IRELAND CAPTAIN Nichola Fryday has claimed 'she has never been prouder to be Ireland captain' after Greg McWilliams side drew the series on Saturday.
Ireland came into the game after beating Japan 57-22 in the week before.
On Saturday Ireland failed to beat Japan and lost 29-10. This meant the series ended 1-1.
Despite this Fryday feels the experience has been useful to Ireland
"Genuinely it's been one of the most enjoyable experiences I've ever had," said Fryday.
"With this group, and this management team, if we look back at the start of this tour, we've come on so much.
"Yes, tonight didn't go our way but there are so many positives.
The Irish women's team contained a number of debutants, nine in fact on the tour. Many of the debutants received their first taste of test rugby.
Fryday feels that a lot of the squad should be 'proud' of themselves
"Every single girl in that room should be hugely proud of this tour because it was the first women's tour. We got a win and a loss, that's the way Test rugby goes, but there's so much to be proud of with that group," she added
A historic Series and the most memorable two weeks in Japan.
Thank you, @JRFURugby! 🇯🇵#JapanTour2022 | #NothingLikeIt
pic.twitter.com/oJnCNN3ehP— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) August 27, 2022
"For me, personally, I've never been prouder to be captain
Ireland took the lead through Natasja Behan's try, but failed to contain a rampant Japan side, who scored five tries on the day
Reflecting on the game Ireland head coach Greg McWilliams feels that Ireland need to learn from the experience
“There’s no doubt that we’re going to be disappointed, but we need to separate the emotion and the process here.
From where we’ve come from in the Six Nations we showed great endeavour, particularly in the first game, explained McWilliams
“In the second game things didn’t go well, let’s be honest about it.
We struggled to gain a stranglehold and it’s disappointing, but at the same time you’ve got to take lots of learnings from the second game
“But in fairness to the girls who came on, they stuck to task. Unfortunately, our passes didn’t stick, our discipline was poor, and we just have to learn from it, and we have to be better.
