Rachael Burford: 2021 is the year for women's rugby
2021 is set to be a monumental year for women’s rugby. We have the Women’s Six Nations in February, Sevens at the Olympics this summer, and then the biggest event of all: Rugby World Cup 2021. It’s a great time to start a column about women’s rugby, and I hope to bring my experience in both the grassroots and elite game to my biweekly articles. I have played elite rugby and premiership rugby for over ten years in England, and I now run Girls Rugby Club, an international pathway and platform to connect the 2.7 million girls who play rugby globally.
I want to use this column to tackle the biggest issues in both grassroots and elite women’s rugby, and bring things to the attention of those who might not realise the dedication of the women and girls who play rugby, and the challenges they face on and off the pitch.
I started playing rugby when I was just six years old, and I have had an incredible career, including playing in four Rugby World Cups: 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2017, and two Sevens World Cups in 2009 and 2013.
I’ve played for England both before and after professional contracts were introduced. Professionalism started in 2014, when the women’s Sevens side received full-time contracts until 2016, in the run-up to the Rio Olympic Games. Then, the England Women’s 15s side was granted professional contracts for one year (between September 2016 and August 2017) in the run up to the 2017 Rugby World Cup. At this time, the Sevens players also had part-time contracts. Following the 2017 Rugby World Cup the 15s contracts ended, but the Sevens players got full-time contracts.
Then, in a landmark moment for women’s rugby, England Rugby granted 28 full-time contracts, and seven part-time contracts, to the England Women’s 15s squad in January 2019, while the Sevens players remained on their full-time contracts. For over ten years, I’ve been there for the highs and lows of elite women’s rugby in England, and I’m excited for what the next year holds.
As every year does, we start with the Women’s Six Nations tournament. There has been some speculation that the Women’s Six Nations won’t go ahead, but in my opinion it will, because there are Rugby World Cup qualifier games that need to take place for Ireland, Scotland and Italy. They might have to move the fixtures to April, but I’m in no doubt that they will go ahead somehow, as we want teams to play for the opportunity to compete at the Rugby World Cup, and not let it be decided by current rankings. It will be a really important tournament to build up momentum for women’s rugby at the start of this year, to grow the fanbase before the Rugby World Cup.
England will be aiming for a Grand Slam win of course, and if they win it will be their third in a row. But I doubt that’s even on the minds of the players. Instead, they will be thinking about each game as it comes, and trying to build on past performance. The Six Nations could be the last opportunity for each player to make their mark on the team, and put their hand up as someone who wants a place in the World Cup squad, if there are no friendlies before the Rugby World Cup.
Every player will be aware of that and will want to give their absolute best performance. When I was on the lead up to Rugby World Cups, I would countdown each game I had left before the World Cup started, as I saw every second in games and training as an opportunity to prove I deserved a place in the team. The team will be aware that they have five games to play before the Rugby World Cup, and the excitement will build the closer they get to the tournament.
England have traditionally had a really strong balance of both experienced and young, fresh talent in the squad, but the scales are now turning more to the younger players. That might sound worrying for fans, but the England squad is definitely in good hands. Players like Zoe Harrison and Helena Rowland are both coming in at fly-half, and both are so young and talented. It’s scary how young they are, Zoe is 22 and Helena is just 21, yet both are stars to watch on the pitch. Helena has made her mark in 15s and Sevens, and may also play for Team GB at the Olympics this summer.
Katy Daley-McLean has just retired from her spot at fly-half, so there are big boots to fill for both Zoe and Helena, but I have no doubt they will rise to it. Are they there yet? Probably not, but if the younger players were smart, as I’m sure they were, they would have used every opportunity to learn from Katy. She is such a student of the game and she always wants to help people understand rugby the way she does.
I actually wonder whether England should employ Katy Daley-McLean as a mentor for the fly-halves coming through before the Rugby World Cup, as she has so much experience in that position. They’ve done it in the men’s game, Dylan Hartley has done some work with the hookers, and Jonny Wilkinson still works with the kickers. It would be great if Katy could come back and impart some of her wisdom on to the fly-halves coming through.
The advantage that the younger girls have is that they are so fearless. They don’t know what it’s like to play at a Rugby World Cup, but that might actually work in their favour, because they are not fearful of facing opponents like New Zealand. When you prepare for a Rugby World Cup, you just have to focus on you and what you do best, which is the best way to be. In 2014 I think we really mastered that. The team went into a ‘bubble’, before ‘bubbles’ were even a thing! We limited the outside distractions we had to an absolute minimum, and just focused on our game and team. We had such unity and clarity in the squad: we were on a mission to win the Rugby World Cup and that’s exactly what we did. I remember at half time in the final against Canada, we all looked at each other, and I just felt this enormous sense of control. Anything they did, we knew exactly how to respond.
We won that game 21-9 and it was simply the best feeling ever. That culture we had developed of focus, determination and spirit translated into our game and we were focused until the final whistle. Then, we celebrated. All of our hard work and years of training had resulted in a Rugby World Cup winners medal. It felt magical!
In the 2017 final, we just let the game slip away from us. We had a hold of the game at first, and I remember watching Lydia Thompson score a try in the first half and feeling confident. It was such a high-scoring game, but eventually the whistle blew, and New Zealand celebrated a 41-32 win. We were utterly gutted. We had sacrificed so much to get there. We were on temporary full-time professional contracts that we knew would be up at the end of the tournament.
Since then, women’s rugby has grown at an incredible pace. I’ve watched first-hand as the audiences for our games get bigger and bigger. Last Autumn, the England v France games on BBC Two reached a peak audience of 800,000. People have started to watch women’s rugby on mainstream, prime time television. The game is just getting bigger and bigger, and 2021 is going to be a really exciting year for the sport.
Before the Rugby World Cup, we have Sevens at The Olympic Games, which will be another great way to showcase women’s rugby. Sevens is a whole different world and everything about the game is a whirlwind. It’s a faster game with quick tries, which means that it is great for spectators. I can imagine young people watching it and rushing down to their local rugby club to sign up. The effects that having the Six Nations, the Women’s Six Nations, a Rugby World Cup and Sevens on television this year will be phenomenal for grassroots rugby – both boys and girls. That’s not to forget the British and Irish Lions tour either. On that note, I hope that one day soon, there will be a women’s British and Irish Lions tour. It would be a great advert for the women’s game!
'I have found that people see your gender before they see your opinion… people are waiting for you to trip up so they can jump on your errors'
To be a woman who talks about sport, you have to be on guard all the time – writes @_JessHayden ???https://t.co/eRgxePI8Dr
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 4, 2021
This exciting year of rugby has come at the right time too, as grassroots players have dropped off since the coronavirus pandemic. All the women’s rugby on television this year will have a really positive impact on the grassroots game, I have no doubt. I always say: ‘if you can’t see it, you can’t believe it, you can’t be it.’ Young girls now have role models to look up to in women’s rugby, and the platform it will been given in 2021 is phenomenal. Whatever obstacles 2020 may have put in the way for women’s rugby, 2021 is here to surpass them all. It’s an exciting, jam-packed year of women’s rugby, and I can’t wait to write about it.
Comments on RugbyPass
Irish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
4 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
4 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to comments