Under the Posts – Week of Mar 26, 2017

World Rugby's Hall of Fame in Rugby provided the departure point for the Women's Rugby World Cup trophy as it heads across the Irish Sea for more than four months of activities across the island of Ireland.
World Rugby’s Hall of Fame in Rugby provided the departure point for the Women’s Rugby World Cup trophy as it heads across the Irish Sea for more than four months of activities across the island of Ireland.

The top headlines from last week include yellow cards, yellow cards and more yellow cards, an opinion piece from Rugby Heaven, USA and Canada faced off in the CAN-AM series,USA Hockey and the women’s national team have reached an agreement, and the match officials for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup are announced.

As a reminder, we are doing weekly posts recapping the top women’s rugby news. Can’t wait a week? Join us on Twitter or on our Facebook page as we will be posting daily.

An opinion piece from Rugby Heaven, they feel that the rash of yellow cards due to the law variations should be shown the red card. We all know that a yellow card unbalanced the team that has received it and often leads to points for the other.

Interesting thoughts to ponder but we feel strongly that if it protects the players and brings more safety, the law variations must be kept. We are still in the adjustment period and the law will continue to be applied until consistency is the law of the land.

England has broken down the Red Roses performance at the 2017 Women’s Six Nations. Really interesting stuff!

USA head coach Pete Steinberg has named his team to face Canada in the first match of the CAN-AM series. With only a few veterans available and uninjured, this young team will look to gain experience ahead of the WRWC.

ScrumQueens has more details on New Zealand Black Ferns series in June. Wellington, Rotorua and Christchurch will host the Black Ferns in an international series featuring Canada, Australia and England.

Follow the WRWC 2017 Trophy Tour at http://www.rwcwomens.com/trophy-tour.

Canada thrashed the USA 39-5 in the first match of the CAN-AM series. Another way to look at it was a tale of two halves, at halftime it was 10-5.

“We came out with some real intensity in the first half,” Steinberg said following the defeat. “Unfortunately we didn’t come out with that same intensity in the second half. There’s some learning that happens with a team that’s young like we are. We have to help our players manage their intensity throughout the game; something we’ll work on for Saturday.”

USA Hockey and the women’s national team reached an agreement to end a wage dispute and avoid a boycott of the world championship on home ice.

Players and USA Hockey finalized the deal Tuesday night and announced it in a joint statement just three days before the tournament begins in Plymouth, Mich. It’s a four-year agreement that pays players beyond just the six-month Olympic period.

HERRUGBYCOUNTS gets it! They posted the announcement that USA Hockey has finally agreed to contract arrangements for better pay and resources for our female Olympic athletes.

Some commenters asked what this has to do with rugby? USA Hockey’s dilemma has to do with rugby and HERRUGBYCOUNTS. The win for USA Women’s Hockey actually has everything to do with not just rugby, but all women’s sports. Read more at https://www.facebook.com/HERRUGBYCOUNTS/posts/1891346941102265:0.

As part of the World Rugby’s newly formed women’s advisory committee, Wang Shao-Ing looks to develop the sport in Asia. Asia’s role cannot be understated, noted Wang, who is also an adjunct law lecturer at Singapore Polytechnic.

Japan and Hong Kong have qualified for next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland, the first time two Asian countries will compete since the 1994 edition, when Japan and Kazakhstan featured.

The 2019 men’s version will be hosted in Japan, the first staging in Asia.

Gender parity in sport is still a pipe dream but progress is being made, with Wang pointing to last week’s election of Farah Palmer as the first female member on the New Zealand Rugby board.

She said: “There’s greater representation of women in governance these days and the Rio Olympics also gave women’s rugby a lot of visibility.”

Black Ferns fullback Selica Winiata has been training with the high-flying Chiefs in order to prepare for a big year that includes the Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland.

Winiata said it was important to spend some time around the best in order to improve her game and hone her focus on the year ahead.

“This year’s a big year for the Black Ferns,” Winiata told Newshub.

“We’ve got the World Cup and you look at some of the teams that have been playing Six Nations, they’re getting a lot of games under their belts. For us, that’s not the case, so it was about how I can make myself better, sharpen up in certain areas.

“I thought ‘hey get in contact with friends, see if I can come into the Chiefs camp’ and he was more than happy for me to come in so here I am.”

World Rugby have announced the panel of referees and assistant referees for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 in Ireland. England, Australia and Ireland will provide two referees each, with the panel also featuring one official from Hong Kong, Spain and South Africa.

Amy Perrett (Australia), Graham Cooper (Australia), Tim Baker (Hong Kong), Joy Neville (Ireland), Sean Gallagher (Ireland), Sara Cox (England), Claire Hodnett (England), Aimee Barrett (South Africa) and Alhambra Nievas (Spain), the joint-recipient of the World Rugby Referee Award 2016.

Mount St. Mary’s University Director of Athletics Lynne Robinson announced the Mount will elevate the women’s rugby program to full varsity status beginning with competition this coming fall. The decision makes the Mount one of only seven NCAA Division I programs in the nation and means the university will compete against some of the nation’s most respected academic institutions.

Robinson has also announced the hiring of Farrah Douglas as head coach for the inaugural varsity team.

Mount St. Mary’s joins Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Quinnipiac, Sacred Heart, and the United States Military Academy as the only NCAA Division I women’s rugby programs in the country.

Canada easily took the CAN-AM title as they defeated USA 37-10 in the second match of the series. Canada will now travel to New Zealand to face off with the Blacks Ferns and Australia. USA has yet to name any other events before the WRWC.

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