“I’ve played Ireland a few times now,” says Wilkins, who will be the steering the ship at number ten on her 23rd international appearance. “They’re tough up front, with big forwards and strong carriers in the backs. They’ve got speed and skill out wide, so we’ll have to cover both bases.”
On Wales’ last outing at home in the capital city, England exploited the wide channels to great effect – something the Osprey doesn’t think will happen this weekend. “Our defence against England was caught short, and because of that Ireland will try us out wide,” she believes, “but we’ve looked at our defence and put in new systems, so there are no concerns there.”
During that match, she ended up moving from the midfield to fullback for the first time in her career. Whilst the game itself was on the surface one to forget, the Porthcawl product says it was of great educational value to her: “As someone who’s mainly played fly-half all my life, being moved to fullback gave me another insight into how the wide players need their ten and twelve to play.”
It is three years since Wilkins made her debut against Italy in Aberavon. It might not have happened: her kneecap dislocated in the warm-up. “Our physio at the time, Gary Ahmed, popped it back in,” remembers Wilkins. “All my family and friends had turned up to watch, so there was no way I wasn’t going to play. It’s not the nicest, having to pop your kneecap back in…” Impressively, she played the whole tournament thereafter.
Spending most of her days on the road, Wilkins says it’s always a privilege to be able to run out at home in the red jersey. As a medical rep, she has travelled the length and breadth of the UK in the name of radio pharmaceuticals and nuclear medicine. Having understanding employers makes representing their country possible to many players in the squad, and luckily for Wilkins, hers are no different. “They’ve been really nice, giving me a smaller territory so I don’t have so much travel to do,” she says gratefully. “At the start of the season I was covering areas like Manchester and Liverpool, which meant I couldn’t play rugby. People thought I’d retired!”
Not that life outside rugby would ever have been difficult for her: Wilkins, after all, graduated from Cardiff University with a science degree. “Initially, I wanted to medicine, but I shadowed a medical rep for some experience and found it interesting. The job is ideal, because the flexibility allows me to organise meetings around training.”
Tomorrow, tributes will be paid before kick-off to Elli Norkett, her regional teammate. Wilkins hasn’t quite got over the shock of her passing. “i only ever saw Elli at Ospreys training, so I would go through stages of not seeing her for weeks,” she says, “but when I go back and she’s not there it’ll really hit me. I’m not looking forward to that.”
This week, coach Nick Wakley praised the players for their ability to focus during what has been a traumatic time. “Training has gone really well,” she agrees. “Everyone knows tomorrow is going to be emotional, but we have to try our best to keep it under control.”
She hopes a good crowd will turn up to get behind the team tomorrow, but believes “the biggest mark of respect we can give is putting in a performance Elli would be proud of, which is why I think everyone has been so focused this week.”
Wales Women v Ireland kicks off tomorrow at 11:30 at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park. For ticket information, click here.
