England’s world-beating women rugby players facing the axe

ENGLAND women’s rugby union team, the defending world champions, face the prospect of losing their jobs whether or not they retain the trophy next month.

A day after England’s female cricketers became world champions in front of a packed house at Lord’s, it was confirmed that the contracts of all the players will not be renewed when they expire on August 31, five days after the World Cup final in Belfast.

The RFU says its focus will switch to the sevens game, with new contracts to be handed out in the build-up to the 2020 Olympics. It is understood 10 members of the 28-strong squad will be switched to full-time sevens contracts. Tonia Antoniazzi, the Labour MP and a former Welsh international, said that it was a “kick in the teeth” for the players. She added: “To treat women like this, particularly in light of how the women working for the BBC got paid … highlights a massive inequality for women in Britain.”

Sport: Pages 1-3