Top coaches back women’s rugby

Fiji Airways Fijian 7s head coach Gareth Baber said the theme of the 2017 Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship, “Equal Playing Field,” for women in rugby was something he absolutely supported.

“Absolutely I think it is great and anything we can do to help I am totally behind it. Look I mean my daughter plays rugby,” Baber said. “When I was in Hong Kong it was hugely supported and developed. And I know it is supported in the Oceanic region as well.”

He said it would be a huge operation getting more women participating in rugby, both on and off the field.

“Rugby is a great sport I think the initiative Oceania is taking with that has to be matched in terms of the big operation of getting more women into the game of rugby.”

The initiative also gained the support of one of the sport’s top coaches Samoa’s Sir Gordon Tietjens who said it would be awesome for the game, particularly for sevens rugby.

“I think it’s awesome and women’s teams will be getting better and better coming in to tournaments like this, because at the moment there are only three women’s teams that are actually competing at the highest level. That is Canada, New Zealand and Australia,” Sir Gordon said.

He said other Oceanic teams like Fiji and Samoa were getting better with every tournament. “They are getting more understanding of the game providing more women with these opportunities,” he said.

Sir Gordon highlighted if women in the region were provided with more opportunities it could lead to Oceanic teams participating and being more competitive in the World Sevens Series.