Very glum review of the state of women's rugby in Ireland, but at least the tournament ended with a magnificent game!

 

Ireland's disappointing world cup campaign fizzled out with a loss to Wales at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday. Their campaign never really got going - two stuttering wins, followed by three comprehensive defeats. If you've read Ruth O'Reillys piece in the Irish Times, the results will be no surprise. The IRFU did a fantastic job running the tournament, there has been praise all round for the way the teams were welcomed looked after. There were other issues that world rugby needs to address - the four day turnaround, and the day pas tickets for instance.

But it certainly looks like the focus of the IRFU was on the tournament, and not on the team though. There is not enough money and not enough focus being  put into the women's game. It is hard to understand how it has unravelled so far since the team won the 6 Nations under the same team under Tom Tierney. I think the game is moving on, we've needed to up the ante for the women's team  and that hasn't happened, so eighth is no surprise.

The bigger issue overall is money - the French and English club games means that huge amounts of money get spent on keeping the Irish players in Ireland, and after that, there's not enough to go around. Or they aren't bothering to put money into the women's game. When Ruth O'Reilly say she's had the same boots for the last three years - that's just embarrassing. If the problem is money, then more money has to be found.

I for one will be voting with my feet and making sure I get to the 6 Nations home matches.

Well at least we had Joy Neville reffing an absolutely thrilling final between, England and the All Blacks. That game was the spirit of the tournament, a brilliant advert for the women's game, but not just the women's, for rugby, end of!


Women's World Cup
Japan Women 44 5 Hong Kong Women
Ireland Women 17 27 Wales Women
Italy Women 20 15 Spain Women
Australia Women 12 43 Canada Women
France Women 31 23 USA Women
England Women 32 41 New Zealand Women

Ireland v Wales is essential watching!

 

The Women's World Cup wraps up on Saturday in Belfast. It hasn't been a vintage World Cup, but since we've only made the quarters once before, it is about an average performance for us. It's a pity we couldn't have done better at home, and more about that later, but there we are, that's what's happened, we need to make sure we get seventh now.

It just hasn't been our tournament this year, and it's hard to put a finger on why. Tom Tierney hasn't suddenly become a bad coach, but we haven't looked convincing in any of the matches. Our preparation doesn't seem to have been sufficient, and perhaps playing at home put too much pressure on us. Watching their first match at UCD, it looked as though Australia were physically a much bigger side, which means we need more player depth. We struggled tactically too - it's almost as though other teams have moved on and we haven't. That points to the need for better back up for TomTierney. More players and more money really.

We need to make the legacy of this world cup to be the sustained heightened level of interest in the game. We HAVE to support the players better, they are giving it their all, and at a minimum we need to sell out all the 6 Nations matches. Do we need a provincial competition too, to improve the depth?

I think we can beat Wales, it's a confidence thing more than anything, but two losses on the bounce, we need to help carry them through this, get to the game, watch it on TV, let them know we're behind them.You are not going to get a better community grass root feel about a match. I think we'll win!

In the final, England are probably the favourites, but they'll do well to beat the All Blacks who may sneak it.

Women's World Cup
Japan Women 12:00 Hong Kong Women
Ireland Women 14:00 Wales Women
Italy Women 14:30 Spain Women
Australia Women 17:00 Canada Women
France Women 17:00 USA Women
England Women 19:45 New Zealand Women