‘To Get To Play Here Is Incredibly Special’ – Tuite

Fiona Tuite admittedly never believed she would get to play for Ireland at the Aviva Stadium, especially just over two-and-a-half years after her international career began in the lowest tier of the WXV competition. Ireland v Scotland tickets are on sale here.

Tuite and her Ireland team-mates have come a long way since Scott Bemand’s reign kicked off with that WXV3 title win in Dubai in 2023. She has become a big player and voice in the team, taking on the vice-captain role in a new-look leadership triangle.

Head coach Bemand recently praised her for the amount of support she gives new captain Erin King. “If Erin is the ‘follow me’ (leader), Fiona is the calm lineout caller and a voice of reason who sits behind it,” he said.

Sunday afternoon will see her stand proudly beside King for the anthems, as she has done across this year’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations, but this time they will be on the Aviva Stadium’s hallowed turf, a pitch an Ireland Women’s team has not played on since a 2014 double header with the Men’s side.

Ahead of the Ireland Women’s first ever standalone fixture at the home of Irish Rugby as Scotland come to town, Tuite said: “To get to play here in insane. It’s incredibly special. To be honest, I never thought I’d get to do it.

“Anytime you get to play here, anytime you get to play at home in general, it’s incredibly special. So yeah, I’m absolutely thrilled.

“I think it’s a massive testament to all the work the IRFU have put in, the whole Green Wave have put in, and we’ve put in as a team. I think we’ve built on our performances. Scott and all the coaching staff have helped us so much to get to where we are today.

“But it’s the backing of the IRFU, it’s the backing of our sponsors and the support, it’s the backing of the whole Irish nation and those, you know, even further afield who have got us to this point.

“My first cap was against Colombia in WXV3 back in 2023, and now playing in front of 32,000 at home against Scotland. It’s incredible. What a day for Irish Rugby and Irish sport as well.”

Ireland held their Captain’s Run at the Lansdowne Road venue this morning, getting used to the pitch and the surroundings as well as the likely weather conditions and noise level that the new record home crowd is set to generate.

Loud and prolonged crowd noise was piped in from speakers for part of the session, to help the players prepare for the decibel levels that will be reached tomorrow. It is something that they used in training ahead of their Rugby World Cup matches which drew a combined attendance of 63,522 fans.

Tuite’s fiancé, Ulster prop Eric O’Sullivan, watched the Captain’s Run from the West Stand. He actually made his Ireland debut against Scotland at the Aviva Stadium in December 2020, but unfortunately missed out on the backing of the home support due to Covid-19 restrictions.

“What an occasion it will be,” beamed Tuite. “32,000 tickets sold. A really calm, clear Captain’s Run there. We had a bit of crowd noise and stuff on before we came out.

“It’s something we always prepped during training for the World Cup as well. Like communication is so important, so to have that crowd noise, again it’s something we’ve trained with before.

“It’s not new for us, but to have it here is really, really good. Even just walking out there through the tunnel to hear that, and just the excitement building for tomorrow is incredible.

“We’ll have our 32,000 cheering on and it might even be louder than that, which we’re really anticipating and we’re really excited for.”

A firm favourite in Ulster colours after making her senior debut for her adopted province in 2018, the powerful second row is Dublin born and bred and has her rugby roots firmly in the capital, not far from Irish Rugby HQ.

A former youth international shot putter and Ireland Under-18 Sevens player, she first played 15s rugby while studying physiotherapy at Trinity College, before impressing for Energia All-Ireland League club Old Belvedere and progessing to interprovincial rugby.

She can always rely on plenty of support in the stands when she plays for Ireland, led by her parents Nora and Des, and Eric. She said there are ‘loads of family and friends coming’ tomorrow, anticipating that the atmosphere will build ‘nice and early’.

On their final round opponents Scotland, who sit two places and five points behind third-placed Ireland, Tuite acknowledged: “Scotland are an incredibly good team. They’re so physical, have a very, very good set-piece, and some of their backs are incredibly nippy.

“Huge physicality (needed from us), absolutely. Like we saw that against Wales as well that we probably lacked a little bit of that in the first half, so looking to bring massive physicality now tomorrow.

“If it’s wet and a little bit slippy like this, we’re going to have to really look after that ball. But I think if we front up in the forwards, set-piece goes well, we can unleash our backs. We have some weapons on the wing to get some nice finishing tries.”

From a personal point of view, the 29-year-old is having her best Six Nations yet with a full five starts in the engine room. She is in the tournament’s top 10 for lineout takes, lineout steals, and attacking ruck arrivals, and deservedly shortlisted for the 2026 Capgemini Team of the Championship.

Ireland would dearly love to be in title contention on ‘Super Sunday’, but hopefully that will come in the seasons ahead. Ensuring that they pick up three victories in a single Six Nations for the first time since 2020 would help as a stepping stone on the way to providing a stiffer challenge to England and France.

Since overcoming Wales 24-19 in Cardiff in Sione Fukofuka’s first match in charge, Scotland have suffered three heavy defeats in a row, going down to England (84-7), Italy (41-14), and France (69-28). That try-scoring bonus point against the French showed their ability to convert chances, putting the girls in green on alert.

“We’ve really focused on levelling up this week, and I think that’s something we’re really excited to bring,” insisted Tuite, who earns her 25th international cap tomorrow.

“There were definitely fixes from last week, but I think week on week we found little things to work on, and we’ve been getting better and better.

“So, yeah, we’re ready. We believe our best can beat Scotland’s best, so we’re really, really excited to bring that and what an occasion and stage to do it on.”