New era - Fryday ready for Ireland's 'fresh start'

Ireland's tour of Japan marks a "fresh start" for the Irish women's rugby team, according to captain Nichola Fryday.

Greg McWilliams side take on the world number 13 side Japan tomorrow in Shizuoka, in the first of two games on their maiden summer tour.

It's just under 11 months since Irish women's rugby's most chastening defeat, when their hopes of qualification for the World Cup were ended by Scotland in Parma, Chloe Rollie's converted try in the 82nd minute of that game knocking the first domino.

It's taken nearly a year to gather up those pieces.

In the weeks and months that followed, the landscape for the Irish team changed dramatically; head coach Adam Griggs resigned, to be replaced by Greg McWilliams. Captain Ciara Griffin retired, as did long-serving greats like Lindsay Peat and Claire Molloy.

Hooker Cliodhna Moloney stuck her head above the parapet and called out the IRFU, and has found herself cast aside. Form is the official line.

The Six Nations began hot off the heels of the independent report into Ireland's World Cup humiliation, a report which led to the resignation of the Sevens and Women's rugby head Anthony Eddy, the appointment of a specific women's rugby director Gillian McDarby, and the prospect of turning Ireland's amateur XV-a-side players into professional athletes.

Finally, it seems, events on the pitch can be the talking point, rather than failures off it.

The new journey, to England and the World Cup in 2025, begins at Ecopa Stadium in Shizuoka tomorrow morning (11am Irish time).

"We're looking at this as our fresh start," says captain Nichola Fryday from the team base in Hamamatsu.

"I suppose we're in a different scenario to other teams, everyone else is trying to prep for a World Cup, but we're