Womens' rugby Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

D14Rugby

troyzer wrote: »

Those are the choices you make. You rob Peter to pay Paul. But the IRFU can't pretend to care about the women's game if it's willing to forgo a transformative change for an extra 1-5% in performance for the men's team.

You could start by contracting the bulk of the starting team. The professionalisation of the team makes it easier to attract sponsors who will top them up. You have to spend money to make money.

There is literally no point whatsoever in having anything under a squad on professional contracts because the training just wouldn't be worth it and if you get any injuries you're done. You could maybe get away with 25 or so and training with the 7s squad but that's far from ideal for anyone in training because the two sides would want to do different things.

As I said originally I'm not saying don't spend money with an eye to making money but it is very easy for that to fall into bankrolling which isn't sustainable. It wasn't that long ago remember that connacht was nearly shut down until they started earning a bit of money themselves.

You don't necessarily need to Rob Peter to pay Paul. Women's rugby is really undersold all over at the minute, the potential for better sponsors, more big games, etc is all there it's just about tapping into it and getting the ball rolling. Abbottstown should be used more too when it's done.

The Lost Sheep

D14Rugby wrote: »

4/17 players in the original Ireland squad playing provincial rugby outside leinster play their club rugby in leinster, maybe loads was an overstatement but that's still quite a few.
It's not their sole focus though and I know that for a fact. The likes of larissa Muldoon as I mentioned her title is Co-female development but she also does some work in boys/men's rugby. The primary schools ones you've mentioned aren't female only either. As I said their focus is women's rugby but it's not exclusively their area.
What are you on about generating money isn't an issue, of course it is. The international men's team are earning pretty much as much as possible so for women's rugby to get more money it needs to generate at least some of it, you can't just print money and it's not as if the IRFU are sitting on a big pile of cash and just not using it.

overwhelmingly will be their sole focus. They will work on womens game be it through schools during day primary and secondary and clubs in evening through looking at structures as well as everything else. It overwhelmingly will be their area.
If we're to go down route of generating money then virtually all sectors of game here are in trouble. As they dont.
How much do you want womens game to be generating for it not to be an issue.

D14Rugby wrote: »

Then you run the risk of losing key international players and thus risk the men's team not being as competitive and as a knock on effect the popularity of rugby and the income that props up so much of the system.
And for perspective an international prop is on 300-400,000 per year the women's team in England are on around 30k each so you could maybe get a 15 on one players salary but that's nowhere near sufficient for training and that's a pretty modest wage so would have to increase at some point in the near enough future and also doesn't include match fees etc.

Reducing wages etc for a few mens players and putting it into other areas of the game can have big swing towards increasing interest etc in sport from other areas. And 15 players on near full time wages would be far better than anything thats available at present for the womens set up.

D14Rugby

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

overwhelmingly will be their sole focus. They will work on womens game be it through schools during day primary and secondary and clubs in evening through looking at structures as well as everything else. It overwhelmingly will be their area.
If we're to go down route of generating money then virtually all sectors of game here are in trouble. As they dont.
How much do you want womens game to be generating for it not to be an issue.

Reducing wages etc for a few mens players and putting it into other areas of the game can have big swing towards increasing interest etc in sport from other areas. And 15 players on near full time wages would be far better than anything thats available at present for the womens set up.

I have quite literally asked some of them this question and I'm telling you exactly what they told me. 90% but not solely. All sectors of the game everywhere need to generate more money, including our men's national team.
I don't know I'm not an account, I'm not privy to the IRFU finances I just know the IRFU aren't exactly sitting in a pile of cash so propping another area of the game up may not be feasible, hell the men's 7s aren't even professional and I'm sure they'd love to be too. I'll say the same for them once they generate it they can too, like the women's 7s do.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a dangerous game when you plan to do it on a regular basis and it can have a negative effect on Peter.
15 players being pro is absolutely useless.

sydthebeat

So the question the irfu have to ask are they there to make a profit, or to grow the game?

The Lost Sheep

D14Rugby wrote: »

I have quite literally asked some of them this question and I'm telling you exactly what they told me. 90% but not solely. All sectors of the game everywhere need to generate more money, including our men's national team.
I don't know I'm not an account, I'm not privy to the IRFU finances I just know the IRFU aren't exactly sitting in a pile of cash so propping another area of the game up may not be feasible, hell the men's 7s aren't even professional and I'm sure they'd love to be too. I'll say the same for them once they generate it they can too, like the women's 7s do.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is a dangerous game when you plan to do it on a regular basis and it can have a negative effect on Peter.
15 players being pro is absolutely useless.

The IRFU exist to grow develop and enhance the sport across the country. Being profitable has to happen but profitability cant be first and foremost. You would be getting rid of a lot of parts of the sport if you are to be too concerned by profit margins.

sydthebeat wrote: »

So the question the irfu have to ask are they there to make a profit, or to grow the game?

Its very much to grow the game obviously IRFU has to make money to continue with the growth of the game but growing the game has to be first.

D14Rugby

sydthebeat wrote: »

So the question the irfu have to ask are they there to make a profit, or to grow the game?

Not really the question because the IRFU aren't really making a profit at the minute on a regular basis. Take last season for instance they actually budgeted to lose 4million and made 1.2 because they won the grand Slam. That's not something you can budget for every season so the IRFU are currently running right up to if not over their limit as is. So to support a 7th professional team with a potential 8th around the corner money needs to be generated somewhere. And the place to look for that is the biggest untapped resource they have which also happens to be the same one that would get the money, in this scenario, the women's game.

D14Rugby

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

The IRFU exist to grow develop and enhance the sport across the country. Being profitable has to happen but profitability cant be first and foremost. You would be getting rid of a lot of parts of the sport if you are to be too concerned by profit margins.

Its very much to grow the game obviously IRFU has to make money to continue with the growth of the game but growing the game has to be first.

I'm not talking about being profitable I'm talking about breaking even which is something the IRFU need to do to exist and currently are just about doing. So to be able to spend more they currently need to earn more.

irishbucsfan

D14Rugby wrote: »

I'm not talking about being profitable I'm talking about breaking even which is something the IRFU need to do to exist and currently are just about doing. So to be able to spend more they currently need to earn more.

Driving a successful women's team would be profitable in the long term, not the other way around. Not only would it drive revenue, it would be building a stream of revenue that is relatively independent of the success of the men's team, adding to their sustainability in year's where we are weak in the men's game. Look at US women's soccer for an example of just how incredibly valuable that can be, after their men failed to qualify for that world cup.

But all that's irrelevant in the end. The IRFU are the NGB of the sport in this country and receive special status because of that, they can not and will not be allowed to neglect women's sports forever. The only question is whether they'll take steps forward before they're forced to by external factors. If Eddy and Nucifora remain there, I'd doubt it.

troyzer

If Munster actually paid back the stadium loan properly, that'd be great.

Burkie1203

martingriff wrote: »

Who is the lady in the middle in the studio. The other 2 seem the most dominant.

Jenny Murphy

troyzer

Burkie1203 wrote: »

Jenny Murphy

Jenny Murphy is ridiculously likable

D14Rugby

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Driving a successful women's team would be profitable in the long term, not the other way around. Not only would it drive revenue, it would be building a stream of revenue that is relatively independent of the success of the men's team, adding to their sustainability in year's where we are weak in the men's game. Look at US women's soccer for an example of just how incredibly valuable that can be, after their men failed to qualify for that world cup.

But all that's irrelevant in the end. The IRFU are the NGB of the sport in this country and receive special status because of that, they can not and will not be allowed to neglect women's sports forever. The only question is whether they'll take steps forward before they're forced to by external factors. If Eddy and Nucifora remain there, I'd doubt it.

If you bothered to read back over what I've said already you'd realise I said almost exactly that.

D14Rugby wrote: »

As I said originally I'm not saying don't spend money with an eye to making money but it is very easy for that to fall into bankrolling which isn't sustainable. It wasn't that long ago remember that connacht was nearly shut down until they started earning a bit of money themselves.

You don't necessarily need to Rob Peter to pay Paul. Women's rugby is really undersold all over at the minute, the potential for better sponsors, more big games, etc is all there it's just about tapping into it and getting the ball rolling. Abbottstown should be used more too when it's done.

All I was saying is you can't just go "right let's just drop 2 centrally contracted players and get a pro squad in and that'll fix all the problems" you have to invest the money to build up, to borrow your example the US women's soccer team got to where it is because od decades of investment in the sport, the US isnt a great example though because of the stupid scale of everything there.

The irfu should expand the interpros, home and away, two games in each of October, Christmas, May, ie just before each meet up of the national squad, a June series of some sort, make the interpros an event get crowds at them, get them on TV, that'll attract more and bigger sponsors which will have knock on effect and then you can work towards bigger goals.

Just as an after point last season the irfu money towards women's rugby increased by a million euro for the year, they could have paid salaries for a professional squad there with that but it went to grassroots which I think we can all agree was the right decision.

The Lost Sheep

D14Rugby wrote: »

The irfu should expand the interpros, home and away, two games in each of October, Christmas, May, ie just before each meet up of the national squad, a June series of some sort, make the interpros an event get crowds at them, get them on TV, that'll attract more and bigger sponsors which will have knock on effect and then you can work towards bigger goals.

Just as an after point last season the irfu money towards women's rugby increased by a million euro for the year, they could have paid salaries for a professional squad there with that but it went to grassroots which I think we can all agree was the right decision.

I wouldnt have it like that but 6 interpros is a must and having a June series isnt necessarily the answer but a proper november series every year.
Basically provinces play August/September 3 games then AIL and the other club games until November with 2/3 internationals then 3 more interpros in December/January with club games before 6 nations.
Getting games on tv is a bit of stretch but they should be streamed. Games will all be videod but streaming them would be a start.

D14Rugby

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

I wouldnt have it like that but 6 interpros is a must and having a June series isnt necessarily the answer but a proper november series every year.
Basically provinces play August/September 3 games then AIL and the other club games until November with 2/3 internationals then 3 more interpros in December/January with club games before 6 nations.
Getting games on tv is a bit of stretch but they should be streamed. Games will all be videod but streaming them would be a start.

I wasn't saying on TV as an immediate thing, I had it in with bigger crowds and bigger sponsorship deals because its something that should be an ambition to build towards to then grow the game more.

sydthebeat

https://youtu.be/GjgNfbKSBVs

Decent discussion on womens rugby on OTB with Fiona steed and Philip Doyle.

Worth a listen for those interested.

I must say with Philip it comes across as a bit too personal a spat he has with the irfu, but at the same time the man should have a lot of clout due to what he had achieved in the game.

At the end of the day the status quo can't continue. The review the irfu had of the women's game last year (of which I personally was scathing) needs to be reviewed again in order to put on place the systems needed to achieve what they have said are the goals...... Even if those goals are mediocre in my opinion.

The Lost Sheep

This weekends AIL results
Blackrock College 8 Old Belvedere 15, Cooke 22 St. Mary’s College 20, Galwegians 14 UL Bohemian 31

Semi Finals: Bohs v Rock, Belvedere v Rainey

AIL cup games next weekend in Ashbourne
Belvedere v Rainey, Tralee v Cooke, Blackrock v Bohs

irishbucsfan

This “review” at Leinster is a total joke but is another reminder that the sport is being run by men, for men in Ireland.

After they’re done with the mess in the other sport, Sport Ireland need to take a long hard look at our one.

The Lost Sheep

AIL semi finals were this weekend
Bohs play Railway Union in the final
Bohs beat Blackrock 20-0 and Railway beat Belvedere 29-7

sydthebeat

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/48105867

Philip Doyle has been named as the new Scotland Women head coach.

The 56-year-old had two spells with Ireland Women and replaces Shade Munro, who took up an academy coaching role with Scottish Rugby in March.

Doyle steered Ireland to a Six Nations Grand Slam in 2013 and to a fourth-place finish at the 2014 World Cup.

"I am very excited to take on this appointment and look forward to getting stuck in and getting to know the Scottish players," he said.

"We don't have long in real terms until the World Cup qualification process begins but I am confident that with some hard work we will have sufficient time to develop further in working towards this objective."



a loss to irish rugby

The Lost Sheep

Next seasons interpro dates set
17th/18th August Munster v Ulster
25th August Connacht v Munster
1st September Munster v Leinster
8th September semi finals
15th September final

The Lost Sheep

Squads for the above interpros beginning to be named
Ulster https://www.ulsterrugby.com/2019/08/ulster-womens-squad-named-for-inter-pro-series/

Munster https://www.munsterrugby.ie/domestic_news/extended-munster-womens-squad-named-for-interprovincial-series/

The Lost Sheep

Leinster squad named

https://www.leinsterrugby.ie/squad-announced-womens-interprovincial-championship

The Lost Sheep

Round 2 of interpros today
Connacht Women 6 Munster Women 27
Ulster v Leinster in Armagh at 7pm

Last weekend Leinster beat Connacht and Munster beat Ulster

u18s interpros also on.
In round 1 Leinster beat Connacht 39-10. Ulster 17 Munster 12
Today Connacht beat Munster 10-0 and Leinster beat Ulster 38-18

The Lost Sheep

Leinster beat Ulster 24-5

Next weekend its Munster v Leinster in Musgrave and Ulster v Connacht in Queens
It'll be winner of Munster Leinster against loser of Ulster Connacht and winner Ulster Connacht against loser Munster Leinster in semi finals

The Lost Sheep

Scotland playing Japan and Wales in November. Welsh game will be shown on BBC Alba

The Lost Sheep

Interpro semi finals this weekend

Both senior and u18 semi finals are being played in st marys on Saturday
SENIOR SEMI-FINALS –

MUNSTER WOMEN (2nd) v CONNACHT WOMEN (3rd), St. Mary’s College RFC main pitch, 1.30pm

LEINSTER WOMEN (1st) v ULSTER WOMEN (4th), St. Mary’s College RFC main pitch, 3.45pm

UNDER-18 SEMI-FINALS –

ULSTER U-18 WOMEN (2nd) v CONNACHT U-18 WOMEN (3rd), St. Mary’s College RFC pitch 2, 12pm

LEINSTER U-18 WOMEN (1st) v MUNSTER U-18 WOMEN (4th), St. Mary’s College RFC pitch 2, 2.45pm

The Lost Sheep

And 6 nations dates and venues confirmed
https://www.irishrugby.ie/2019/09/12/ireland-women-to-kick-off-six-nations-against-doyles-scotland/

The Lost Sheep

Leinster hammered Ulster 59-3 while Connacht beat Munster 20-17 in semis while u18 finalists will be Munster who beat Leinster 15-3 and Ulster who beat Connacht 24-22

The Lost Sheep

Intepros finished with Leinster winning title after 25-12 win over Connacht while Munster beat Ulster 39-12 in 3rd-4th playoff

In 18s Munster won title beating Ulster 36-7 in final. Turnaround from roundrobin where they lost all 3 games
Leinster beat Connacht 38-5 in 3rd-4th final


Ireland also to play Wales in November test. They will play in UCD on November 10th

molloyjh

Any word on who pulled out of the AIs on us?