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Kiwi rugby star hits out at World Rugby over 'political' decision to postpone 2021 World Cup
Wellington rugby star Alice Soper believes plans to postpone the 2021 women’s Rugby World Cup to next year could give rugby officials an opportunity to do things right, but the news comes with concerns about player welfare.
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World Rugby today confirmed that it is recommending the postponement of the tournament, which was set to be held in Auckland and Whang?rei on 18 September-16 October, to next year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The recommendation will be considered by Rugby World Cup officials next week.
“While appreciating the recommendation is extremely disappointing for teams and fans, it has their interests at heart, and gives the tournament the best opportunity to be all it can be for them, all New Zealanders and the global rugby family,” World Rugby said in a statement.
“The recommendation is based on the evolution of the uncertain and challenging global Covid-19 landscape. It has become clear in recent discussions with key partners including New Zealand Rugby, the New Zealand Government and participating unions, that, given the scale of the event and the Covid-19-related uncertainties, it is just not possible to deliver the environment for all teams to be the best that they can be on the sport’s greatest stage.”
Soper, a strong advocate for women’s rugby in New Zealand, said World Rugby’s decision could add more pressure on players, most of whom aren’t paid professionals.
“We’ve got a reality where the majority of the people that play in our tournaments are still amateurs, so we were looking like there was still going to be three qualifiers that needed to be played, how we were going to fit that into people’s annual leave and requirements taking that off, as well as the seven weeks that were going to be needed to taken for this tournament,” Soper told NZME.
“That was looking like a lot of pressure on a lot of women that are having to make that difficult choice anyway, juggling being professionals, being mothers, being rugby players. So a lot of pressure has been on them already.”
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Soper also said the postponement means World Rugby avoid having to make the “political” decision of deciding the remaining three teams to qualify for the tournament.
“So I think by pushing it out, you’re avoiding the very political decision that you would have to make otherwise which would be based around rankings to decide who made those final spots in this year’s World Cup.”
However, a lack of certainty around the tournament sparks more concerns around player welfare, says Soper.
Disappointing news for the women’s game https://t.co/DuD7yEncxy
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“Just keeping yourself up for this long. I played a couple of seasons over in England so I know a few of the girls who are in the Northern hemisphere teams and the lack of certainty [they experience].
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“And the communication channels haven’t been flash. I’ve had people in my DMs (direct messages) asking me if I think World Cups are going ahead and these are international players. Don’t know what the communication channels are there.
“But just having to keep yourselves [match fit] – you’re in and out of lockdown as they are there. They’ve had some long periods where they’ve had to keep themselves match fit. I had a mate of mine that have cast their own gym out of concrete.
“They’re doing everything they can in terms of those resources. But just to keep yourself mentally prepared to be ready to go at a moment’s notice, that’s really tough. And I think you’re extending that out another 12 months.
“It’s not just about the financials … but also the mental welfare. How do you keep yourself up and ready to go? I know I struggled and we were only in lockdown for a month.”
Ultimately, Soper believes postponing the World Cup gives rugby officials an opportunity to adequately promote the tournament, something she says wasn’t done particularly well thus far.
“Could we maybe promote it? That would be exciting wouldn’t it. How many advertisements have I seen for the Cricket World Cup? I’ve seen a big promotion asking me to be a part of the thousands of supporters there and I’ve seen nothing yet really from World Rugby. I was getting antsy on that point.
“This means we have longer to build this audience but let’s use it. And in order to build an audience, you’ve got to build some momentum. To build momentum, you’ve got to have fixtures. Let’s up the FPC that’s an easy one for me. Invest more in the Farah Palmer Cup, we can double the length of that easy. Five games is not enough to build any type of audience or to build any type of skill-set in your players.”
Soper also called for more international fixtures for the Black Ferns to be organised so players can prepare for the tournament, beyond games against Australia, including against Pacific Island nations and North America.
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“Second request would be, let’s stop looking at just Australia, let’s look at our mates [in the Pacific]. Fiji has just qualified for this World Cup – first time they’re going to be playing in the World Cup. Let’s get some more of those Oceania fixtures working as well.
“Samoa, they’re crying out for it. They’re in a tough position they are because we never give them the matches so they can’t hold on to the talent and so then that goes around and around again. Yeah there could be some blowouts but we’ve never been beaten by Australia either. We keep giving them a go, so let’s give Samoa, maybe Tonga, PNG, let’s get everybody in there. Let’s look at maybe our Oceania neighbours – go closer to home … I think that’s a duty that we need to be doing anyway to help develop that talent.”
Nine teams were already confirmed to take part in the tournament: New Zealand, Australia, Wales, Canada, USA, England, France, South Africa and Fiji, with the three final places still to be determined by qualifiers.
The 2021 Rugby World Cup will be the second major women’s competition scheduled for this year to be postponed.
Late last year, the 2021 women’s Cricket World Cup which was also set to be hosted by New Zealand was moved to 2022 due to the pandemic.
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Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
10 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
24 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
24 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
10 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
10 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to comments