WOMEN’S WORLD OF PAIN
Scarratt buoyed by record TV audience
ENGLAND centre Emily Scarratt called on rugby’s suits to cash in on a record-breaking night for the women’s game after her side’s agonising World Cup defeat.
An unprecedented television audience watched the Red Roses’ 41-32 final defeat by New Zealand on ITV, with a peak of 2.6million tuning in on Saturday evening.
Those numbers follow the trend of the summer, with women’s sport captivating the imagination like never before.
When Anya Shrubsole bowled England to glory in the cricket World Cup final against India, 1.1m were glued to their sets, watching on Sky. Around 150m saw the game around the world. And a peak of 4m saw the footballers lose out to Holland in the European Championship semi-final. The decision by ITV to swap
Catchphrase for the rugby showpiece paid off, with viewers catching the best ever women’s final to date — and one of the matches of the year regardless of gender.
After each World Cup final players speak of maximising the moment, but interest then drops away.
So Scarratt urged the sport’s administrators to up the ante this time, saying it was time for actions to replace words.
‘The World Cup final was live on free- to- air TV and it would be awesome for that to start to happen with all our games, not just the biggest one there is,’ she said.
‘I know that is a leap and we have to take the small steps in between but it is growing. ‘This was the biggest springboard we could possibly have had and we have to make sure we push on from it and that it keeps getting driven and doesn’t drop off until the next World Cup when it spikes again. That’s the challenge. ‘ It’s not something we’re totally in control of — that’s the people behind the desks doing the posh jobs – but it would be awesome if it did.’ It was by far the highest scoring final too. England led 17-10 at half- time, but a five-try blitz from the Black Ferns in the second half — including a hat-trick from prop To k a Natua — stunned the holders. Now this England squad will splinter. The Rugby Football Union are switching their emphasis, and professional deals, to sevens, meaning half the squad will return to sporting amateurism by the end of the week.
The idea is to build towards April’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, the sevens World Cup in San Francisco next July and then the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
Fifteen- a- side games will continue, in the usual Six Nations and autumn internationals, but the sevens players are unlikely to be involved, with non- centrally contracted women featuring in those fixtures.
Then when the next longer-form World Cup returns in 2021, the RFU’s emphasis will shift back again.
Also, Scarratt’s club Lichfield were denied access to a new 10-team domestic tournament that starts on September 16, so the England star must leave to play top- flight rugby, and although she is devastated to be quitting her childhood club, she admitted that the stress has not been a distraction.
‘ I’m gutted that my club Lichfield won’t be in the main competition,’ she added. ‘But things like that are completely out of our control.
‘ The girls will move on to different clubs and we’ll hope they can fight their way back and get up into that top league.
‘Everyone knew where they stood.
‘Some people still don’t know what they are doing yet. People need some time to go away on holiday and reflect on what has been an immensely intense competition and look at what they want next season to look like for them.
‘We had our blinkers on in terms of wanting to win the World Cup. Things didn’t distract us. There are definitely no excuses.’