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Women's rugby has moved on, even if some people's perceptions haven't

By Jess Hayden
PA

This week, the draw was announced for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021, which will start in September 2021 in New Zealand.

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If I could have chosen the draw myself, it wouldn’t be too different from the one that was drawn by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, and Rugby World Cup winners Melodie Robinson, Dr Farah Palmer and Dan Carter. Each group has a major competition in it: Group A has New Zealand and Australia, Group B has USA and Canada, and Group C has England and France. In each group, it will be hard for others to compete to reach the finals.

Those who finished in the top seven at Rugby World Cup 2017 in Ireland automatically qualified for next year’s tournament. That means New Zealand, England, France, USA, Canada, Australia and Wales have all confirmed their places at the tournament.

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Fiji qualified for their first women’s Rugby World Cup by beating Samoa in the final of the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship. Similarly, South Africa qualified by winning the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, beating Kenya 39-0 in the final.

The remaining three teams have yet to be confirmed. Two places will be filled by a qualifier from Asia and Europe, with the final place going to the winner of the new Final Qualification Tournament, which offers a second opportunity for teams to qualify.

Rugby World Cup 2021 will give women’s rugby a platform it has never seen before, and I am confident that the sport is at a place now where it attracts men’s rugby fans too. Stuart Barnes recently wrote a piece in The Times titled ‘I’m not qualified to comment on women’s rugby – yet’. It was an article that, in fact, could have stopped at the headline, but he did explain that for him, women’s rugby is tarnished by its humble beginnings. There will be some with a similar view, who haven’t watched women’s rugby for years and still envisage the level the game was at decades ago.

But gone are the days where to watch international women’s rugby you had to stream it online off a dodgy link. England v France was on BBC 2 on consecutive Saturdays. Most games are easily accessible if you are interested enough. This is frustrating for the players too, as England players Zoe Harrison and Sarah McKenna told RugbyPass.

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That’s not to say I think every game of women’s rugby is a triumph for the supporter. It’s not. There is often little competition between teams, and the Six Nations has become woefully predictable. Barnes, I agree with you there. Women’s rugby won’t be a true success until there is better competition between the sides.

But that competition cannot come until more unions invest in women’s rugby. England, having 28 players on full-time central contracts, has a clear advantage over the other Home Nations, who are mostly ‘amateur’ athletes. Let’s be clear though, this simply means they aren’t paid to play for their country, every other part of how they play is professional. I use the word ‘amateur’ not as a remark on the level the other nations play – but more with a side eye at the unions that fail to adequately invest in women’s rugby.

Take Wales as an example here, where most players play their club rugby in the Allianz Premier 15s across the border in England. What could be more professional than working all day, some as emergency workers, driving two hours or more to train for your club, driving home, and doing the same the next day?

Women’s Six Nations
Claire Molloy of Ireland steps inside Sara Tounesi of Italy during the Women’s Six Nations Rugby Championship match between Ireland and Italy at Energia Park in Dublin. (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
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A few weeks ago, I spoke to recently departed Wales Women head coach Darren Edwards, who couldn’t believe the sacrifices the Wales players make to play for their country. There is some promise from the Welsh Rugby Union of contracts in the future, based on performance. New head coach Warren Abrahams will be hoping to lead the Wales women to achieve this.

Yet Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy had the final three games of the Women’s Six Nations tournament cancelled, due to the coronavirus pandemic. A statement from Six Nations Rugby said: “Recent Government and Health Authority restrictions affecting squad preparations, travel, and the inability to stage matches due to the sport’s amateur status have made the successful completion of the 2020 Championship impossible.”

Yes, these games wouldn’t have affected the outcome, England won the Grand Slam, but the other players had been training towards those matches. We are less than one year out from the Rugby World Cup, and I worry for our Home Nations, who will face another tournament without professional status.

Other Rugby World Cup qualifiers were cancelled too, which were due to take place in December. These will be postponed until it is safe for international fixtures to take place.

England deserve every success they have, and let’s not forget that it was only in 2008 that they were even allowed to wear the red rose that has now become their trademark, and only 2012 when they were given an office inside Twickenham Stadium. As Fiona Tomas reported this week, England Women’s team base used to be a couple of portacabins in the Twickenham car park.

England are the number one team in the world, holding on to that title this week in their narrow win against France. It was a nail-biting game that ended with Emily Scarratt kicking a penalty to win the game 25-23. It highlighted just how exciting women’s rugby can be. Fierce competition, aggressive play, and a high level of skill.

Wallaroos Women's rugby
The Wallaeroos batle the Black Ferns

Every England player I’ve spoken to wants the other Home Nations to become professional, because many of them remember what it was like before they had contracts. Katy Daley-McLean, who this Saturday became the third most capped England international rugby player, remembers what it was like to have to work as a teacher the day after a major international match.

That’s the reality for many players still. I spoke to a few players last year about the sacrifices they make to play in the Six Nations, and the main jealousy wasn’t the pay, but it was being able to rest the day after a game and not have to go to work.

Next year, many will use their entire year’s annual leave allowance to play in the Rugby World Cup.

If you have written off women’s rugby, I have just under a year to encourage you to watch Rugby World Cup 2021. I’ll cover the issues off the pitch that make the game so unique and interesting, and worth your attention. Not only will Rugby World Cup 2021 be a fantastic tournament in its own right, I urge you to get behind the players, who consistently prove their professionalism.

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Jon 1 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 4 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

15 Go to comments
A
Adrian 6 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

15 Go to comments
T
Trevor 9 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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