The review into Ireland’s failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup is partial, sober and wide-ranging. Women’s rugby in Ireland will receive an extra €1m per annum; new posts will be filled and new support systems put in place.
It is partial because contributors who gave evidence were assured of confidentiality. Conflicting stories emerged over past months on this point, but the prime need for confidentiality had to win. So there is no blow-by-blow account of what went wrong, on and off the field.
The report is essentially a list of must-dos, accompanied by an indication of how far each matter has been progressed thus far.
The IRFU has accepted all thirty recommendations, and the CEO, Kevin Potts, has taken the opportunity to apologise formally to the players for past responses to their expressions of concern.
A number of new posts will be established, from Head of Women’s Performance and Pathways and a Women’s XVs National Team Programme Manager down to specialisms like a full-time performance analyst.
Structures throughout the women’s game are to be improved, updated, extended and regularised.
The four players who led representations to the government and the IRFU, Ciara Griffin, Claire Molloy, Cliodhna Moloney and Lindsay Peat, have expressed satisfaction with the review, as a first significant step in improving the programme of Ireland’s XV. They praise Potts for his proactive support.
At senior level there have already been changes to key personnel; the head coach, Adam Griggs, and the Director of Sevens and Women’s Rugby, Anthony Eddy, have departed, David Nucifora, the IRFU High Performance Director, has not.
The review was presented by a panel of three, Amanda Bennett of FairPlay Ltd., Kevin Bowring and Helen Phillips.
