Jackson: Hopefully There’s Big Things To Come From This Blackrock Side

Jackson has been ever-present in the number 9 jersey for Blackrock College so far this season, fully embracing life in the Energia All-Ireland League Women’s Division.

As the 22-year-old answers a call at 10am in Dublin, back home the light has faded and many are settled in for the evening. While the distance between Dublin and Manly is quite vast, connections between Blackrock College RFC and Australia have been very strong over the years.

Fellow Australian Ben Martin coached Blackrock to All-Ireland League glory in 2022, and the relationship between Martin and current Wallaroos assistant coach Chris Delooze, both former UL Bohemian and Munster players, helped to send Jackson on her way to Stradbrook.

Speaking to IrishRugby.ie this week, the young scrum half joked that she travelled over for the weather, saying: “That’s what everyone says. They’re like, ‘Why did you come here?’, and I’m like, ‘Oh it was the weather guys, it was the weather!’

“People can’t believe that we’re actually living here. Every time I’m down at training, I have so many layers on. I’m like, ‘I actually cannot put more clothes on my body right now’.

“All the girls are like, ‘Oh, just wait – it keeps getting worse from here!’. You guys are actually crazy. I was in London, the week before last, and walking down the street, it started snowing. And I was like, ‘This is crazy. What is going on?’.

“I think I’ve seen snow maybe two times before, so yearh, that was kind of exciting to see it actually falling from the sky.”

Before packing up to move to Ireland, Jackson had completed her degree at Sydney University where he received a Bachelor of Design in Visual Communication, adding to a diploma in Innovation. Notably, she had already played with one of her Blackrock team-mates Down Under.

“In 2023 I signed a Super W contract with the Western Force and spent six months living in Perth. I got my first cap against the Melbourne Rebels,” she recalled.

“I absolutely thrived off the experience of training and playing in a high performance environment and have ambitions to push for representative honours again in the future.

“I thought moving away to play a different style of rugby and have a new environment was a great stepping stone to gain some more experience and help in achieving those ambitions.

“At the Force was where I first met Lynn Koelman, who is now playing at ‘Rock also. It’s funny how small the rugby world can be!

“I just finished up my degree at uni last June, and I was just really ready to play a different style of rugby, get out of Sydney for a bit. One of my coaches back home, Chris Delooze, he had played over here for a number of years. He was actually down in Limerick.

“So he had a mate over here, Ben Martin, who previously coached ‘Rock. I said to Chris that I want to go overseas and I’m thinking of Ireland. He said ‘Great’, putting me in contact with Ben who linked me up with Andy (Adams) and Jen (Moore), and it all kind of happened from there.

“So no good crazy story. It was more that sort of rugby community and everyone’s connected to everyone sort of all over the world. When you tell someone you’re going somewhere, there’s always people that know other people to sort of hook you up. So, yeah, it was one of those stories.”

Having initially played Touch football, Jackson, like many girls in Australia, transitioned to playing rugby. A forged note in school led to her getting involved in Sevens, and her rugby career to date has seen her line out for local club Manly Mermaids, Sydney University, the Force and Blackrock.

Her parents were not aware of her interest in rugby at the outset, but now both her sisters play, and her dad is understandably proud to have three daughters all involved in the sport.

Being such a long way from home, Jackson is delighted to have her family over visiting at the moment, and they watched her cross for a try during Blackrock’s 70-0 win at home to Tullow last weekend.

“I started playing when I was in high school. I’m going to say that was about 2018. I would have been in about year 10, so I’m not sure what the equivalent year is for you guys here. I would have been about 15.

“I’m from just a few beaches north of Manly in Sydney. I’d played a lot of Touch footy beforehand. Touch football is really big at home. So a lot of the girls transition from Touch football across to Sevens rugby and then end up playing 15s.

When I started playing at school, I actually forged my permission note to play Sevens. Not that I thought Mom and Dad would stop me, but I was like, ‘Do you know what? I’m just going to sort of keep this one on the quiet’.

“Then I came home one day and was like, ‘Oh, hey Mom, do you mind if you drop me up to the chemist? I need to buy a mouth guard because I’ve got rugby training tomorrow’.

“They just couldn’t believe it. But fast forward a few years, and now I’ve moved across the world to keep playing. They’re very supportive, and they’re actually over here at the moment visiting.

“So they got to watch the Tullow game, and then they’re coming across to watch in Galway as well this Saturday, which is really nice. I haven’t seen them for a few months now, and having that support is really nice.”

Jackson is the second Australian scrum half to feature for Blackrock in recent seasons, and interestingly, they both hail from the Northern Beaches in Sydney and took the plunge to play in Ireland at the same age.

Tatum Bird (pictured below) was an All-Ireland League medal winner with ‘Rock in 2022. She was 22 at the time and went on to play for the NSW Waratahs on returning home. Roll forward to 2025 and it is another Australian youngster fizzing passes away in ‘Rock’s number 9 shirt.

Indeed, a number of Australians have called Stradbrook their home ground in recent years, and Kate Barry and Tabbitha Peterken are also currently involved in the Blackrock Women’s programme.

The aforementioned Koelman, a Dutch international, and Sweden’s Tess Proos add to the international flavour at ‘Rock presently, with the pair’s accents giving a hint of their spells spent playing down in Australia.

Jackson revealed: “I do actually know Tatum. She lives not that far from me (back home). She plays for a club further north than where I live called Warringah.

“So yeah, I had spoken to her as well before coming over knowing that she’d just absolutely loved it over here, and she went, ‘Yep, 100% go for it’.

“There’s a couple of us here now. So my best friend, Kate (Barry), she’s over here with me as well. It just so happened that we were both finishing up our degrees at the same time and looking to head away. So it’s been really nice to be able to share that experience with her.

“We’re living together and experiencing it all together, which is really fun. And then there’s another Aussie here called ‘Tabs’ (Peterken). She’s from Melbourne, so we didn’t know her before we got here.

“Tess (Proos) (pictured below with Jackson) is Swedish, but she has spent time playing in Australia. Likewise with Lynn (Koelman). She is Dutch, but has spent quite a few years playing in Australia. So they both have a little bit of a weird Aussie twang to their accents, which is funny.”

Away from rugby this season, Jackson and Barry have enjoyed travelling across Ireland and to places Europe. Barry’s parents are both Irish, and her middle names are Meadhbh and Brid.

Jackson has had an interesting time getting to grips with the various Irish accents, and the Cork one was admittedly difficult to understand when visiting some of Kate’s family members at Christmas.

“Myself and Kate have been enjoying getting in a bit of travel on our off weekends. Just having the whole of Europe so close and being able to jump on a plane and be in another country in an hour or so is a bit of a novelty for us.

“We have also done a bit of travel around Ireland. Both Kate’s parents are Irish. The Cork accent. Oh my gosh. So hard for me to catch.

“We stayed with Kate’s extended family at Christmas down in Cork, and her uncle has a very, very thick accent and I kept having to go, ‘John, could you say that again?’. I’ve done pretty well so far with the accents. Cork has probably been the hardest one.”

Jackson has scored five tries in 11 AIL starts for Adams’ charges, and shows no signs of slowing down. It did take some time for her to adjust to the game in Ireland, which has a similar standard to back home but the weather and pitch conditions have provided a test.

The first half of the league campaign up to Christmas put her on a fast learning curve. Now with the fixtures reversed, she feels more prepared for what is to come as third-placed Blackrock, who are unbeaten in eight games, look to nail down a semi-final place.

It’s been unreal. I’ve found it is a different style of rugby to back home, which I’ve really enjoyed being able to experience that. I think at home, I came from a team where we had a really dominant forward pack.

“We didn’t really need to play for sort of field position because we were able to rely on our forward pack. So I think coming here, playing a much more sort of tactical game has been enjoyable.

“I think the standard of rugby, compared to what we were playing at home, is pretty similar. A lot of the games have been a lot more physical than games I’ve played at home. The main thing for me is adjusting to the different conditions, just the heavier, muddier tracks.

“I’d prefer a fast pitch, so when we get the opportunity to play on astro, I’m absolutely cheering, and then just getting used to the cold and the rain and playing in the wind, all of that kind of stuff.

“I think that first block before Christmas being the first time playing through everyone, it was kind of almost refreshing being able to go into a game and go, ‘I’ve done my prep for this weekend, but in saying that, I also don’t know any of these girls. I don’t know this team.

“It was kind of refreshing being able to come in with a completely blank slate. But in saying that, it’s exciting to come into this second block knocking who and what I’m coming up against a bit better now.”

Blackrock make the trip west to play Galwegians at Crowley Park on Saturday, with Jackson adding: “I’m feeling more prepared going into each of these games after Christmas, because they’re obviously tough teams to play.

“What I’ve heard from the coach and the girls is that playing Galwegians at home, they’re an entirely different beast to tackle. They just thrive at home, so knowing that, we have to go into this weekend and put our best foot forward, and deal with whatever conditions are thrown at us.

“There’s definitely a hunger amongst the group. We’ve all got that goal, we want to be playing in the Aviva (Stadium) come the final in April.

“There’s definitely a hunger amongst the group to keep pushing, keep bettering ourselves every week. Hopefully some big things coming from this group.

“We’re definitely looking to put out a good performance this weekend and continue building on what we’ve been working on in the last couple weeks. Hopefully that sets us up for a good run into the semi-finals.”

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