Dress rehearsal
With the Women’s World Cup looming, England face Australia, Canada and the Kiwis on New Zealand soil
THE BIG kick- off is within sight, with the Women’s World Cup springing into life on 9 August in Dublin, writes RW’s Alan Dymock. That leaves us just enough time, though, to squeeze in some more scintillating action, with the best players in the women’s game putting themselves through a rigorous challenge before the race to become world champions begins.
Reigning World Cup holders England will join Canada in hopping over a hemisphere, with those two nations and Australia making their way to Wellington to begin a compelling eight- day blitz of Internationals between the three sides and their hosts, New Zealand. It’s a tough old warm-up.
“It’s important to play the top teams before we go to the Women’s Rugby World Cup,” says François Ratier, Canada’s head coach. “Also, New Zealand is the best place to continue our team bonding. Rugby is a religion there and it’s important for the players who have never been there to be exposed to their culture.
“The focus is to be a better team after this tour in all aspects. New Zealand are number one in the world and in our World Cup pool, while England are the reigning world champions and Australia will show they deserve a better ranking than where they are now.”
New Zealand, England and Canada occupy the top three spots in the world rankings while Australia are in sixth. The tournament will be particularly useful for reintegrating those who have been playing in the 2016-17 Sevens World Series, which concludes this month in Clermont-Ferrand.
There will be the added bonus of watching back-to-back games during this tour – Canada face New Zealand at Wellington’s Westpac stadium, just before the Hurricanes play the Chiefs. New Zealand will also host England as a curtain-raiser for the Maori All Blacks’ game against the Lions in Rotorua.
To see all of the fi xtures, see the Directory on pages 22-23.