Building player base first step for progression of women’s rugby
Daire Walsh
IRFU Director of Women’s Rugby Anthony Eddy believes self-imposed pressure was a major factor behind the international 15s side’s failure to reach the 2022 World Cup in New Zealand.
Requiring a top-two finish from September’s European qualification tournament in Parma to remain in contention for next year’s delayed finals, defeats to Spain and Scotland either side of a victory against host nation Italy saw them missing out completely.
“Knowing what the other programmes did, I think that our squad and our programme was actually a lot more advanced than what the other unions did. We were training and still operating during lockdowns and everything else,” Eddy remarked.
“Possibly because of the false starts and possibly because of the expectations, the group may have put a lot of pressure on themselves around the actual performances. That could have affected the way they actually played.”
The failed bid to qualify for an eighth consecutive World Cup has prompted a series of reviews into the current standing of women’s rugby in Ireland. Eddy confirmed yesterday he isn’t presently involved in this review process but offered his thoughts on why the 15s team have declined from the golden era that saw them winning a brace of Six Nations titles (2013 and 2015) and advancing to the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup.
“I don’t think the growth of the game has helped for one thing and I think a number of the other countries have progressed. If you look at what the RFU [in England] have done around their Premiership, it’s linked now to a number of the professional men’s clubs. That’s just in the recent four or five years. Players are having greater access to higher quality competition and so too in France.”
By comparison to the Allianz Premier 15s across the water, however, the domestic game in Ireland continues to be a work in progress with the Women’s All-Ireland League producing a number of one-sided encounters.
Whatever findings may ultimately come out of the review into the women’s game, Eddy insists building participation numbers and increasing the quality of competition are two areas that require special attention.
“There’s no overnight fix and we’ve got to make the game attractive and appealing to the female athletes in the country. Building the participation base, so that we’re no longer talking about 1,200 or 1,600 senior players. We’re actually looking at 5, 6, 7, 8,000 senior registered players,” Eddy added.
“Unions much smaller than us have a larger player base than what we do. We have to build the base, first and foremost. We’ve continued to look at what the AIL provides for us and how structures can be put in place to try and make the competition more competitive.
“It was changed some time ago with the inclusion of two new teams [Wicklow and Ballincollig].
“I think at the end of this season we need to review that again and whether some changes need to be made around what the competition is at the moment.”