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Rugby Australia announce appointment of women's high-performance manager
Rugby Australia has announced the appointment of a women’s high-performance manager, two days after coming under fire from Wallaroos claiming inequities in resources compared to the men’s programs.
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RA has partnered with World Rugby to welcome three-time Olympic rower and Sydney 2000 silver medallist Jaime Fernandez into the new position.
Fernandez will bring a wealth of experience, most recently as deputy performance director at Rowing Australia, where he achieved global excellence in his development of pathway and Olympic athletes alike during 11 years with the organisation.
A World Rowing Youth Commission board member, RA says Fernandez is passionate about fostering the next generation of world-class athletes to deliver sustainable international success.
Fernandez will work across the Wallaroos, Super W and women’s pathways programs to develop high-performance environments and implement clear standards on the path to professionalism.
Rugby Australia is the first union to partner with World Rugby on Accelerate, a new global framework for growth and targeted investment that will fast track the development of women’s rugby both on and off the field.
As part of this investment under the Accelerate program, RA says it is also committed to recruiting a fulltime Wallaroos head coach for the 2024 season.
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Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh is delighted with the appointment ahead of an exciting international calendar that features the 2025 and 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cups in England and Australia.
“Jaime has a proven track record over more than a decade at Rowing Australia,” Waugh said on Tuesday.
“We look forward to drawing on his exceptional experience to further improve our national women’s programs.”
Fernandez will officially start on September 11.
RA on Monday admitted they had a “way to go” to improve conditions for the Wallaroos and pledged to keep players involved in their plans.
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Australia’s 15-a-side women’s team on Sunday presented a united front in taking to social media with a statement lashing the sport’s governing body.
They claimed there were inequities between the investment and resources in the women’s and men’s national programs and said their team had been lied to.
A spokesman for RA responded to the Wallaroos, saying the governing body was “taking steps” to invest in the women’s game.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments