As we await the last three games of the 2025 PWR season, let’s take a look around to see what’s been happening, and what is to come. Here are a few topics.
Exodus
Every end of season sees changes in personnel. This year’s offer two head coaches leaving their post: Rachel Taylor (Sale Sharks) and Tom Hudson (Leicester Tigers). But Hudson has simply transferred his presence to Sharks, closer to his native heath. That means that Tigers are now searching for a successor.
We already know that a number of players will not be present for 2025-26, including Rachel Malcolm, though she remains in the Scotland 6 Nations squad, and Rowena Burnfield, 50 caps for England.
Then there is another area of special interest, the call of the American Women’s Elite League (WER). It will take a good while for this new operation to find its feet (start March, end June), but its effect on the PWR could be considerable.
The WER is an attempt to establish a fully blown semi-pro league along the lines of PWR. In other words, it is an alternative magnet for the best players around.
Some American players have announced they will not be returning to PWR; two at least are taking up places at Denver Onyx, Hallie Taufoou and Rachel Johnson. Add to them names like Bulou Mataitoga, Alev Kelter, Kathryn Treder, Maya Learned, Paige Stathopoulos, Alivia Leatherman, Tess Feury and Catie Benson, and English clubs will be anxious to know they will be returning hotfoot for next season. Much will depend on personal preferences, careers, calendars, pay, coaching, USA Rugby’s advice, and so on.
Imagine for a moment all those Eagles deciding to stay at home: that would dramatically alter the make-up of PWR.
Changes this season – a few odds and ends
The away strip: this is now seen as essential, despite the extra cost. So the “famous quarters”, as trumpeted by Quins, are rarely seen in practice. In the early days the away strip used to carry markings that betrayed a club’s historic colours. You need a microscope to spot them now.
The season has been marked by more and more anniversaries, 50 caps and 100 caps for the club. It’s good to know that some players are happy to remain loyal, but, as the game becomes increasingly professional, they will become fewer.
Deep Questions
With the introduction of the 20-minute red card, rugby comes face to face with an intractable problem: how to deal with harmful play? Both the French and Irish national unions objected strongly to this reduced punishment, but World Rugby has sided with spectators who feel robbed when one team is reduced to 14 at an early stage of a game.
Does the punishment fit the crime?
My view has been all along that the flourishing of yellow and red cards has had minimal effect on reducing the number of offences. World Rugby is keeping a close eye on the figures, but hardly a game goes by without a yellow card. Reds are far more serious, but they keep occurring. As the game gets faster and faster, so players have less and less time to react to events. That’s where I see the problem lying.
Two World Cups have been disfigured by red cards, bringing the matter to worldwide attention. The 20-minute card might well have affected the result, but would it have made it more deserved?
The Bench
For some years WR has been toying with the idea of reducing the number of reserve players, call them what you will (bench, impact, replacements, etc).
Once upon a time they added up to zero. Then, for reasons not unconnected to the 20-minute red-card ruling, replacements were introduced. Over the years they have increased till they number more than half the starting XV. Is it right that players know they will not need to play all 80 minutes from the start?
In the men’s game a 7/1 split between forwards and backs is now common; 6/2 is increasingly favoured in women’s teams. Neither split reflects well on the open, spectator-friendly game WR seeks to attract.
Is a player’s career worthwhile when she is brought on the field in the 79th minute?
Can the PWR improve the menu offered to players who don’t feature regularly in PWR matches? We have known dual qualification, the Allianz Cup and the UP series. Heve they been sufficient?
A reminder of PWR’s promises
“As Executive Chair, [Genevieve] Shore will oversee the strategic direction of Premiership Women’s Rugby, strengthen partnerships with sponsors, and ensure the continued development of the PWR league. She will lead the PWR executive team on a day-to-day basis.”
Reactions:
‘The strategic direction’
That might include: increased professionalisation or not? A tenth club, or not? Any more clubs to be ousted or not? Creating greater public awareness.
‘Strengthen partnerships with sponsors’
That may be happening at this moment, but:
You know the familiar online follow-up “people also asked…” In response to the question: “Who sponsors PWR rugby?” we are told “PWR’s partnership with Canterbury offers three players (sic) of rugby boots for each PWR player. As part of our partnership with Estee Lauder four players, Abi Burton, Akine Gondwe, Claudia Maccdonald and Sadia Kabeya, were made Clinique ambassadors for the 24-25 season.”
That leaves around 450 players excluded from the world of diplomacy. All in all, it shows how much more sponsorship is needed for PWR to make it big time. At least Gilbert provide the balls, so that’s a relief.
‘The continued development of the PWR league’
‘Continued development’ cannot include the reduction of the league from ten clubs to nine, so it must entail other innovations.
Will it find a way of narrowing the gap between it and the many leagues placed below it?
The easy bit is ensuring the ongoing rise in playing standards. That is the league’s calling card, a matter for huge congratulation. The rest is far more nebulous.
Media coverage
PWR still hasn’t broken the media market. TNT limits itself to a single match per week and sits behind a paywall. They offer a well produced set of highlights the following Monday evening, but that hardly amounts to peak-viewing time.
The moment I spot viewing figures, I’ll know how successful their coverage has been. Few, if any, of the free-to-air channels have enough money to throw at the league.
In my view, the minimum coverage should include live stream of every match, just four each round.
The PWR Board
Current members include: Amy Kimber-Roberts as Strategy and Operations Director; Darren Hanley as Head of Marketing; Emily Lowe as Head of Finance.
Other members are two club directors, Michelle Orange (Sale Sharks) and Laurie Dalrymple (Harlequins). Claire Rogan is a non-executive director and Kelly Simmons a board advisor. Hanley and Simmons come from the world of football, Lowe from tennis. They will be familiar with the idea of players earning millions of dollars a year.
No replacement for Genevieve Shore as PWR Chair has yet been announced.
