Rugby: Series loss a wake-up call for New Zealand women’s rugby

from ODT:

If a tree falls in the forest and no-one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?

Nga Mamaku – the Black Ferns – have fallen at the hands of archrival England in a three-test series, with two losses and a draw, and there hasn’t been much of an uproar.

Herein lies the problem: despite the buzz created around the Rugby World Cup, and the status of the “men’s game” as our national sport, not many New Zealanders care enough about women’s rugby to jump up and down and demand answers.

For followers of the Black Ferns, the pain of the 10-0 loss in the first test and 21-7 loss in the second test was dulled slightly by finishing the series with an 8-8 draw.

The draw however, wasn’t enough to hide the fact this was the first time the national side had experienced consecutive losses, and the first time since 1991 the team had remained scoreless in a test match.

Is this something to be concerned about? Is this a glitch or a gaping sore?The performance of the Black Ferns against England is a red flag to the players, team management and the NZRU that resources allocated to women’s rugby have reached a critical level. And by resources, I’m referring to leadership, as well as funding.

For the last few years, resources for the women’s game have been cut, redirected, rationalised, diverted, put on hold and minimised, and yet the Black Ferns continued to win.

Just last year, the Black Ferns managed to win their pinnacle event, beating England 13-10 in the Women’s Rugby World Cup final.

If the NZRU was wondering how little the women’s game could survive on, I think it has found it. The Black Ferns have hit rock bottom and perhaps the outcome in England is a blessing in disguise. Now, at least, we know how little we can get away with before the team suffers.

In fairness to the NZRU, it has been a tough few years, and the focus of resources and attention was on the Rugby World Cup taking place in our own back yard.

Now that we’ve managed to win that in terms of putting on a great tournament, creating a festival atmosphere and securing the Webb Ellis Trophy, we can start to think about other brands under the NZRU umbrella.

If the Black Ferns are the cream, the pavlova has been slowly and surely flattening out for some time. Girls are playing the game in droves in the form of rippa rugby, with 10,411 players in the database, and secondary schoolgirls rugby is OK with 3606 players registered. At the senior level, however, there are only 933 players registered playing club and provincial rugby in New Zealand.

How are we meant to pick the cream from such a limited pool of players? What is the solution?

Should we focus on getting more international games for elite players or develop the base more?I believe we need to develop the base again and in order to do this we need to promote club rugby and get provincial union teams back on the agenda.

That is a big ask, however, when provincial unions are struggling to sustain their men’s ITM Cup teams. In a nutshell, the NZRU needs to show the provinces that women’s rugby is a priority.

Although slow to leverage off the Olympics, there is now a sevens campaign to be implemented from 2012, and the guaranteed test matches against the English in 2012 and 2013 do offer an incentive for players to stay involved in the game.

On top of that, provinces need help in the form of templates, competitions, expertise and development opportunities to get the infrastructure of women’s rugby in New Zealand healthy again.

The tree has fallen. I’ve heard it, and hopefully the NZRU has, as well.