Have you heard the one about the rugby player who came out of retirement to make her international rugby debut?
When Elise O'Byrne-White was given a jersey signed by her teammates and a bottle of ‘Club Lemon’ as retirement gifts at the age of 12 she thought that was it.
The curtain had come down on her glittering career, she had captained the boys team at De La Salle until her 12th birthday.
After taking up the sport as a 5-years-old, her time mixing it with the boys was over, she exited stage left with her signed shirt and battle of 'Club Lemon'.
A sporty person by nature, O'Byrne-White then took up hockey and played it throughout secondary school but she was destined to return to rugby.
College presented her with that chance, she signed up to the Trinity Women's Rugby team, but like most students her initial foray in the extra curricular campus activity was half hearted.
The winger admits her return to rugby was not an instant success, after joining during 'Freshers Week' she didn’t actually attend any of the training sessions.
With renewed vigour she went back down to training some months later and instantly loved the social aspect of playing with Trinity Ladies team.
It didn’t take long before she realised that the ability and skill that saw her captain the boys team at 12-years of age hadn’t deserted her.
That is the story of Elise O'Byrne-White’s journey to her first start in the Six Nations. Have a listen, she tells it much better. She spoke to 98FM’s Darren Cleary ahead of the game:
Elise O'Byrne-White is one of three uncapped players included in the team to face Wales on Saturday in the Six Nations opener at Donnybrook.
Hooker Zoe Grattage also starts while flanker Ciara Griffin on the bench. There are plenty of other fresh faces in the squad.
There are seven players in it, that only won their first caps last November in the Autumn International against England.
Aine Donnelly and Mairead Coyne will win their second caps when they run out on Saturday, while Cliodhna Moloney, Fiona Reidy, Ciara Cooney, Mary Healy and Lindsay Peat, will all be looking to add a second cap to their collection from the bench.
Lindsay Peat is an All Ireland winning Dublin footballer. The former Gaelic footballer is also an accomplished basketball player and has now turned her talents to rugby.
Head Coach Tom Tierney has told 98FM’s Darren Cleary that she’s really impressed since making the step up:
