THIS MEANS THE WORLD TO US!
SCOTLAND WOMEN FIRED UP BY THE CHALLENGE OF A NEW GLOBAL COMPETITION
FOR Gemma Fay, consequences have reactions. That’s her hope, anyway, after women’s rugby received a timely and much-needed boost yesterday with the launch of the new WXV global competition.
The SRU’s Head of Girls’ and Women’s Performance Rugby has been campaigning long and hard for such a tournament — and for the consistency and structure it will bring. Finally, World Rugby has taken heed and backed it up with £6.4million of investment for the first two years.
The structure is a three-tier, 16-team worldwide tournament, beginning in 2023, with rankings based on where teams finish in their respective annual tournaments, which, in Scotland’s case, is the Six Nations.
The new competition will be played in a global women’s international window from September to October, except in World Cup years.
For Scotland, it represents a wonderful opportunity to grow the game. However, Fay knows they must rise to the challenge.
In the 2019 Six Nations, the last time the women’s tournament was played to a conclusion before the pandemic hit, Scotland finished bottom with five straight defeats.
In the 2020 championship, they lost two and drew one of their matches before the remaining fixtures were cancelled due to Covid. To reach the top tier, Scotland would have to finish in the top three in the Six Nations — something they haven’t done since 2005.
‘This is an important step forward for the women’s game,’ said Fay, the record cap-holder for Scotland’s women’s football team before she crossed codes to the SRU three years ago.
‘It’s fantastic to secure regular competitions at a global level, while continuing to play at a regional level with the Six Nations.
‘The beauty of this is that you have fixed points of time for regional competitions, which, for us, is the Six Nations. Then you have the global competition in which we will be in one of three tiers based on where we finish in the Six Nations.
‘From a performance side of things, it puts an emphasis on how well we do in the Six Nations.
‘In the Six Nations previously, it has not been of any major consequence where we finish in the tournament apart from once every four years when it was used as a World Cup qualification process, which isn’t happening this time round.
‘Not having meritocracy payments allows those at or near the bottom of the Six Nations table not to push to be better.
‘To have a focal point and to make it important where you finish in the Six Nations is important as, when the changes come in a couple of years’ time, the higher Scotland finish in the Six Nations we could end up competing against the best in the world. We would want to push and repeat that again and again.
‘Every performance will count and we need that pressure as a squad in order to keep developing.’
Fay has spearheaded the growth of the women’s game in Scotland and insists this could be the catalyst for substantial change.
With a women’s Lions team also being considered, it feels like an opportunity waiting to be grasped.
‘Developing a global brand for women’s rugby is vitally important because, for example, trying to sell broadcasting and sponsorship rights when you don’t know who you will be playing in, say, three months’ time is tough,’ she said.
‘One of the problems we have had is trying to secure the right opponents at the right time and what usually happens is that the autumn Tests come around and it is a scramble to see who we can get and who we want to play.
‘Hopefully, that will end under the new set-up, which may not turn out to be a perfect fit but it is an evolving model which is far better than what we have at the moment.’
World Rugby chairman Sir Bill Beaumont described the global competition as a ‘landmark moment’ that will help accelerate the development of the women’s game round the world. One of its aims is to help international sides prepare for the 2025 World Cup that will feature 16 teams instead of the usual 12.
Regional competitions, like the Women’s Six Nations, must be completed by June each year while a new qualification tournament for the WXV featuring Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA is to be established.
‘Today’s announcement of a new, global international 15s calendar will underpin the future success and accelerate the development of the women’s game,’ said Beaumont.
‘By establishing a unified international 15s calendar and introducing WXV, we are creating a platform for the women’s international teams to compete in more consistent, competitive and sustainable competitions at regional and global level.
‘We are also growing the profile, fanbase and commercial revenue, generating opportunities for women’s rugby through the new Women in Rugby commercial programme. This is an ambitious, long-term commitment to make the global game more competitive, to grow the women’s game and support the expansion of Rugby World Cup to 16 teams from 2025 and beyond.’