28 April 2025
Pacific Four series
The latest edition of the Pac-4 runs from 4-24 May.
It offers even more drama than usual; England’s narrow escape at Twickenham was all the proof needed that the winners of the next World Cup are not a dead cert. The four coaches can gain vital information about their own best selections as well as having a snoop into their opponents’ lair.
Canada, ranked second, have consistently offered the Red Roses a serious challenge. By the time the RWC starts they hope to have their absent captain, Sophie de Goede, restored from an ACL injury. They have managed remarkably well without her. Within the Pac-4 they have the disadvantage of playing every game away from home.
New Zealand, once permanent winners of everything, are taking their rebuild ultra-seriously. Sevens players have queued up for a place in Allan Bunting’s side, even Portia Woodman-Wickcliffe. It remains to be seen how many make the grade Bunting sets.
The 7s stars would add huge strength to the back-line, but can Bunting find bench-forwards to match England’s?
Australia remain hopeful rather than expectant. One unforeseen detail: Maddison Levi’s agent doesn’t want her to join in the 15s enterprise. He presumably reckons the Wallaroos’ chances in England are so low that her efforts to acquire all the techniques needed would be a waste of effort. Her presence, alongside other 7s stars, had been viewed as a major boost for Aussie hopes.
It adds a new dimension to the ongoing dilemma between the two codes and could make a sizeable difference to the final choices made for the RWC. We all love and admire agents.
The Eagles remain the outsiders. It was a relief to see fewer new names on Sione Fukofuka’s latest training list. He needs all the playing experience he can muster. The WER league has come too late to make a signal difference to the squad’s standards. It should be a different story in four years’ time.
It remains to be seen how many players at present in the PWR set-up choose to return home to join one of the six WER franchises.
Overall – the key game comes in Round Two, the Black Ferns v the Maple Leafs on 17 May. Home advantage may make the difference.
Ireland
On the day Ireland were defeated at the twelfth hour in Edinburgh, UL Bohemian beat Railway Union in an AIL final thriller at the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. That was a second successive title and ended Railway’s wonderful unbeaten run of 19 league matches.
This was Boh’s fifteenth trophy win. Eilís Cahill scored the winning try in the 82nd minute. Seat-of- your-pants finishes have been all the rage this weekend.
Five members of the Irish 23 in Edinburgh are members of the two clubs. We must hope that the Bohs saved two slices of the celebratory cake for Aoife Corey and Jane Clohessy, who had a prior engagement elsewhere.
Wales
We still await better news from Cymru. The women’s trouncing in Parma brought the combined number of losses in this year’s 6N to 10/10 – and the men’s team hasn’t won a match for two years.
A two-match tour of Australia starting in late July is welcome, but hardly sufficient preparation for bigger tests to come. The newly installed Director of Rugby, Dave Reddin, and the short-term Director of Women’s Rugby, Belinda Moore, may well decide to set aside short-term goals.
Sean Lynn has admitted that some members of his squad don’t deserve their place. That is a damning admission, but aligns with my observations from much further away. The central difficulty is that short-term alternatives are unavailable, unless grandmothers can be found around the world with promising granddaughters. Kate Williams has proved a valuable addition.
The Team of the 6N Championship
When people publish their choices, are they keen to include as many different nations as possible?
That has been my impression over the years. Even scrumqueens seemed to follow the pattern.
Katy Daley-Mclean offers seven non-English in her selection. They are: Manon Bigot (2), Madoussou Fall Raclot (5), Aoife Wafer (7), Pauline Bourdon Sansus (9), Amee-Leigh Costigan (11), Enya Breen (12) and Morgane Bourgeois (15). That means four French and three Irish, neatly reflecting relative positions in the table.
The obvious difficulty is avoiding giving the winning team all 15 places; that looks horribly like jingoism run wild. At the same time, preferring Bigot to Lark Atkin-Davies means omitting a player I consider currently the world’s best at No 2. Likewise Breen in the centre; is she really ahead of Meg Jones, even ahead of her midfield partner Aoife Dalton?
I have no qualms about the other choices. They showed the way.
As for choosing the Player of the Championship: it’s like choosing your favourite chocolate from a box of a hundred, only far more serious.
