Parsons: I Love The Energy Our Fan Base Brings
Béibhinn Parsons is pictured at the Aviva Stadium where Ireland will play Scotland on 'Super Sunday' ©Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Béibhinn Parsons has been involved in some special days for Irish Rugby, but Sunday could top them all when she features in the first ever standalone Ireland Women’s international match to be held at the Aviva Stadium. Tickets are on sale here.
Seven-and-a-half years since her Ireland debut at the age of just 16 at Energia Park, Parsons will be just a couple of kilometres down the road, playing at the home of Irish Rugby for the first time in her career.
Scotland stand between Scott Bemand’s side and a final round win, hoping to spoil the party with ticket sales now heading towards the 30,000 mark. Sunday’s attendance to set to smash Ireland’s record home crowd of 9,206 from last month’s victory over Italy at Dexcom Stadium.
Their historic Aviva Stadium date has been circled on the calendar ever since it was announced during last year’s Rugby World Cup. The players are counting down the days to what they hope will be a memorable finish to the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations.
“I feel like I’ve sat in every segment there is,” said Parsons, as she looked out across the Aviva Stadium’s four stands. “I’ve been here so many times supporting the lads.
“It’s just phenomenal being sat here now. It’s empty, but I can already envisage all the fans and everyone being here. I can’t wait.
“Honestly, it’s one of those things that is beyond your wildest dreams that you don’t even entertain it nearly. But I was actually here during the Men’s Six Nations and when I knew that this fixture was coming up for us, I just couldn’t believe it.
“To picture myself being able to play here and be a part of that, I was like, ‘Wow, this is really going to be a massive day in an Irish jersey’.”
As a Sevens international, Parsons became accustomed to performing on the biggest stages abroad. From securing Olympic qualification in Toulouse three years ago, to becoming the first Ireland team to win a HSBC Sevens Series title in Perth in 2024, and fulfilling their Olympic dream in Paris the following summer.
Apart from the Six Nations, playing in front of home support has been rare enough for the 24-year-old winger until this past year, which has seen her wear the green jersey in Cork, Belfast, and Galway, and play five Celtic Challenge matches on home soil for the Clovers.
She carried her impressive try-scoring form from the Celtic Challenge into the Six Nations, claiming a hat-trick against Italy and also scoring last week at home to Wales, and would clearly love to mark this weekend’s landmark occasion by getting on the scoresheet again.
“Sometimes a big stadium can magnify your performance, and it can either make you feel 10 feet tall or make you feel 10 inches tall. But I think it’s harnessing the energy in the stadium.
“I think at Dexcom, obviously it’s smaller but the atmosphere was amazing, and I really feed off that. I love a crowd, and I love the energy that all of our fan base brings. So I just can’t wait to see what Sunday will bring.
“It would be very, very special (to score on Sunday). As a winger, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t want to score tries. It would be very special to score here. It would be a great end to a great Six Nations.”
Having missed last year’s Six Nations as she recovered from a second leg break in the space of four luckless months, Parsons has more than made up for lost time.
She has played nine Tests since then and scored seven tries, including one on her World Cup debut against Japan, and a first-half hat-trick in her own beloved Galway as part of a player-of-the-match performance.
As Ireland strive for three Six Nations wins in a single Championship for the first time since 2020, the Connacht flyer spoke about the importance of not getting overawed by the occasion and just focusing on the next moment and what is in front of you.
“For me, it’s all about feeling grounded and feeling engaged in that moment. I think one thing that an occasion can do is it can make a mistake feel 10 times bigger, whereas it’s not,” she explained.
“Our (backs and kicking) coach Gareth Steenson showed us this video of a tennis player and it was just 54% of points – that’s all you have to do to win. So he was like, ‘It’s just the next point, just get on to the next point’.
“And I think that helped me as well, just knowing that, yeah, not every moment has to be perfect, and there is only really one stat that matters, and that’s the scoreboard.
“So for me, those big occasions are about keeping engaged in every moment and, as much as you can, staying big and staying out of your shell and not going into it.”
Parsons has looked back close to her best in recent weeks, with only England’s Marlie Packer and Amy Cokayne scoring more tries than her. She ranks third overall for defenders beaten (18), and is also in the tournament’s top 10 for running metres (336.2), tackle breaks (18), and line breaks (4).
The Ballinasloe native brushed off praise for her 30th-minute run-in against Wales last Saturday, dubbing it ‘probably the easiest try I’ve scored in a green jersey’, and instead hailed its creator Aoife Wafer who ‘drew in about three players and gave an outrageous offload’.
Ireland will be hoping for more of the same when they face Scotland in their Six Nations finale. They have been difficult opponents in the recent past, most notably striking late with a Francesca McGhie try to win last year’s encounter 26-19 in Edinburgh.
However, armed with winning momentum from round 4 and harnessing a massive determination to succeed in front of their own fans, Parsons belives that Bemand’s charges are well placed to deliver a win on their Aviva Stadium debut.
She added: “Scotland have pipped us in pivotal games before and we don’t forget those moments. But also this squad, even though it’s not new, it feels like there is a new energy building. We are really focused on ourselves and what we can bring.
“If we want to be a top World Cup contender, these games are going to be about us and showcasing what we can do and implementing our game-plan as much as possible, and less of a focus on Scotland and what they’re bringing.”