Planet Rugby Forum

Nieghorn wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:The stream of the Columbia women vs Brazil match at the weekend:

https://www.facebook.com/FecorugbyTucan ... 509755513/

The victorious ladies ...

Nieghorn wrote:Was disappointed to see more England forward dominance... women against girls stuff in the highlights. Only saw Scarratt in the background. Thompson meant to be playing... didn’t notice at all. Not sure who the other winger was.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/51742690

England Women v Wales Women: How Zoe Aldcroft changed clubs to be allowed to play

Zoe Aldcroft was the only girl in a team of boys when she started playing rugby aged nine at her local club in Scarborough.

After three years, she was no longer allowed to play in a mixed team and faced a tough decision: travel three hours every Sunday to the nearest club with a girls' team or give up the sport she loved.

On Saturday, the 23-year-old will be playing far from her Yorkshire home in an England shirt in front of a crowd of over 10,000.

Lock Aldcroft is part of the Red Roses team chasing a Six Nations Grand Slam as they prepare to face Wales at Twickenham Stoop.

Both she and her former club have come a long way in the last decade.

The lack of a girls' team at Scarborough RFC meant a move to West Park Leeds RUFC. Now, her local club have three and Aldcroft is a full-time professional player and regular starter for England, and plays for Gloucester-Hartpury in the Premier 15s.

"Scarborough are really excelling in women's rugby now and they really support me," she says.

"I wished so much that it would happen when I was there. Now that girls are getting the chance to play for their home team, it's really great to see."

Jess Breach to miss rest of Six Nations through injury
Listen to Rugby Union Weekly Women's Six Nations: Inside the England camp
Rosie Galligan: Saracens player on meningitis & shattered ankle in space of five months
Women's Six Nations table: England P 3, W 3, D 0, L 0, PD 86, B 2, Pts 14; France P 3, W 2, D 0, L 1, PD 79, B 3, Pts 11; Ireland P 3, W 2, D 0, L 1, PD -4, B 1, Pts 9; Italy P 2, W 1, D 0, L 1, PD -31, B 0, Pts 4; Scotland P 2, W 0, D 0, L 2, PD -57, B 1, Pts 1; Wales P 3, W 0, D 0, L 3, PD -73, B 1, Pts 1
Giving up the whole of your Sunday to travel across Yorkshire and Lancashire for rugby matches is a big sacrifice for a teenager.

But such is Aldcroft's passion for her sport that she never saw it that way. Instead, she insists it was her dad - the person who had to drive her around - who gave up the most.

"I loved getting in the car on a Sunday morning. I just slept," says Aldcroft, who won her first England cap in 2016.

"My mum had made sandwiches for me. I think it was more of a sacrifice for my dad. My dad loved coming to watch so he'd do it anyway."

The debt will be more than repaid when Aldcroft's dad joins her mum and brother to watch her earn her 20th England cap at the Stoop on Saturday.

The forward missed out on England's Grand Slam victory last year because of a broken ankle, making her even more grateful to be back as the side seek to retain their title.

And she could be stepping out in front of a record crowd, with over 10,000 tickets sold and the record standing at 10,545.

Just a few years ago Aldcroft was one of many young girls unable to play local club rugby, let alone think of an England career.

On Saturday, thousands of young girls will be dreaming of just that when they watch her in action.

"I never really think of it like that but when you do, it is pretty amazing," she says.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... -saturday/

Meet Gwenllian Pyrs, the sheepdog trainer propping for Wales at The Stoop on Saturday
Wales have had a challenging Six Nations and face an unbeaten England side away from home in round four

By
Fiona Tomas
6 March 2020 • 2:06pm

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9ZTWYhgae8 ... e=ig_embed

Few are acquainted with the story of Gwenllian Pyrs, the Welsh front rower who will run out at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday against England. Hailing from Ysbyty Ifan in the Conwy Valley of north west Snowdonia, she puts her propping prowess down to mucking out on her family’s farm where she grew up playing no-rules rugby with her nine brothers and sisters while learning the art of her other passion: sheepdog training.

“Rugby is still relatively new for me but I’ve been dog training on the farm with my dad since I was nine years old,” says Pyrs. “It’s where I’m most comfortable and if I’m stressed at all, I’ll go out with the dogs to relax.”

The 22-year-old is one of several players to juggle jobs in an amateur Wales side, which counts a science teacher, a disability and inclusion officer, a student nurse and a fast food crew member among its players. Growing up in one of the smallest known Welsh-speaking communities, Pyrs learnt most of her English from watching TV as a child, before proper lessons in a bilingual secondary school. Our evening phone call at 6pm is only the second time she has spoken English all day, during which she bashfully admits her anglophone mastery “is a bit poor” due to spending most of her time out in the hills with her four-legged friends.

“I speak to the dogs in Welsh, but the commands are in English,” adds Pyrs. “That’s because if I want to sell them, it’s easier for others to train them. They can sort of be bilingual. There’s a competition where you trial with two dogs. For that, you’ll command one command in Welsh and the other in English and work both of them together. But if I know I’m going to keep the dog, I’ll teach it in Welsh.”

The bilingual traits certainly ring true among Pyrs and her international teammates. “A few of the girls speak Welsh, there’s more than you think,” she says. “I’d probably say half of the girls speak it. Most of them prefer English because that way everyone’s in the conversation, but lots understand Welsh.”

After impressing at regional level in Scarlets’ under-18’s set-up, an international debut beckoned and she earned her first Wales cap against Italy in the 2017 Women’s Six Nations. But the front rower’s career hung in the balance last year when she and Welsh team mate Bethan Davies were involved in a road accident en route to Cardiff for training, a routine eight-hour round trip Pyrs has made three times a week since January. The incident ruled her out for the entire tournament.

“This car was doing about 70mph when it hit us as we slowed down to a roundabout,” said Pyrs. “We both blacked out and all I remember was someone knocking on the car door and asking if we were okay, and then the ambulance arrived. Both of us had whiplash and Bethan tore her calf, I had some soft tissue damage and a cut on my head which healed quite quickly. Trying to get back into the squad was difficult, but we got through it.”

Gwenllian Pyrs in action as Wales were outclassed by France in the last round of the Six Nations CREDIT: Getty Images
Pyrs has since become a mainstay in the Welsh side, having been involved in all of her country’s autumn Tests last year. Her comeback in the face of adversity is all the more remarkable given that she juggles the sheepdog training job with another as a rugby hub officer at several local schools across the Conwy Valley, where the heartbeat of rugby is unusually palpable for an area so remote. Prys’ father, Eryl, was one of the founding members of Nant Conwy in 1980.

“It has really knitted together the different social elements of the valley and is so important for the whole community,” explained Eryl. “It’s important for the Welsh language too, with most of the coaching done through Welsh although there’s a warm welcome for all.”


It was only when Nant Conwy set up a girl’s section six years ago that Pyrs graduated from farm yard-level rugby to playing in a more competitive environment. The vital grassroots hub helped spawn her international talent and girls’ participation in this unlikely pocket of North Wales, where Pyrs is now something of a local celebrity, is booming.

“We’re trying to keep up to pace with the demand from girls to be part of Nant Conwy,” said Nia Wyn Roberts, the founder of the girl’s set-up at the club. “It’s fantastic to see a local girl like Gwenllian doing so well and representing the area on the international stage. Girls at Nant Conwy can see there’s a pathway for them now.”

Does Pyrs dream of leaving the sheep dog training behind for professional rugby like her English counterparts? “I have thought about it,” she says. “But I love spending time with the dogs and rugby is such a short career anyway. I think I’ll always have dogs. I’m not sure if I could live without them.”

Nieghorn wrote:What a kick in the teeth to West Park Leeds, especially ...


What really irks me about this is that the clubs that aspire to get there and have been reaching and growing for years get blocked, and likely to have their good players (who aspire to be noticed by England selectors) poached by upstarts with little to no history.

Can't see Richmond ladies having a good seasons in their new league next year, as surely anyone who's good will go to one of the other London clubs?! I have some, but less, sympathy for Waterloo as (if I'm not mistaken) it felt as if Burns had a hand in them getting there when they probably shouldn't have.

Nieghorn wrote:You could tune in to any of the recent matches (possibly a few on youtube) and get a good look at the pack, because it seems that they see the ball 80% of the time. Backs are just there to return kicks and occasionally run an out the back play to the wing.

Raggs wrote:With a reduction in my rugby watching in general (pre-covid) I haven't seen much of the womens game. How were the England womens pack looking? Wasps have just hired Richard Blaze as forwards coach.

eldanielfire wrote:A shame, in a period where there have been records for women's test rugby, in numbers watched and tests played, Tyrells have droped their sponsorship of women's club Rugby in England, which may mean funding cuts.

IMO that's the RFUs fault, half the Tyrells teams when unfollowable. They didn't keep up to date squads, social media interaction was nil and there was no centralisation of scores with try scorers, eve the highlights wouldn't have try scorers if the club themselves didn't label them. It was a poor product. Like to many women's sports the ruling body liked the headlines of gender equality but gave no fucks once the press walked away to write their pieces.

What's worse is clubs with followings, developmental pathways and the grass routes built up for years prior where shoved aside for big name club connections. Despite this Wasps Ladies had almost no connection to Wasps RFC in Coventry (almost more Ealing Ladies) and we lost the likes of Thurrock and Litchfield who had proven histories in the game. Also many places the ladies player was very much out of the way. Add in the ridiculous in-balance in player distribution where a few London clubs absorbed half a class squad to add to their own.

IMO there is no reason why every Elite club game isn't screened on YouTube with a decent camera and at least a stats person who will label each point scored and card gained. HAve ecah club providea commentator who knows who the players are. Start with a decent product, not a press headline to be a success. Growing sports are like gardens, they grow out of grassroots and need maintenance along the way to flourish. They should also have rules about number of academy players in the squads and limit wholesale "buying of players".

sewa wrote:

eldanielfire wrote:A shame, in a period where there have been records for women's test rugby, in numbers watched and tests played, Tyrells have droped their sponsorship of women's club Rugby in England, which may mean funding cuts.

IMO that's the RFUs fault, half the Tyrells teams when unfollowable. They didn't keep up to date squads, social media interaction was nil and there was no centralisation of scores with try scorers, eve the highlights wouldn't have try scorers if the club themselves didn't label them. It was a poor product. Like to many women's sports the ruling body liked the headlines of gender equality but gave no fucks once the press walked away to write their pieces.

What's worse is clubs with followings, developmental pathways and the grass routes built up for years prior where shoved aside for big name club connections. Despite this Wasps Ladies had almost no connection to Wasps RFC in Coventry (almost more Ealing Ladies) and we lost the likes of Thurrock and Litchfield who had proven histories in the game. Also many places the ladies player was very much out of the way. Add in the ridiculous in-balance in player distribution where a few London clubs absorbed half a class squad to add to their own.

IMO there is no reason why every Elite club game isn't screened on YouTube with a decent camera and at least a stats person who will label each point scored and card gained. HAve ecah club providea commentator who knows who the players are. Start with a decent product, not a press headline to be a success. Growing sports are like gardens, they grow out of grassroots and need maintenance along the way to flourish. They should also have rules about number of academy players in the squads and limit wholesale "buying of players".

Because no one cares you freak

Nieghorn wrote:Fair shouts about lack of effort. Clubs, at least, need to be better at promotion if they truly want the thing to grow.

Some of the social media stuff I see out of NZ is really enjoyable (RFU have done some fun things with both men and women as well, to be fair). Keep it up, though. Get little girls (and boys!) interested in you, make it dead easy to watch, and bombard them with content to keep them interested.

With insta stories and TikToks being the skillset of the millennial, surely someone (or many) in every club has the capacity to put themselves out there more?

... on that note, have you seen the things Tyla Nathan-Wong has been doing for an NZ Olympics challenge? Hilarious! https://www.instagram.com/p/CAr24BpDHJI ... _copy_link

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/53615799

Bristol Bears Women: Welsh players 'drive standards' at club, says head coach Kim Oliver
By Sara Orchard
BBC Sport
Last updated on31 July 202031 July 2020.
From the sectionRugby Union
Elinor Snowsill runs with the ball for Wales
Elinor Snowsill is one of 11 Welsh players at Bristol Bears Women
Eleven Wales internationals in an English rugby squad might seem excessive.

But the Welsh Rugby Union is encouraging players to join the Premier 15s - England's top flight - and Bristol Bears have welcomed them with open arms.

Six Welsh players have re-signed from last season, including Wales captain Siwan Lillicrap, with five more about to join.

Wales fly-half Elinor Snowsill has said the national side will benefit from having so many players at one club and head coach Kim Oliver is grateful for their contribution.

"They're a massive part of the team, they bring something different, they drive the standards at Bristol," says Oliver, an England centre between 2005 and 2013.

"I played for Bristol for a long time and there have always been Welsh players. For me it's really important that we keep that link.

"Having them here is something that I will continue to push for."

A lack of funding has seen Wales struggle to keep up in recent years with England, who won the World Cup in 2014.

However, the Welsh game is aiming to reduce that gap. There are plans for Wales' women to go professional, like their English counterparts, while the national team are searching for a new head coach to take them through the 2021 World Cup and into the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Oliver, who has developed a strong working relationship with Bristol men's director of rugby Pat Lam, is happy to help foster and improve the next generation of Welsh players.

But the Rugby Football Union has said that Welsh clubs could join the Premier 15s in the future. With the WRU developing two women's super clubs, then there could come a time when Welsh players are tempted home.

"Until that happens we hope to develop the players we've got with us," Oliver says.

"If they do leave, then we'll wish them well - and it will be great competition within the Premier 15s whenever that happens.

"Fingers crossed it is not for the next couple of years."

A date for the Premier 15s to start the new season is yet to be confirmed by the RFU although players can now return to Stage One training.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... ouncement/

Women's community rugby at risk of 'going backwards' after RFU cuts announcement
The roles being let go, rugby development officers and community rugby coaches, have had a significant impact on growing the women's game

By
Fiona Tomas
5 August 2020 • 6:26pm
Years of growth in women’s rugby is at risk of being reversed in the wake of cuts at community level, figures from the female grass-roots game have warned.

The Rugby Football Union intends to make 104 redundancies across community rugby as it continues to deal with the financial fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, with all rugby development officer (RDO) and community rugby coach (CRC) positions to go.

“Without our CRCs and RDOs, we’re absolutely stuffed,” says Alex Gradwell-Spencer, who set up her own women's team, aged 37, at Glossop RUFC, where her two boys played.

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Gradwell-Spencer was inspired by the 'Inner Warrior' programme, which was launched by the RFU in 2017 in a bid to introduce 100,000 women and girls to rugby by 2021.

The scheme, which the RFU says will continue, is where CRCs and RDOs have had a significant impact: 18,000 women have attended over 500 warrior camps across England over the past two years.

“I’d say probably 90 per cent of the growth is down to what the RFU have done to help support me in growing our women’s team,” adds Gradwell-Spencer.


“The RFU has been so supportive in terms of putting on women’s development days to help grow the game. The next phase was to start creating that local pathway - because there isn’t one here for girls at the moment - but I need support to do that.”

Members of Glossop Amazones RUFC with former England flanker Maggie Alphonsi. Alex Gradwell-Spencer kneels with the ball.
From left to right: Gabi McGregor, Katie Haley, Alex Gradwell-Spencer, Emily Scouler and Laura Edwards
Members of Glossop Amazones RUFC, with Alex Gradwell-Spencer kneeling with the ball, alongside former England flanker Maggie Alphonsi
There is a growing frustration across the women’s community game given how provisional fixtures and start dates for men’s community rugby were released nearly three weeks ago, but none have been announced for female equivalent levels.

“I feel like we will go backwards in terms of growing the game and keeping the momentum rolling forward,” adds Gradwell-Spencer. “The men’s team at Glossop have had their provisional fixtures for ages. Why haven’t the women also got theirs? We’re very much an afterthought.”

The RFU announced on Thursday that the adult league season would not commence in September and told Telegraph Sport it would provide an update on women's fixtures “in due course”.

Jess Bunyard, a rugby development officer at Huddersfield RUFC, worries women of Gradwell-Spencer’s age could be left behind as community roles shrink.

“We run the risk of ignoring where women’s rugby can have its most impact in women’s lives,” insists Bunyard. “The sporty ones will come to the clubs anyway, because they’ll be mad keen to try rugby, but the greatest impact will be with the mothers who think they’re unfit, they don’t have the skillset and lack the confidence.

“I’ve seen them come into my club and I’ve seen their confidence bloom, they’re doing things they were never capable of doing and they’ve suddenly gained a whole other family to lean on.”

Women and girls rugby in England had been going from strength to strength across all levels as a result of the progress being made in line with the RFU’s four year women and girls’ action plan, which launched in September 2017.

Before lockdown, the initiative was on target to engage 100,000 women and girls into the sport by 2021 and make 25,000 of those regular club players. Latest figures from the RFU show there are around 37,000 women and girls who are registered to play club rugby in England, but Bunyard fears her area will be hit disproportionately by the cull in community roles.

“Yorkshire is probably going to feel it more acutely than other constituent bodies,” she says. “Clubs will probably do okay where there is a men’s or women’s Premiership or Championship rugby club in their area, because they’ll have another development team to fall back on. Sadly in Yorkshire, we don’t have one of those. We’re sort of left a bit stranded.”


Richard Cheetham is a lecturer at the University of Worcester and was made redundant in his part-time role as an RFU coach educator this week. Having mentored former England players on level-four coaching courses, including the 2014 World Cup winner Danielle Waterman, he has seen an increase in women taking up coaching roles.

“There’s this wonderful cycle now where women finish playing and now want to coach,” he says. “That’s the position we want to be in. We don’t want the women’s game to be a poor relation to the men’s game.”

England Sevens player Jodie Ounsley to join Sale and miss Olympics after RFU contract expires
Telegraph Sport revealed on Thursday that both women’s and men’s England sevens players had been told to find jobs

By
Kate Rowan
24 July 2020 • 7:42pm
England Sevens star Jodie Ounsley has joined Premier 15s side Sale Sharks after her contract with the cash-strapped RFU expired.

The move to playing the longer format of the game appears to close the door on the 19-year-old's Olympic ambitions at a time when Great Britain sevens players are facing uncertainty over whether they will be able to adequately prepare for next year's Games.

Telegraph Sport revealed on Thursday that both women’s and men’s England sevens players had been told to find jobs for up to five months when their funding expires on August 31. England players would have made up the bulk of the Team GB side to play in Tokyo, as was the case in Rio.

It is understood Ounsley, who was in her first season with the England sevens programme, was one of a number of players both male and female whose contract expired on June 30.

Ounsley, who was born profoundly deaf but got cochlear implant as a child, was seen as one of England sevens brightest rising stars having made her World Series debut in Glendale, Colorado last October and showed real potential as the series went on scoring her first try in Cape Town in December.


The player who has previously played in the Premier 15s for Loughborough Lightning has effectively taken herself out of contention for the rescheduled Olympics as Premier 15s players sign player agreements to commit themselves to their club.

However, it could be possible that the former British jiu-jitsu champion stays at Sale until the new year when sevens contracts are up for renewal, but it is understood that most Premier 15s clubs now expect players to commit to a full season at their club.

Women’s sevens players were thought to earn in the region of £20,000 to £30,000, with Ounsley likely to have been on lower end of the pay scale having had less experience.


Sale Sharks along with Exeter Chiefs are the two new editions to the Premier 15s ahead of the 2020-21 season. The competition is a “locked league” without relegation and both sides gained their places through a tendering process.

Sale have not made clear if they are paying players match fees and/or retainers, but at the start of last season Saracens introduced retainer payments for female players.

However, there a salary cap of £60,000 has been put in place for Premier 15s sides for the upcoming season.

The 2019-20 Premier 15s was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic and the RFU will be announcing in August arrangements for the 2020-21 season.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... rm-revive/

Carys Phillips targets Wales comeback as she banks on Worcester form to revive international career
Worcester have secured Premier 15s status for another three seasons and Phillips is optimistic about the team's progression

By
Fiona Tomas
10 July 2020 • 10:54am
Carys Phillips in action for Worcester
Carys Phillips (left) hopes club form with Worcester can revive her Wales prospects CREDIT: WORCESTER WARRIORS
Worcester hooker and former Wales captain Carys Phillips has vowed to play some of the best rugby of her career when Premier 15s returns as she targets an international comeback.

Phillips, who has 51 caps for her country, fell out of favour last autumn when Chris Horsman took over coaching duties of Wales women. She was left out of the Six Nations squad earlier this year.

Her father, Rowland Phillips, stepped down as Wales’ head coach last October, when the Welsh Rugby Union said he was “taking some time away” from the set-up. He officially vacated his role in March this year.

Last week the WRU launched a search for a new women’s head coach who will oversee the side at next year’s World Cup in New Zealand, which 27-year-old Phillips has already set her sights on.

“I’ve just got to play as best as I can,” she told Telegraph Sport. “I know I’m good enough to play, so I’ve got to just work hard and put myself out there.


“It was obviously disappointing [to be dropped] and tough to take. I’m just looking forward to enjoying the game, getting back into it and hopefully start to play some of my best rugby.”

Rugby is in Phillips’ blood given her maternal grandfather, Brian Thomas, a lock, represented Wales in the 1960s and her father, a back rower, earned 10 caps in the late 1980s.

“I’ve worked extremely hard to be where I am and to play rugby for my country and be captain over 25 times,” added Phillips. “I’ve put a lot of sacrifice in, and that’s something you don’t give up easily. I’m going to keep my head down and work hard.”

Having come through the ranks at Skewen RFC before joining Ospreys, Neath-born Phillips played for Bristol when the Premier 15s launched three years ago, where a healthy contingent of Welsh internationals have since followed.

“Hopefully it will make Wales more competitive at international level,” said Phillips. “I feel like the Prem 15s could be one of the best leagues in the future to play in. I’ve only been at Worcester a short time but I’ve learnt so much from [head coach] Jo Yapp and [lead coach] Sian [Moore].

The Rugby Football Union is yet to announce a date for the return of its elite women's competition after it was declared null and void in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

After Worcester secured Premier 15s status for another three seasons in April, Phillips is optimistic about the team's progression.

“We’re definitely working towards not just being competitive against the higher teams, but winning as well,” she said. “It’s exciting to see where we can go.”

Nieghorn wrote:I think it's a good think that people don't dig into the dirt on such issues like they would in the men's game, but it doesn't stop me from wondering what the behind-the-scenes deal is!

... like why the two England players were dropped who eventually became a couple.

Have there been some other potential dramas that poked above the surface but weren't fully revealed?

eldanielfire wrote:

Nieghorn wrote:I think it's a good think that people don't dig into the dirt on such issues like they would in the men's game, but it doesn't stop me from wondering what the behind-the-scenes deal is!

... like why the two England players were dropped who eventually became a couple.

Have there been some other potential dramas that poked above the surface but weren't fully revealed?

I recall that and commentating on it here. The story is here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/24013615

I recall Watmore refused to rejoin the squad later on. She obviously felt injustice over the issue. Both Joanne Watmore and Alice Richardson were "exiled" to the sevens program for years. Maybe as a way to make them "happy". Last I checked they were both super into Crossfit.

But no reasons where given. Almost the weirdest thing was that it was reported in the mainstream press, which always implied to me there was something big that couldn't be stated, maybe due to lawyers (all speculation). Certainly while it's far less of an issue today, English women sports have had lots of team political issues. I'm sure you 'get' what I'm talking about Neig. Women's sports teams (pariculat Hockey and Rugby) here used to be very complicated if things kicked off.

Nieghorn wrote:I've heard from friends in the know that a Canadian coach blocked people who were couples or the girlfriend of someone already in the squad, until two of the best players became a couple and then had no issue with the double standard of keeping them but blocking others.

I'd have no issue with it, so long as they don't make whatever drama occurs an issue within the team. Blokes have to deal with playing alongside someone who's banging their ex ... though I guess the potential for drama rises if that ex- is also passing the ball / tackling / etc. alongside you.

'Club-cest' is usually fairly common where men's and women's teams exist, but could be true of a large workplace too.

Nieghorn wrote:Wow! That's a lot.

Surely, there'd be the potential for them to click and link up better like siblings often do?