Niamh Briggs doesn't believe Vikki Wall’s failure to make the Ireland Sevens squad for the Olympic Games will damage one of the women’s pathways to rugby.
A double All-Ireland winner with Meath, Wall was the highest profile former Gaelic footballer to make a switch to rugby when she signed an IRFU contract last September with the goal of making it to Paris for the Games this summer.
However, the 26-year-old, who played a season with North Melbourne in AFLW, was missing from the list when Allan Temple-Jones named his 12-player squad for the tournament on Monday.
Asked if it would have a negative effect of other Gaelic footballers trying their hand at rugby, Briggs told RTÉ Sport: "Absolutely not. Vikki Wall is an incredible athlete.
"She’s also incredibly talented, making that move to the AFL for the year.
"When you get to Olympics and national level sports you want to have that depth of competition and I’ve no doubt that both the Sevens [squad] and Vikki are better players and in a better place than they were 12 months ago.
"She’s been incredibly unlucky, and I know all the hard work that goes into all those Sevens players to get on the pitch every day.
"It’s an incredible sport and I’ve the utmost admiration for them. I don’t think it’s damaging.
"If you are a competitive animal and you want to compete at the highest levels you are going to go and try to do that to the best of your ability.
"That Olympics squad is incredibly strong and from my own point of view I wish them the very best and I can’t wait to watch them."
Briggs was speaking after she named her 36-player training squad for the U20s Six Nations tournament, which takes place in Italy between 4-14 July.
A former out-half with Ireland and part of the senior coaching set-up before taking over the Under-20s squad, Briggs is better-placed than most to comment on how the schools, clubs and underage representative structures are working.
"As somebody who’s is working full-time in the pathways for the last year you can see straight away the hard work that has gone in," said the former Munster player.
"We’re getting athletes that are coming through that are definitely better athletes in terms of their physical ability but also their rugby know-how, which is massive.
"It means that in these camps we can push our knowledge quicker and get there faster where we need to go.
"It creates a huge amount of strength in depth, which is what we have been craving for a long time.
"When you look at the U18 girls in the Six Nations and this 20s squad the depth of competition, there are genuine conversations around players that are in and out.
"It’s been huge. We’re still a relatively young sport in Ireland and I think crossover athletes are going to be huge for us in order to maximise talent that’s around.
"We will never discount them. Our playing pool isn’t big enough for us to do that so it’s still going to be really important.
"So yeah, it’s a brilliant opportunity for these players and there’s definitely a noticeable difference in terms of their ability and the level that they are coming through at."
Listen to the RTÉ Rugby podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Watch the URC final, Bulls v Glasgow Warriors, on Saturday from 4.55pm on the RTÉ News Channel
