But on Saturday she will swap the black and gold of Rugby WA for the black and gold of Pirates as they begin their combined assault with Walcha on the New England women's 7s silverware.

That is the new.

The old is Olympians, the 23-year old playing her first game for her old club in five years (2015 was her last season) on Sunday. She scored a goal as they drew 2-all with South United.

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It's far from how Nielsen envisaged her winter playing out. Part of the WA Super W program for the past two years, she wasn't even going to play hockey this season, having decided to give rugby a serious crack.

Then COVID came along and all those plans went out the window. But it hasn't turned out too badly.

"It's kind of good to come back. I didn't really picture it but that's how 2020 has turned out," Nielsen said.

"It's going to be a bit of a blessing to get a bit of a run in sevens."

The winger has been itching to play some sevens since she got a bit of a taste a couple of years ago, but circumstances have so far prevented her.

"I'm so keen to play sevens, I think it's just how fast-paced it is," she said.

While she hasn't played a lot of sevens, with her higher level experience she hopes she can be a bit of a mentor to what is a young side.

One of the things she spoke about is having that attitude that girls "can rip in".

"And training hard. I reckon that's the biggest thing," she said. "It doesn't matter if we win or lose or how well we actually go in the comp, everyone should train hard and learn new skills."

She is one of a couple of handy pick-ups as a result of the pandemic, with Jacinta Cooper similarly finding herself unexpectedly back in Tamworth for the foreseeable future.

Like Nielsen, she is a relative latecomer to the sport. She didn't really pick up a rugby ball until her final year of school.

The former sprinter quickly found herself hooked - she says she has "found her sport" - and after moving down to Bathurst last year for uni she signed up with CSU, becoming a try-scoring weapon for them in the Central West competition.

Also part of the CSU side that won gold at the UniSport Australia Nationals, Cooper seemed on a path to even bigger and better things in 2020.

She was on the radar of Central West selectors and had just played for the Blue Bullettes in a trial game against Sydney Uni when "everything stopped" and she suddenly found herself back in Tamworth.

By her own admission "going a bit crazy" during isolation, when it became clear that she was going to be in Tamworth for a while Cooper was keen to "find some sport to play".

By chance Pirates secretary Mark Gallienne had taught her at school and he said he'd let her know when they were starting training.

Now with the season kick-off only days away the countdown is on.

"I'm so excited. I haven't played much sevens, more 10s and a little bit of 15s when I started training with Central West at the start of the year but I'm excited to try sevens, something a little bit different," Cooper said.

The combined Pirates/Walcha side face The Barbets first-up in Armidale.