As we wait for the curtain to rise, we can make sure our nibbles are in place, and look back at rugbypass’ attempt to order the top fifty players to look out for.
What a ridiculous enterprise!
For one thing, the list is out of date from the moment it is published. Erin King, who figures, is one who sadly won’t make the trip. Others may yet not make the starting line.
Let’s look first at the selectors: they were Lucy Lomax, Imogen Ainsworth, Finn Morten, Ned Lester, Francisco Isaac, Willy Billiard and Joe Harvey – none of them names of international repute. How were they chosen? Two women among five men: surely it should ĥave been the other way around.
To query just one of them: Isaac does valuable work following European rugby, mainly the men’s teams. Are those credentials sufficient for this global task?
If we call it ‘just a bit of fun’, then maybe It’s okay. But most of us will peruse the long list and get quite annoyed – no matter our own nationality and our personal preferences.
Then, once again, rugby is supposed to be a team game. How on earth do we measure the worth of a tight-head against a winger?
Enough of preliminary skirmishes. In case you’ve forgotten, here is the list in full:
1 PORTIA WOODMAN-WICKLIFFE
2 PAULINE BOURDON SANSUS
3 ZOE ALDCROFT
4 ALEX TESSIER
5 AOIFE WAFER
6 MEG JONES
7 RUAHEI DEMANT
8 HOPE ROGERS
9 MORGANE BOURGEOIS
10 KAIPO OLSEN-BAKER
11 ELLIE KILDUNNE
12 ABI DOW
13 ALEX MATTHEWS
14 KATELYN VAHA’AKOLO
15 EMILY TUTTOSI
16 MADOUSSOU FALL RACLOT
17 NEVE JONES
18 GABRIELLE VERNIER
19 ABBIE WARD
20 LAETITIA ROYER
21 SARAH BERN
22 CLAUDIA MOLONEY-MACDONALD
23 MANAE FELEU
24 MAUD MUIR
25 STACEY WAAKA
26 ASHLEY MARSTERS
27 ZOE HARRISON
28 DALEAKA MENIN
29 KAREN PAQUIN
30 ALANA BORLAND
31 HOLLY AITCHISON
32 MO HUNT
33 HANNAH BOTTERMAN
34 AURA MUZZO
35 MAIA ROOS
36 GEORGIA PONSONBY
37 EVIE GALLAGHER
38 ALYSHA CORRIGAN
38 RACHEL MALCOLM
40 JUSTINE PELLETIER
41 MAYA STEWART
42 VITTORIA OSTUNI MINUZZI
43 ALEV KELTER
44 ERIN KING
45 RACHEL JOHNSON
46 SYLVIA BRUNT
47 LANA SKELDON
48 ROSE BERNADOU
49 AOIFE DALTON
50 DESIREE MILLER
To save you the trouble, here are the national allocations:
England 13
New Zealand 9
Canada 7
France 6
Ireland 4
USA, Scotland and Australia 3
Italy 2
Now you’ve caught your breath, here are a few of my reactions.
The Top Ten: the huge surprise is the inclusion of Morgane Bourgeois. She even stands ahead of her leading rival for the 15 shirt, Ellie Kildunne. This helps to prove that this was a very different panel from the one that selected the World Player of the Year.
Eight out of ten come from the four nations widely tipped to reach the semis. So congratulations to Hope Rogers and Aoife Wafer (the latter we can’t be sure of seeing in action.)
The Nations missing from the long list are Brazil, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Spain and Wales. No great surprise, but did our panel manage to get a glimpse of all 192 players in action?
Missing names include Jorja Miller and Claudia Pena. But it’s performances like theirs that will light up the stadia.
I wonder which matches our panel watched and noted. How long did their debates last? I hope they didn’t lead to drawn swords.
We’d better call this just a little game; not least because the panel’s verdicts can be called into question on so many fronts. You’re welcome to complete your own list.
Now for the real thing.
