One unavoidable weakness of WXV is its shortness, only three rounds.
WXV presents tables for all three divisions, but they tell us very little that we couldn’t guess beforehand, or that come as a surprise. But surprises there were, and that makes it all worthwhile.
First and foremost, Ireland’s giant-killing performance against the Black Ferns. Truth to tell, the giant looks reduced in size and strength. The Ferns’ final game is against France, who are in a similar position of unfulfilled hopes. The central difference is six World Cup wins for the one, not a single final appearance for the other. The two managements have a lot to prove, forget the players for a moment.
The Unknowns
The medical staffs will be checking the injury-list, with the management peering over their shoulders with a worried frown. That is where squads of 30 are so important. There should always be enough slack to make up for any absence through injury.
Another unknown – that will remain so till the stats wizards have done their stuff – is whether all thirty players will get the chance to strut their stuff onfield. We must hope so. Certainly, in the games I’ve managed to cover with more than a mere glance, there were plenty of changes. It’s a long way to travel for non-participation.
Here are the line-ups for the final weekend (all times BST)
WXV1 (all at BC Place, Vancouver)
11 October USA v Ireland (20:30)
11 October France v New Zealand (23:45)
12 October Canada v England (03.00!)
WXV2 (all at Athlone Sports Stadium, Cape Town)
11 October: Wales v Japan (15:00)
12 October: South Africa v Italy (13:00)
12 October: Australia v Scotland (16:00)
WXV3 (all at The Sevens Stadium, Dubai)
11 October: Samoa v Madagascar (16:00)
12 October: Netherlands v Hong Kong China (15:00)
12 October: Spain v Fiji (17.30)
If we take the last match of each trio to be the grand finale, then the WXV committee guessed pretty well. Canada and England are indeed the two top dogs; Australia and Scotland are the two unbeaten sides in South Africa. But in the third tier Samoa caused an upset by demolishing Fiji 45-17, to sit in second place behind Spain. If they score a point in this third round, it will be the first against Laura Delgado’s crew.
There lies an unavoidable weakness of the current structure. While the top two tiers bring relatively closely matched squads together, the opposite is true in WXV3. But it helps to excuse much the biggest margin thus far, Spain 83 Madagascar 0. Even that score is far fewer than the wildest mis-matches of past World Cups, the Black Ferns topping 100 more than once. So competition is improving.
WVX1
I have already praised Canada as far as I dare without appearing biased, but England’s latest win over New Zealand stretches their lead at the top of the rankings board to 7.06 points – a country mile in a different language.
If the Maple Leafs manage to pull off a win in front of a delirious home crowd (we can only hope for such a phenomenon), they will upset several tonnes of apple-carts. They exist on a similar shoestring to the USA Eagles and the Australian Wallaroos. In all three rugby is a back-marker in sporting popularity, but Canada keeps upsetting the odds.
Home-based England supporters will need flexible sleep-patterns to see the whole of the third game live.
Les Bleues and the Black Ferns continue to disappoint; they now come face to face. The game promises to be the tautest of the three; much may hang on the outcome.
Ireland experienced a dreamy start in the top tier by beating the Ferns, but they weren’t able to follow it up, losing to Canada 21-8. Their clash with the USA will be another unpredictable encounter.
WXV2
The two unbeaten sides, Australia and Scotland, meet in Cape Town. An important difference is the Wallaroos’ gain of two bonus-points. They put 37 on Wales and 33 on South Africa. The Scots totalled 19 points in both their matches; enough to secure victories, but can they improve against a side that can scythe an opposition in two? They do have talented backs, but have proved error-prone, conceding eleven penalties last time out.
Wales have suffered two more demoralising defeats, though by only three points to Italy (8-5). That lack of a sharp edge raises questions about the coaching staff as much as the players. Their clash with the Sakura, also winless, may have far-reaching consequences come review time.
Compare Italy: they have totalled a pitiful 8 points, despite their win over Wales. No Alyssa D’Incà!
WXV3
Much the most romantic of the three divisions, but hidden away in the Middle East in great heat. The Makis of Madagascar will come away winless again; we must hope their fate is not as dire as Colombia’s was last year. Africa and South America need all the representation they can muster.
A needle game will be between the Netherlands and Hong Kong China. NL might, even should have won the 8-8 draw with Samoa. They then went down as usual to Spain, but have a good chance of finishing with a debut win in the big time against HKC. HKC lie ahead of NL by the clever ruse of playing Madagascar in the second round, a privilege denied the Dutch.
That’s one area of inequality the WXV committee must be examining before the next tournament.
Attendances
I won’t discuss this thorny problem, beyond pointing out one concerning matter.
We have been aware of new records being set ever since France boasted 17,440 at Grenoble in 2017 for the England match. That was beaten in 2023 when 18,603 turned up to watch France-Wales, also at the Stade des Alpes. Since then numbers have dropped.
Other nations have also found it difficult matching new records in succeeding years. England topped the lot with 58,498 at Twickenham. But, like France, they have been unable to match that total since. The two later games at HQ, against Ireland then New Zealand, produced gates on a diminishing scale.
We have yet to hear official attendances at WXV’s latest version, but the fear is that they too are finding it difficult to continue an upward trend.
