Womens' rugby Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

I still can't get over the fact WXV starts today as we hit the men's world cup knock-out stages, that they have structured it as 2 pools cross playing and that someone thought putting WXV 3 in Dubai was acceptable but here we are. For extra evidence someone is determined to make sure it flops they can't even schedule each game into it's own clear timeslot so the 4 games today all overlap (1, 2, 3:30, 4:30 starts).

Italy Vs Japan in WXV 2 could be a fun opener starting in about 10 minutes with Ireland playing Kazakhstan in WXV 3 last at 4:30 our time. Fiji Vs Colombia in WXV 3 is the 2 start and Scotland Vs South Africa at 3:30. Pretty sure the only place to (legally anyway) watch it is rugbypass.tv where you have to register with an email address, but at least they aren't charging I guess. I tried to register yesterday and didn't get the email to confirm the account, I just stuck in the same details again an hour ago and it came through this time in case anyone had the same problem.

Fingers crossed we can finally get back to winning ways today, if we can't it's going to be a dark dark day.

And Rigoni is always box office! Very handy center partnership.

Kazakhstan have played 10 games since 2014? Ouch! And a really poor kick from them there gifted a second try to Ireland. Higgins having a monster game already. The Kazakhs are game but looking like the sort of a team playing 1 game a year. Ireland's scrum is destroying them but it's impressive how brilliantly the Kazakh's are dealing with it!

And before I've posted that O'Brien misses touch from a penalty but Higgins ends up running it in through a lot of players from 35m to keep us going at a point a minute!

I detest the idea that all the 6 nations teams should have got a free pass into WXV 2 though I also detest that all the P4N teams got a free pass into it. For the first season I'll forgive a lot though in terms of how many qualification rounds/playoffs were realistic, what's less forgivable is no promotion/relegation between WXV 1 and 2 so WXV 1 is a closed shop exclusively for 6N and P4N teams with a fixed 3:3 split even if the results could say it should be 4:2 either way (or 3:2:1).

I'll also say that Samoa had to get past Fiji to get into WXV 2 and given Fiji beat South Africa in the world cup I don't see why you pick out the Oceania winners not to get a place Vs the African or Asian or last in P4N. Again ideally they all play off somehow but given there is promotion/relegation between WXV 2/3 that can work itself out though it will be a bit slower and less accurate then it should thanks to the two pools format.

I think there's two halves to WXV 3. Fiji, Spain and Ireland will all really think they can win the promotion place while Kazakhstan, Colombia and Kenya will all be enjoying getting together to play games and hoping they can stay out of the relegation play-off spot. There's a good argument it would have been better with the original plan as a 4 team round robin having had Kazakhstan, Colombia, Kenya and probably Netherlands have a league play-off (call it WXV 4 even) for the final spot.

Shockingly despite winning 109-0 I thought we weren't great. A few beautiful offloads and Higgins was superb (my PotM, not Parsons) but also massive amounts of poor passing still and plenty of other little mistakes (like a few penalty kicks for touch not finding touch). We were utterly dominant at the breakdown and the scrum and our all around power and fitness made it a bit of a classic pro Vs amateur game. The Kazahk's line was generally poorly passive and meant the quality of our passing wasn't the issue it would be against probably anyone in WXV 2 and Spain will probably get plenty of encouragement from it ahead of their final weekend meeting.

And meanwhile as I've been typing/editing this Samoa Vs USA has been proving some of the arguments as they go in 17-14 to USA thanks to them scoring from a loose aimless kick after the hooter. GTFO suggesting Samoa don't have far more right to get the shot then an Ireland team that lost all it's 6N games. To me the very point of WXV is ultimately to give those outside the closed shops a regular fair shake.

Interestingly I notice now the broadcasters around the world appeared (e.g. ITVX and S4C for England and Wales games), just Ireland and the USA really stand out as world rugby streaming only: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_WXV#Broadcasting_rights

Before I get into the game just have to say I spotted a "multiview" button pop up on rugbypass which lets you watch multiple games at once and even gives you a choice of side/by/side or picture in picture for 2 games or 3 and 4 way options! I can't see how to control the audio beyond full blast or mute for each game so it's not perfect and not sure if it was there previously or new but I appreciate it!

42-7 in the end for England but that's not a very good reflection of the game. Australia will be sick that, especially when the game was close, they blew a few chances with poor passes knocked on. When down to 14 (2nd yellow same player) they were all over England. England's scrum was generally dominant and the Aussie lineout mis-fired a few times too many. Ref was extremely kind to England (Packer in particular) at the breakdown, just throwing themselves over and also giving away penalty after penalty whenever Australia got close to the line but the card only appeared after 80 minutes.

"I think we let ourselves down tonight" from the Aussie captain calling out their own errors and I wouldn't disagree, I'd say they are on the up unlike the men. NZ will be licking their lips at the prospect of turning over England again. Canada? Who knows, they are exceptional amateurs but can they find a way not to be ground down by England's professional power game? Still irks me France won't also be getting a crack at England!

USA Vs Scotland at 1pm will be interesting as will Spain Vs Fiji at 4:30pm and of course Rigoni is always box office but I expect Italy to blow away South Africa at 3:30pm. 4am for Canada Vs Wales is rough for us and 7am again for the big one of the weekend France Vs New Zealand. Ireland Vs Colombia better not be much of a contest tomorrow at 2pm but Japan Vs Samoa at 3pm is likely to be fun to wrap up this weekend.

7-7 second half so 24-14 with Scotland the ones closing the game out in the ascendency, game actually ended when they kicked a penalty for a 5m line-out but kicked it dead! That's 10 points for Scotland so Italy will be very keen to try and get 5 against South Africa which starts in a few minutes. We'll only really know after Japan Vs Samoa tomorrow just who is likely to end up staring at relegation, there's a set of not too likely but not that improbably results which could yet see USA last which would really make a mockery of the lack of promotion/relegation from WXV 1 to 2 (doubly so if Canada ended up last in WXV 1 which I wouldn't expect but certainly isn't impossible).

Kazakhstan 10-0 up against Kenya at half time (15-0 now 54 minutes in), bouncing back from the hammering we gave them. Given Spain didn't annihilate Kenya to anything like the extent we took Kazahkstan apart it suggests we probably don't have to fear Spain too much (though Spain will obviously be highly motivated and focused on the game with us) and it's a points difference race with Fiji we are in to guarantee a spot in WXV 2 next time, which is bad news for Colombia who went down 67-13 to Fiji.

36-18 in the end for Italy who ended up against 13 with a red card making it 14 and then injuries to hookers meaning uncontested scrums losing a player.

I detest the bloody start times as of course I got so wrapped up in that game I forgot about Fiji Vs Spain where Spain were actually 14-12 up at half time! Pretty sure that's 2 tries each so not perfect for us but I'll certainly take it over a massacre by Fiji we could have to match (depending on what Fiji can do to Kazakhstan).

And Spain score again on 56 minutes to make it 21-12! Is this all setting up for a poetic final WXV 3 game between Ireland and Spain to decide if last in the 6N or best of the rest or Europe get a spot in WXV 2 next time? Can't lie, it would be poetic justice for the Spanish women if they did it and of course we would get another shot at WXV 2 in the 6N where if we then finished last again we could hardly complain.

Someone pay the Canadian women already, they are just such a joy to watch! Feels obvious they will start to fall behind but for now their class, style, ethos and who knows what seems to have them hanging in there in a way the USA don't seem to be able to.

I hope that isn't the kiss of death from me and the Welsh don't start to grind them down but given Canada just managed to send the Welsh scrum backwards to have them scrambling to get the ball out I have faith! 7-7 21 minutes in as the Welsh full back makes a great try saving tackle, Canadian winger Symonds probably should have popped the ball inside to Apps though, probably too shocked Apps had somehow managed to keep/catch up in support!

Welsh lineout seems to be their best weapon so far, was a sneaky 1-2 at the front which got them their try and they've won a few penalties from it.

Wales really got away with giving away far too many penalties close to their own line without a card. It wasn't quite all Canada in the second half but close enough so at 72 minutes when Wales were up attacking the Canadian line it was already 35-17 Canada who then held them up over the line. I really thought Wales might be able to grind them down up front but if anything it was the Canadian scrum which became dominent while the line-outs proved a fairly even contest (or advantage whoever was throwing in). Wales did crash over near the corner (missing the conversion) a few phases after the drop out but that still left them 13 behind with under 5 minutes to go and a charge down nearly had Canada straight back in but more smart hands and good running had Canada back 5m from the line and another Welsh offside penalty so zero chance of a comeback and any kind of bonus point for Wales looks extremely doubtful. Canada use the scrum again from the penalty and simple 8 move to the blindside and good hands puts the winger in the corner for another Canadian try and De Goede (the 8) even slots the conversion!

Canadians knock on the restart to give Wales a scrum 35m out at the hooter for one last chance at a try bonus but Canada take it against the head and close it out 42-22! Honestly that scoreline feels very generous to Wales. Canada Vs England when it counts in the other SF replay next weekend is going to be fun!

Sadly most of the ground is still empty as the anthems are sung for the NZ Vs France game. There is a decent little bit of a crowd packed in on one side for the cameras, kinda disappointing as I guess 3/4 of the ground is completely empty. Makes the decision to send this straight back to NZ so soon after the world cup look a bit questionable but again with the scheduling who knows who was willing to take it.

7-1 handling errors at half time is really the story of the half (15-7 to France the score). Both teams will think they could have scored a few more but not just because of the 15-7 lead I think France will overall be happier with how they are playing. It really reminds me how far out of the run of play it felt for NZ to manage to win the WC. France have made nearly double the tackles so maybe they will feel it later and NZ can exploit it (Tui looking the most likely).

Chambon (French 9) has been exceptional! Not sure if she's only had one poach but she's frequently been in making a nuisance of herself and looking like she could have one forcing NZ bodies to commit to rucks. The rest of her game has also been great. Could she pull the move Sansus did to Bordon and keep Sansus from getting the 9 shirt back? How do they keep producing them!

France out first and expending energy and a real warm up so coach isn't too fearful of them running out of steam! Here we go again!

No surprise, 21 minutes in and BP in the bag and another try 4 minutes later, so unless we somehow blow this from here even a draw with Spain will see us top and certain to be in WXV 2 next time round (and if I remember right that means world cup spot secure). Of course a loss to Spain would leave us needing to not finish last in the 6N.