World Rugby’s decision to delay the World Cup for a year is now formally accepted
World Rugby has announced a package of over £2 million which ‘will focus on providing teams with international competition’ to help nations prepare for next year’s World Cup. We must hope that these monies will aim more widely. What the emerging (aka Tier-2) nations need first and foremost is a proper training regime. Tests against other nations can only take place once all squad members are in the optimum physical and mental state. For obvious reasons the planned programmes of preparation have simply not been in place.
There is now a period of eighteen months (assuming a start in September 2022) for the qualifying nations to reassess their needs and plans.
A Question of Size
An assessment published by WR displays the worrying gaps between the established nations (‘Tier-1’) and the ‘emerging’ nations from a purely physical standpoint.
The stats for the women’s world cups are far less complete than for the men’s. Even so, there has been a growing divergence in physical conditioning between the two categories over the past decade.
Working on body weight alone, they reveal worrying trends: an increase of 4.4 kg in the average weight of a Tier-1 forward at the 2017 WRWC over her equivalent in 2010. It averages out at 9 kg heavier than her Tier-2 opponent. That is a frightening margin; multiply it by eight for every scrum and think of the consequences.
With every passing year of professionalisation this gap will widen unless the emerging nations can somehow benefit from the financial support WR is offering them. But the unpalatable fact remains that the more they advance, the further ahead the established nations will drive.
It is a pressing worry for future World Cups. In the men’s version there are large powerful forwards in both packs; the result depends more on technique, skill and teamwork. In the women’s version the physical disparities are there to be seen. Even in the Six Nations England and France can dominate physically to an extent that brings games close to risky for the lighter team.
Of the remaining nations still to qualify for the final stages, the Europeans (Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Spain) are likely to enjoy a great physical advantage over their ultimate opponents, Colombia and Kenya.
Player safety comes first in any rugby code-book. But as the professionals grow heavier, taller and faster, so the dangers grow in the match-up of unequals.
Another Catch in the Pro-Am Argument
The news of Swansea-born Alisha Butchers’ need to GoFundMe was disquieting in the extreme. After an ankle injury she discovered that her club, Bristol Bears, could cover only part of the treatment she needed. Fortunately well-wishers went and funded promptly.
It calls into question what the Minimum Operating Standards really were that every applicant club for the Premier 15s had to meet. How did the RFU envisage health cover and injury insurance working out? Were they surprised to discover that Bristol were not supporting Butchers 100%?
How do they react now to rugby followers hearing of a young player resorting to these means to fight her way back to fitness?
The overused phrase ‘Not fit for purpose’ comes unhappily to mind. Butchers’ measured response is to remind all her fellow players of the need to read the terms of their insurance cover very closely.
And where does that leave the WRU, for whom she has already appeared 28 times with distinction? Do they feel any responsibility for one of their players?
She is one of many talented players in that awkward intermediate state, between amateur and professional. As far as her playing standards are concerned, she is fully professional. In other respects she has to follow the path of many before her and seek a living wage elsewhere.
Mo Hunt, a former women’s representative at the Rugby Players Association, called Butchers’ situation ‘outrageous’. Several other similar adjectives come to mind.
It would be a timely intervention for the RFU to make plain to everyone, from clubs, to players, to the general public, exactly what protection it provides for its players. It shouldn’t use shortage of funds as an excuse: money has recently been found to support the ten clubs and to allow for regular testing in the Premier 15s.
Lead photo shows Alisha Butchers on international duty in happier times
