Womens' rugby Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

I wonder if they will be entering 2 teams in lower tier competition or if they are now down to one team.

On another topic has there been any word on the bunch of contracts for women's rugby that was announced at the start of the summer.

The New Zealand game was the second game in the world Cup for the women's 7s team. The first was irrelevant as it was against a weaker team.

The previous 3 world series events we came 4th 3rd and 2nd which is quiet a good run of performances.

We were unlucky to draw new zealand this world Cup. They were seeded worse than they deserve to be because they missed a bunch of world series events due to covid regulations.

Edited to add: Ireland also lost to Fiji this morning meaning that we play England in the 7/8th place final later on today.

Hopefully this can get something going for the game in the celtic nations in coming years.

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wales-talks-scotland-ireland-wru-25102199?fbclid=IwAR1dYL3phpU3HHQ7iZ9eICfLRP6KC_x2oDUkLxs4GCgrOgWQhf8XeSda-Ps

That is kind of inevitable. You would need provinces playing a celtic league or joining Premier 15s to make it more likely players move to pro contracts bt not sure how likely that would happen

There needs to be more competition above AIL and below internationals anyway

Its hard to say what the union should be doing at the moment with women's rugby contracts.

It's also a point of what comes first the chicken or the egg. Or in this case a group of professional players or some decent competition for them to play in.

There's 5 Six Nations games and 4 interpro games. For those involved in 7s theres also 6 hsbc sevens events.

There might or might not be a summer tour and autumn internationals.

The union can't justify paying decent salary for what could be 9 weeks of rugby at a level higher than the AIL. Players can't justify leaving their work for poorly paying roles.

I wonder if there's a decent semi professional program that could be offered instead of pro contracts in the short term.

Options to combine a rugby salary with study or part time work.

Well the 7s players are already contracted. In general though just reading the Independent article this morning and thinking who can afford to work professionally for 15k a year.

No wonder the IRFU are being turned down.

They need to find an appropriate structure for what they want to offer.

3rd certainly can be targeted. which has been our main placing in tournament for last decade or so

Would think Leinster should win Interpros.

AIL finishing before christmas isnt great i would prefer that was extended some way though AIL before christmas then interpros straight after then a break then 6 nations in April looks well with all feeding into each other.

I wouldnt even expand AIL to have all teams playing each other twice but even just 3/4 games more with a top/bottom split after everyone plays each other once so the top sides play each other again and the bottom half play each other again.

We really need to work on the AIL and while a Celtic League/Cup is fantastic to bridge gap between Club and International. The club game needs far more support. But i woudlnt move towards expanding to full home and away series yet.

The Womens AIL Cup/Plate/Bowl used to be very good with all sides competing be they provincial league sides or AIL. That should be reintroduced.

You can't force people to sign up to contracts.

Fryday is a professional player at Exeter, one year in, perhaps she's perfectly happy there.

Women's professionalism in Ireland has come out of a historic low point 11 months ago and the offers at this new beginning aren't going to make any of the players rich, but its a starting point and they had to start somewhere. When the game generates more income with success, the tide will lift all boats.

In the meantime, its unlikely in the medium term that the Irish Women will see a policy of not selecting overseas players, so why wouldn't good players that have attracted pro contracts in England and elsewhere stick with those and support the growth of the game in Ireland by contributing to the international squad?

NZ v France just now. What a game.

That was an exciting final. England almost pulled it off, even with a player down for most of the match. Their maul is almost unstoppable, you would have expected them to win if they won that last lineout.

IRFU women in rugby report released

https://www.irishrugby.ie/2022/12/08/independent-review-sets-a-positive-pathway-for-womens-rugby-in-ireland/

There is plenty unsatisfied with AIL but it needs a change and expansion to 12 with 2 divisions of 6 better than the 1 division of 8. It would allow more clubs progress to national league without having to take on the behometh super clubs who are attracting so many of the top internationals.

Wrong thread

I saw the 2nd half as I did not know it was on! seemed to me that railway did not really want to be there [2 players binned]. The ground looked very hard to play on. fair dues to Breen for driving Blackrock on to win.

Combined provinces xv. Not the best name to advertise if you are trying to sell tickets.

Glad to see the tournament is happening anyway.

Really entertaining game in the Interpros btwn Leinster and Connacht on TG4 at the moment. The final score may flatter Leinster a wee bit, bit they've put together some excellent team tries in the second half and the fitness and skill levels are looking very good, despite a gale force wind giving the kickers a hard day.

All over at 38-10

Hard to say from the telly but a few thousand up on the main stand by the looks of it, making plenty of noise.

Yeah a load of new caps, one of which Aoife Dalton got a deserved POTM at outside centre. O'Brien and Hughes at half back forming a nice partnership now and co-Captains Haney and O'Connor working hard in the trenches.

Two great team tries got, one rolling maul and one fast hands across the line, which Connacht had no answer for.

Jenny Murphy got on the end of a couple of the 6 scores, playing like a young woman again.

Was a great game. Poor that they had no tmo but I was happy with the result. Nicole was like a new player yesterday compared to her Ireland games lately. Loved the engagement news too ❤️

Interesting to see that the Welsh squad only has 5 internationals. I guess most of the Welsh international squad is playing pro rugby in England.

https://scottishrugby.org/the-thistles-coaching-set-up-and-squad-confirmed-ahead-of-celtic-challenge-competition/

I did see the game too, it was very good indeed Connacht were in it for a good 50 minutes but started to crumble under the Munster front row which has some serious power in it thanks to their selection of props. Munster are certainly the top side now for 2 years running. I was a bit concerned for Cronin who stayed on the pitch all the time even though she seem to be carrying a big knock since the 50th minute. I have no idea what became of Connacht's Maher but sometimes unannounced injuries can cause players to drop off the radar. Connacht played better than the score suggests. Hopefully, now our 6 nations selection will have a front row that will not be demolished like it has been for the last 2 years.