Dorothy Wall ready for Women's Six Nations after first season with Chiefs

Dorothy Wall has had little time to breathe since arriving at Exeter Chiefs in the summer and now the flanker has her eyes fixed on a successful Women's Six Nations with Ireland.

Wall made the switch to Chiefs from Munster at the start of the season, having completed five years in Dublin while she trained as a radiographer.

Splitting her time between x-ray machines, CT scanners and the rugby pitch has resulted in a whirlwind first year in the PWR but the back rower believes it has made her better than ever ahead of a return to international duty.

“It’s been one of the best things I’ve decided to do,” said Wall. “During pre-season, I was still playing with Munster but they let me come over here for some of the training which was actually really important.

“I got to build a real foundation with the girls here. It was such a holistic team environment that I didn’t know I needed, but it was actually so important for my happiness and my rugby in general.

“We’re so stacked for quality here, with players like Maddie Feaunati, Maisy Allen and Rachel Johnson.

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“Coming in knowing that there was that competition there has made me have to be at the top of my game week in, week out.

“It’s so cool training and playing with players like DaLeaka Menin; I’ve never seen anyone run hard lines as well as she does!

“Her soft skills are so good too, and it’s amazing to be able to train with her and just observe what she does.

“I try to absorb everything Poppy Leitch does at lineout time and in defence. Playing with these girls has really added awareness to my game.”

Keeping busy on and off the pitch is something that Wall is more than used to, having balanced her studies alongside the start of her international career.

“It was really tough playing for Ireland and being a contracted player because there's a certain amount of time you need to actually work in a hospital to be a radiographer,” she added.

“You’ve got to fit placement times around competitions and exams. I broke my finger and I got a few concussions so actually I couldn’t do my hospital placement then so it was kind of a game of rejigging my whole degree around my rugby career. I was delighted to get that finished.”

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Wall will have an extra few weeks to prepare for Ireland’s opening match of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, after Chiefs narrowly missed on out a place in the PWR play-offs.

The Tipperary native will have her eyes on a starting place in Scott Bemand’s side to face France in Belfast on 22 March, with Ireland eyeing a strong tournament following a successful showing in WXV 1 last autumn, where they beat New Zealand for the first time.

It marked a stark turnaround from Ireland finishing bottom of the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, losing all five games, and Wall believes it is an exciting time for Irish women’s rugby.

“That (win over New Zealand) was my favourite moment in an Ireland jersey,” she revealed.

“I think the women’s rugby world was shocked that we did that and it just was like ‘geez, we're actually here to play we're here to be counted now.’

“Your confidence can be very low after losing to every team in the Six Nations, but a year later beating the Black Ferns was surreal.

“We have all these players that are absolutely world class and so it is really exciting for me as a big part of this team to see where we go in the next few years.

“We just also have buckets of young talent coming up every year like you have Aoife Wafer, Erin King, these big vibrant back rows that are insane - they change games.”

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While Ireland may not yet be targeting a first Six Nations triumph since 2015, Wall believes the new regime under Bemand has them trending in the right direction heading into this summer’s Rugby World Cup.

“We have a game plan now,” she said. “Scott is very clear in his messaging of how we want to play, what we want to do, working to our strengths and having a competitive environment.

“We got the wooden spoon in 2023 and then there was a huge changeover in staff, a lot of players retired, so it was definitely a transitional period for us.

“But since Scott has come in, the support staff he has, the psych and medical support we get is tenfold in comparison to what it was a few years ago.

“Alex Codling is our forwards coach and I've never been coached by a man like him, he's absolutely incredible.

“His innovation around the line out, how exciting he makes it, the special plays we have, it's opened a whole other dimension of like rugby IQ that I wasn't even aware of.

“We have the coaches, we have the players, we have the belief.”