No sooner is the inaugural Under 20s Six Nations tournament completed than another new venture comes over the horizon: a Transatlantic Quad Series.
The four nations involved are Canada, England, the USA and the hosts, Wales. This gives them and us the chance to examine how a new set of squads compares. Other, non-participating nations can look on with interest and, in the case of Ireland and Scotland, possibly a degree of envy.
For the USA, this will be another testing event. They have already lost to Canada in the one match played before the main event, going down 23-10 in Ystrad Mynach, just outside Cardiff, last Sunday.
No doubt World Rugby will be equally anxious to see American youngsters advance. They set so much store on having a strong Eagles’ presence on the world stage.
Wales are similarly placed. The WRU has only recently altered its attitude towards women’s rugby. The elite side’s performances in the 2024 Six Nations show the distance they still have to travel. And their younger sisters couldn’t manage a win in three demanding matches in Parma recently.
Canada have to be admired for the way they remain proactive on so many fronts. Their elite team sits in third place in world rankings, a smidgen behind NZ, and their clash with England may well prove the highlights of the four matches.
The English will want to erase the memory of their defeat to France as quickly as possible. But it showed them the distance they can still be expected to travel. Many of the squad have experienced the challenges of PWR, but they weren’t enough to secure victory in their last match in Parma.
A glance beyond this quartet: for the French, dominant once more at this level, the strategy is clear. They intend continuing their advance; its their equivalent of England’s ‘Grow the Gap’. Their head coach, Caroline Suné, is well aware of future challenges. The French pathway system is named “Académies Pôles Espoirs Rugby”, and has been responsible for seeing a host of players pass through to the elite squad, including three successive U20s captains.
Suné is intent on assuring that they stay ahead of their biggest danger, the English. To that end, she is in urgent discussions about the best route forward.
To summarise
This is another imaginative initiative, but by its very nature it has to remain limited in scope. So, as with the event in Parma, there will not be a full round-robin of games; instead, a sensible quartet of cross-Atlantic challenges.
The venue is Cardiff Arms Park, a ground full of history, great names and deeds.
Fixtures
19 July: England v Canada, KO 11.30; Wales v USA, KO 14.00
24 July: England v USA, KO 11.30; Wales v Canada, KO 14.00
Coverage
Rugbypass.tv will be making its own free live stream coverage of the games available. So it’s next Friday morning.
