Through injury troubles, World Cup ambitions were main motivator for Aoibheann Reilly

The Ireland scrum-half spent some of her time on the sidelines working the Irish men's team lead performance analyst Vinny Hammond.

Aoibheann Reilly crossed a major hurdle in her rugby career when she completed her comeback from a second ACL injury off the bench for Ireland in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations last Saturday.

It had been an injury that cost her Olympic ambitions with the Sevens last summer but the 24-year-old scrum-half will start against Italy in Parma on Sunday on the next step of her journey towards another major milestone, this year’s Women’s World Cup in August.