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
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