2010 is World Cup Year for the women

[amanda]

Things are pretty exciting for women's rugby this year. After winning the Sevens World Cup in Dubai last year and taking out the Hong Kong Sevens this year, it seems there's a lot more confidence for the 15s squad, too.

The Wallaroo girls have just this weekend been in a training camp in Sydney, but as far as I know, the final squad for the World Cup - to be held in England in August - won't be named until after the National Championships, which will be held in June in Canberra.

The rep season has started with trials amongst the teams competing at the Nationals. ACT scored an upset win over Sydney two weeks ago in the Brumbies v Hurricanes curtain raiser, and will be playing NSW Country this coming Sunday at Duntroon. On May 16, ACT will play NSW Development and Sydney will take on NSW Country in Blacktown.

I'm in the Brumbies squad and have taken a year off to focus on rugby. We have big ambitions after placing third at Nationals last year and with some big names joining and rejoining the squad, we intend to make our presence felt. My blog contains a bit more info on how we're going:

http://openside.amandasingh.me


But back to the Wallaroos and the World Cup. Australia is in a tough pool with New Zealand (the reigning champs, actually, they've won the last three...), Wales and South Africa and we're seeded 7th. A bit of a disadvantage is the fact that our girls have limited internationals under their belt. Since the last World Cup, Australia has played:

- 2 test matches against NZ in NZ (2007)
- 2 test matches against NZ in Australia (2008)
- 1 test match against Samoa (2009)

All other nations have had many more test matches to assist their preparation, although NZ hasn't had any tests this year. Talking to some of the girls, though, there seems to be a lot of positivity and hunger, as well as growing depth in the ranks. It's very competitive, even for state team selections. I'm looking forward to a cracking National Championships.

ScrumQueens.com has all the international women's rugby news and is worth a look:

http://www.scrumqueens.com

 

[Nusadan]

Thanks for the info, I like to keep up with the latest women's rugby news...and good luck for this year, Amanda!

 

[RugbyReg]

awesome stuff Amanda. Keep us in the loop as I imagine the ARU won't until we win.

In fact....this post should probably be on the blog.

 

[Moses]

Very interesting Amanda, hopefully the NZ Women's team will learn a thing or two from their All Blacks about choking in world cups.

 

[amanda]

Thanks for the interest, guys, it's very encouraging! I'll keep you posted.

 

[amanda]

ACT 42 defeated NSW Country 12 yesterday to claim the Southern States Championship, which is the longest running trophy in Australian Women's Rugby.

Details and (hopefully) video highlights coming soon.

Below is a link to some highlights of the match played between ACT and Sydney on 16 April. Many of the girls playing here are vying positions in the Wallaroo World Cup squad. Keep your eyes out for the flashy yellow boots of Sharni Williams at 12 and for Alex Hargreaves at 8 for ACT (Brumbies strip). Cheryl Soon, the Wallaroos captain is playing scrummie for Sydney and watch out for the very tall Chris Ross in the their lineout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrDacXtmGac

That was me at 7 for ACT. Hope you enjoyed the highlights, it is was a tough match between the teams that placed 2nd (Sydney) and 3rd at last year's Nationals.

 

[DPK]

Great vid amanda. Williams looked dangerous at 12. Looks like stringing phases together is the name of the game, no stooopid kicking away possesion

 

[RugbyReg]

enjoyed that Amanda, thanks.

Soon has a better clearance than Burgess.

Great offloading there in the lead up to the Brumbies first try.

Some really technically excellent skills there.

 

[Bruce Ross]

Thanks, Amanda, the technical standard of the players looks quite impressive. Women's rugby is emerging as a serious sport in its own right.

 

[Nusadan]

Thanks, Amanda, the technical standard of the players looks quite impressive. Women's rugby is emerging as a serious sport in its own right.

Hopefully the AFRU, in their wisdom, will see this, and thus put a bigger portion of monies from the Oz Olympic Federation and Aust Govt allocated to them into women's rugby in light of sevens rugby's inclusion in the 2016 Olympics to make up for their shameful act in reducing their spending on women's rugby in Oz in the past decade....golly, the women's test team played only four tests, all against NZ, in the four years since the last RWC in 2006, including none last year at all! :angryfire:

 

[amanda]

Thanks, guys

Hopefully the AFRU, in their wisdom, will see this, and thus put a bigger portion of monies from the Oz Olympic Federation and Aust Govt allocated to them into women's rugby in light of sevens rugby's inclusion in the 2016 Olympics to make up for their shameful act in reducing their spending on women's rugby in Oz in the past decade

One can hope... although there is a school of thought that says this Olympic Games funding will push the women's game away from 15s and towards 7s. I'd love to see both forms develop - we've seen a bunch of female touch players come over to rugby because of sevens, so hopefully that will continue. The girls that make the switch are pretty competitive lasses who find they like the physicality of the full game, too.

 

[en_force_er]

Amanda, how's the standard of women's rugger in Victoria?

I heard my club was trying to be a team together this year but it never came into fruition.

 

[amanda]

how's the standard of women's rugger in Victoria?

It seems to be coming along. They placed 6th at the Nationals last year, behind QLD, Sydney, ACT, NSW Country and WA.

There was a Victorian team at Darwin 7s called KEAHI Victoria - no clue what that stands for, but they were quite competitive. ACT beat them in the playoff for 3rd spot, and they put up a pretty good fight. They probably showed the most improvement over the tournament.

In sad news, WA have pulled out of Nationals and it looks as though they will merge with Victoria for the competition. There are a few other options, but that is looking most likely at this point.

 

[Jets]

Keep the info coming Amanda as a lot of us are very interested if following Women's rugby.

I would love it if in the ARU would be able to run a couple of Provincial comps under the Super 15. A Women's comp and an Men's U20 comp. That would be great exposure for these players and would make for some more meaningful games each year. It would also be great for exposure and development of the Women's game.

 

[amanda]

I would love it if in the ARU would be able to run a couple of Provincial comps under the Super 15. A Women's comp and an Men's U20 comp. That would be great

I'd love that, too! We do get a few trial matches against other provincial teams, but the focus is always on the 4-day Nationals tourney.

New Zealand formerly had a provincial tournament for their women, but that was scrapped this year because of budgetary constraints. Nice timing given it's a World Cup year...

 

[amanda]

Here's the match report from ACT's victory over NSW Country last weekend, written by ACT winger Erin Taylor.

i Williams in the backs.

Well done to the coaching and management staff and well done girls!
ACT Brumbies Women vs NSW Country match report

On a beautiful Canberra autumn afternoon, the ACT Brumbies Women took on NSW Country in a trial match for the upcoming Women’s national championships. Both teams have had some closely contested tussles in recent years so the game promised to be a tough one.

ACT looked nervous early but started to gel towards the middle of the first half. With some quick ball movement inside centre Sharni Williams scored a try with a straight run up the middle followed closely by another try to Kristy Giteau for the ACT to dart to a 10-0 lead. Country started to settle into the game and with some fantastic counter rucking by Rebecca Trethowan began consistently pressuring the ACT line. Some desperate defence by the ACT backline halted a few attacking raids by Country, but with sustained pressure late in the half, they crossed the line for 2 tries and with one conversion went into half time leading 12-10.

Some encouraging words from Coach Crozier at half time coupled with some fresh legs saw the ACT girls come out firing from the half time break. The organisation and go forward from the forward pack, particularly from Kamilla Wihongi, Louise Burrows, Erin Caldwell and Alex Hargraves was fantastic as was the quick ball coming from scrum half Brooke Rowlands. The platform set by the forward pack meant that the backs could run riot with Sharni Williams and Kristy Giteau doing some real damage through the mid field. Tries in the second half went to Sharni Williams (2), Fee Daly, Alex Hargreaves, Kristy Giteau and Erin Caldwell with Rachel Fletcher kicking the only conversion. The ACT stormed to a convincing 42-12 win and are hoping to continue building towards the National’s campaign.

Players of the day were Louise Burrows in the forwards and Sharni Williams in the backs.

Erin forgot to mention the incredible scrummaging that set the platform for Sharni's first try, but she's a winger: we don't really hold that against her, haha . We took a good amount of pride from the victory but are wary of being overconfident: this was Country's first hitout together and they showed a lot of intent in the first half which we expect will only build in magnitude in the weeks leading up to Nationals.


Yesterday, ACT beat NSW Development 88 - nil.

 

[Moses]

I would love it if in the ARU would be able to run a couple of Provincial comps under the Super 15. A Women's comp and an Men's U20 comp. That would be great

I'd love that, too! We do get a few trial matches against other provincial teams, but the focus is always on the 4-day Nationals tourney.

Perhaps with the local Derbies round in the Super 15 there could be an opportunity to follow the Aussie Super rugby teams around and play curtain raisers? While I enjoy the schoolboy games they sometimes play as curtain raisers this would really raise the profile of Womens' rugby.

 

[amanda]

Interview with Uni-Norths and ACT Captain, Brooke Rowlands

Here's an interview with Uni-Norths and ACT Captain, Brooke Rowlands, well worth a watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlewOj959V8


Brooke is a special leader. "Uncompromising" is one of her catchwords, and she certainly is exactly that. Tough as nails, even when eye-gouged (accidently, I swear, I was just cleaning out!) and having her leg stamped on. She's putting herself and our ACT team in the best position to succeed this year.

Uni-Norths beat my team, Vikings, in the 2009 ACT Women's Grand Final. It was a great relief to turn the tables on them in the opening round of the competition this year, but in honesty, their aggression at the breakdown made the first half one of the toughest halves of rugby I've played; I was running my guts out to help secure our ball and was dry-retching at half time, I kid you not.

Testament to Brooke's tenacity, she's a pint-sized scrumhalf, but was aggressive enough to front up at flanker in the second half of that match and make her presence felt.

 

[amanda]

Perhaps with the local Derbies round in the Super 15 there could be an opportunity to follow the Aussie Super rugby teams around and play curtain raisers? While I enjoy the schoolboy games they sometimes play as curtain raisers this would really raise the profile of Womens' rugby.

Yeah, that'd be cool. I think the ARU are tending to focus more on Sevens, though, for women. According to Coach Crozier:

It's a pipe dream..........it wont happen!!

One step at a time. We got a curtain-raiser for the Brumbies this year, maybe there'll be more next year...

 

[Jets]

I would love it if in the ARU would be able to run a couple of Provincial comps under the Super 15. A Women's comp and an Men's U20 comp. That would be great

I'd love that, too! We do get a few trial matches against other provincial teams, but the focus is always on the 4-day Nationals tourney.

Perhaps with the local Derbies round in the Super 15 there could be an opportunity to follow the Aussie Super rugby teams around and play curtain raisers? While I enjoy the schoolboy games they sometimes play as curtain raisers this would really raise the profile of Womens' rugby.

I played for a season in Ireland (a long time ago) and there was a huge amount of excitement during to 6 Nations not just about the test matches but the "A" and Under age games as well. I think if the ARU could get a Women's comp and U20's comp going it would add to the excitement and the profile of the Women's game would grow.

I think your average punter in the street would be surprised at the level of play in the Women's game. Some exceptional athlete's play the game.