TO MAKE THE WORLD SIT UP
With the games best and brightest in Ireland for the eighth Women’s Rugby World Cup which kicks off this week, we look at the players who could light upthe tournament
WHAT’S rare is wonderful and over the coming weeks Ireland will play host to one of the biggest events in the 2017 sporting calendar as the best female rugby players in the game arrive on these shores to battle it out for the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The host nation has been dealt a massive blow with the loss of captain Niamh Briggs through injury, with many predicting an August 26 final of New Zealand versus reigning champions England — who have suffered their own pre-tournament problems as contract issues with the RFU rumble on in the background.
Of course, as with any major tournament, there’s likely to be plenty of shocks and upsets along the way.
Here, Sportsmail takes a look at some of the experienced stars and the most promising rising talent that will be looking to leave to their mark on the eighth edition of the Women’s Rugby World Cup over the next few weeks.
PORTIA WOODMAN New Zealand (wing/centre)
THIS may be her first World Cup, but 26-year-old Portia Woodman arrives with a weight of expectation on her shoulders.
Capable of playing at wing or centre and blessed with blistering pace, Woodman is the top try scorer in Women’s Sevens history with a whopping 142 tries, but having sat out the 2014 and 2015 seasons at 15s level — she made her international debut in 2013 — she is now looking to transfer her skills back onto a more crowded pitch.
Rugby is clearly in the blood — her father Kawhena and uncle Fred both represented the All Blacks during the 1980s.
FLAVIA SEVERIN Italy (lock)
HAVING missed out on the last three tournaments (2006, 2010 and 2014), Italy will be desperate to make up for lost time. If they are to make any impression in a group that contains Spain, USA and current holders England, then powerful 90kg lock Flavia Severin is going to have a huge role to play. Due to win her 50th cap on her next appearance, the experienced Benetton Treviso forward brings huge physicality and is a dangerous ballcarrier. Also a boxer who won a European silver at heavyweight in 2014.
ASHLEIGH HEWSON Australia (full back/out-half)
HEWSON’S talents would seem to be endless, having represented Australia in rugby, cricket, soccer and athletics. She made her debut in 2009 and was involved at both the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
Still, Test matches have been few and far between at 15s level for Australia, so despite having just 15 caps to her name, the versatile back enters the tournament as the most experienced player in the squad. Her kicking ability will be key.
MAGALI HARVEY Canada (wing)
QUEBEC-BORN Harvey played a massive role in Canada’s secondplace finish at the 2014 World Cup, her massive 61 point-haul — which included an incredible end-to-end solo effort against France in the semi-finals — going some way towards her being crowned World Player of the Year later in the season.
Harvey started playing
rugby at 16 for the simple reason her school didn’t offer any other sports for female athletes, it didn’t take long before coaches realised they had a rare talent on their hands.
Now she is one of the most feared attacking players in the game, and if Canada are to go one better on that final defeat in 2014, they are sure to need more Harvey magic along the way.
HARRIET MILLAR-MILLS England (back row)
REIGNING champions England are widely fancied to defend their title successfully, and in Harriet MillarMills (left), they boast one of the biggest stars in the women’s game. The No8 was player of the match on her last visit to these shores as the Red Roses Ireland to win the Six Nations Grand Slam back in March, and her importance to the cause is underlined by the fact that she has appeared in all of England’s past 22 games.
Women’s Premiership Players’ Player of the Year for the last two season running, Millar-Mills is capable of playing anywhere across the back five and arrives at this tournament in red-hot form.
LLEUCU GEORGE Wales (back row)
ONE OF the most interesting selections across any of the squads. The 17 year-old back-rower George has yet to be capped at international level, but she has earned her place in the talented Wales squad on the back of a hugely-promising shift during a warm-up game against Japan.
While not likely to start, Wales head coach Rowland Phillips — who stresses the importance of picking on form rather than experience — has insisted that the Scarlets youngster is more than capa- ble of handling the step up to international level, which suggests we can expect to see her used as an impact substitute. Watch this space...
HONOKA TSUTSUMI Japan (wing)
IRELAND will be fully aware of the threat posed by the livewire 20year-old — Tsutsumi scored a try in each of the two warm-up games Japan played against Ireland here in June (Ireland winning 24-22 and 24-15).
The sides meet again in their second Pool C fixture next Sunday (August 13), when the hosts will be fully expected to get the better of a Japan side currently ranked 14th in the world.
However, containing Tsutsumi will be no easy task given the trouble she caused on her last appeardefeated
ance in Ireland, with the energetic wing also impressing on Sevens duty in the build-up to the World Cup.
SENE NAOUPU Ireland (centre)
NEW ZEALAND-born inside-centre Naoupu took to rugby at a young age, first picking up an oval ball aged 13. Her journey to the international stage hasn’t been easy — there was a failed trial with New Zealand at the age of 21 along with depression and eating disorders – but Naoupu has overcome those obstacles to establish herself as a real star on the international scene. She enters the tournament as the reigning Guinness Rugby Writers Women’s Player of the Year and the IRUPA Women’s Player of the Year, and with Ireland captain Niamh Briggs out injured, Naoupu’s experience and leadership will be more important than ever.
JADE LE PESQ France (scrum-half)
THE skilful Stade Rennais scrumhalf impressed over her four starts during the Six Nations, and will need to be at her best for a France team that don’t have the healthiest of records on the road.
Another who has also lended her talents to the Sevens stage, Le Pesq may have ended up at this tournament representing a different country, having caught the eye of Black Ferns coaches after she moved to New Zealand in an effort to improve her skills for 15s rugby.
Fortunately for Les Bleues, that switching of allegiances never materialised.
AROA GONZALEZ Spain (hooker)
INSPIRATIONAL captain Gonzalez is one of 15 players in the Spanish squad with previous World Cup experience, having come out of retirement three years ago to lead ‘Las Leonas’ in what will be her fourth World Cup.
Now 38, Gonzalez is the most capped Spanish women’s player of all time, having made her international debut as a 17-year-old against Ireland during the 1997 FIRA European Championship and lining out another 67 times since.
Spain will be dark horses in Pool B, though they have quite a difficult assignment against holders England in the tournament opener.