The Rugby Afrique Women’s Cup – 9th – 17th August 2019 – Good news, bad news
The news of a brand-new test series in Africa is exciting. But closer inspection reveals the worrying distance set between it and the elite Super Series in California.
At first sight this competition should be welcomed with open arms. It will act as the qualifier for the next World Cup, so the rewards are huge.
A second glance reveals the desperate problem World Rugby has in levelling out standards in women’s rugby. Four teams will take part (out of a continent of 54 nations) Kenya, Madagascar, South Africa and Uganda. This tiny number hints at the last-minute nature of the enterprise.
The announcement has come as a surprise to many of the constituent nations of Rugby Afrique. So even some of the more active have had too little advance notice to prepare and have felt unable to take part.
A glance at the map reveals the huge swathes of the continent that are left out of the equation.
In a perfect world each continent would run a tournament to decide which nation(s) would represent it. But that remains a far distant dream. Western Europe, North America and Oceania dominate the scene, providing rugby of a very high standard. But as they raise their standards year on year, the gap between them and the rest of the world grows wider.
World Rugby is trying desperately to reduce these inequalities, but the last thing it wants is to present to public gaze a World Cup where these disparities become glaring. This is nothing new. A glance back over past events is illuminating.
The very first World Cup (1991 in Wales) was mercifully free from one-sided games: the largest margin was a 60-0 win for France over Japan; and this despite the presence of underfunded competitors like Russia.
By 1994 the inequalities were beginning to bite: the USA walloped Sweden 111-0 and Japan 121-0. Four years later in Holland things were getting out of hand: New Zealand 134 Germany 6, and five more totals over 70. New Zealand repeated their mercilessness in Spain in 2002, a win over Germany 117-0.
Fortunately the next three tournaments were free from these extremes, but the problem was to discover a means of widening interest to the parts of the world not yet involved. When Hong Kong found their way to Dublin in 2017, it was due to the withdrawal of other nations. Time to repeat scores of over 100.
Neither of two vast continents, Africa and South America have managed to take part regularly. The only exceptions are the South Africans, who are the odds-on favourites to walk off with the Big Prize at this summer’s competition. And they have only recently resumed 15s rugby at international level after a break since 2014.
Despite the choice of a French version for title, Rugby Afrique is based in Cape Town. Little surprise there.
What are the chances of a full blown qualifier in Africa for the next World Cup-but-one? Representatives from West, East, Central and North Africa would be an ideal way of celebrating the spread of women’s rugby to more corners of the globe.
