only gets his new-look squad back together on Wednesday night and has just one on-pitch training session tomorrow before they head to face the French on Saturday.

The Munster star, who dreamed of representing Ireland at athletics before she took up rugby with Clanwilliam, still has no complaints about her busy schedule.

"To be honest I like the balance of being able to step away from rugby for a few hours and stick my head into something completely different, " she says. "At the moment the Sevens team is in France so we’ve been solely with the 15s. "

Trying to blend both codes is a challenge for managers and athletes alike.

One significant change in the mood music is that everyone in the Irish women’s game seems to be singing off the same hymn-sheet now. Collaboration between the two new Irish managers has resulted in the clubs and Ireland seeing more of the Sevens stars this season.

But, having missed out on qualification to the 15s World Cup, qualifying to the Sevens’ equivalent, not the Six Nations, is the IRFU’s priority this year.

Ireland assistant coach Niamh Briggs confirmed yesterday that her side will be without their Sevens stars for their final round against Scotland (April 30) as it clashes with the opening round of the World Sevens Series in Langford, Canada.

Murphy Crowe revealed that the Irish 15s management brought their squad to The Avon Adventure Centre in Blessington three weekends ago to accelerate player bonding.

It provided a chance to understand each others’ strengths and weaknesses, on and off the pitch and, watching her abseiling, her teammates discovered their usually fearless winger is afraid of heights.

Excelling at both codes is also a difficult balancing act, even for someone of Murphy Crowe’s natural talent and devotion..

"It is a balance alright but we put all our trust in Greg, Aiden (McNulty) our Sevens coach and David Nucifora. The three of them are going to decide what’s best for the team.

"Doing so well in Seville (in January, where they reached their first Sevens final and narrowly lost to Australia) has grown the Sevens game and having the backing of the 15s girls is amazing. It’s almost like having this one united team together, pushing you on. It’s not like two separate sides trying to take on the World Cup on your own.

"They (the IRFU) have made it quite clear what priorities lie ahead for the Sevens programme, that we have to qualify for the World Cup this summer and hopefully head to Capetown in September. "

She is only playing for Ireland’s 15s in the last two years so Saturday marks her first Six Nations game in France.

"I have played in the Stade de France in a jam-packed Sevens tournament so I know exactly how loud that crowd is going to be and how buzzing the whole area will be. I’m absolutely relishing the opportunity because it’s not often you get to play the top teams in the world. "

Like everyone else involved she accepts the mistakes Ireland made last weekend but says this new-look team is still being encouraged to play to their strengths.

"We’ve got amazing finishers and outstanding carriers and off-loaders, it’s just about bringing your own strength to the team, that’s how it gels. I feel like every time you wear the Irish jersey you should want to put a marker down and put that jersey in a better place. We’ve got to not get too carried away with the occasion or chasing the score-line. If we take the positives and learnings from last week and improve, that’s a win for us."