From Scrumqueens: Women’s test rugby review 2011

from Scrumqueens:

The year following the Women’s Rugby World Cup is normally fairly quiet as teams regroup and rebuild, and this year has been no different.

Just 54 test matches were played in 2011, making it the quietest year for women’s test rugby since 2005.

However, fears that the lure of Olympic rugby would mean that countries would start to move away from the long form of the game towards Sevens have so far proven groundless. 32 nations played test rugby during the year, and the game continued to grow and expand into new territories. Three nations making their test match debuts – Switzerland, Laos and the Philippines – and several others, including China, Thailand and Uzbekistan, returned to fifteen-aside rugby after a break of several years.

By far and away the busiest team was England, to the extent that they were involved nearly a quarter of all the tests played in the year – 13 in all, winning 11, drawing one, and losing only to France when a young and largely experimental team spent rain-swept week in Provence as part of England’s preparations for the visit of world champions New Zealand. It was a schedule that rivalled professional men’s national teams and is all the more impressive when the six “unofficial” and “A” team internationals, plus a further seven U20 tests, are added to the equation.

Over the year England played every other team in the world’s top ten (with the exception of Australia) – while the U20 team played (and beat) every other U20 team in the world. They again dominated the Six Nations, winning their 11th Grand Slam and sixth successive title, running in 68 points against Italy and record-breaking 89 against Scotland, before crossing the Atlantic for the third Nations Cup.

Though here England were also unbeaten, the competition proved to be a much more testing affair than the Six Nations. In the pool games only an injury time try saved them from defeat to the USA, after which hosts Canada also pushed England far closer than any European opposition had managed. And while England went on to win the final fairly comfortably, Canada still managed to score 19 points – more points than any full-strength England team had conceded since the 2006 World Cup Final.

England’s A team also had success, winning an incredibly exciting FIRA European Championship, superbly organised in Corunna by Spain, who reached the final and lead England until 12 minutes from time before going down by only 5-3. Spain’s 15-a-side team can often be over-shadowed by the success of their Sevens squad, by it is worth noting that England were the only team to beat Spain in a year where the “The Lions” defeated a full-strength Scotland in January, and then beat a near full-strength French XV in a thrilling and emotional FIRA afternoon in front of a packed crowd at the University of Coruña.

That Spanish defeat was the lowest point of the year for France as they rebuilt after an ultimately disappointing World Cup. After England they were the busiest nation in world rugby, with seven tests and four A internationals, plus one U20 international. At times they could be sublimely brilliant – most especially in their opening Six Nations game against Scotland – and overall they reaffirmed their place as Europe’s number two rugby nation. However they showed some fragility against Ireland and badly missed the boot of Aurélie Bailon throughout most of the year. However, a highly successful Autumn series, with wins over England and Italy, has clearly boosted the confidence of the French team and could be the springboard for a much closer Six Nations in 2012.

Scotland and Italy were the only other “major” European nations to play test rugby outside of the Six Nations. The two teams overall had similar records and again occupied the bottom third of the Six Nations table, but Italy continued to grow and develop as a team and had one of their best years ever, with growing enthusiasm on and off the field – a test match in Italy is now an experience that every team will be looking forward to as Italian host communities took hospitality to new heights in 2011.

Unfortunately the only thing that seems to grow for Scotland is gap between them and the rest of the Six Nations. It may be a rebuilding time, but this was still their worst season ever, with defeats by record margins to Spain, France, Wales, England and Italy. They did finish the year with a win – against a young Dutch team largely lacking their Sevens professionals – but unless dramatic improvements are made Scotland could struggle to qualify for the World Cup in 2014.

However, in their favour the SRU are doing all they can with limited resources. They have formed an A team and a U20 side, and do organise extra games. The same cannot be said for Ireland and Wales who continue to put in excellent Six Nations performances despite the lack of development opportunities. That the Irish in particular could again finish third in the Six Nations despite barely seeing each other outside of the championship is truly remarkable – one if left to wonder what they could achieve if they were given a fraction of the support that their opponents receive.

Or even the levels of support that South Africa are starting to be given. Outside of Europe and North America no Union gives more support to its women’s team than the SARU. And it does not come cheap – as no-one seems to wish to visit them, the South Africans have to travel overseas for all of their international rugby – but their efforts finally bore fruit in August when the world 10th ranked side memorably beat a USA side (5th in the world) that had come within four points of England only a week before. If the SARU continues with this level of support, a far higher position in 2014 can be assured.

Elsewhere in the world test rugby continued in isolated islands of activity. The Caribbean championship was again won by Trinidad, who now have one of the best playing records in the history of the women’s game (11 wins in 13 tests) – mainly because they never have an opportunity to play anyone outside the Caribbean.

Kenya and Uganda also continue to play in a world of their own, though this year it was a world riven with controversy when both sides claimed to have won the annual Elgon Cup tournament after Uganda first cancelled and then (at the last minute) reinstated the second leg of the competition, but not after the Kenyans had been presented with the prize after the first leg because of that cancellation. The result was confusion compounded by an ugly and ill-tempered war of words with no real resolution. Hopefully, despite this, the tournament (funding permitted) should go ahead in 2012 – and most probably with a new sponsor.

Similarly isolated, Asian rugby had a fairly quiet year. There was no senior continental championship and regional super-power Kazakhstan could manage only one test, a relatively easy win over neighbours Uzbekistan, while Japan beat Hong Kong, who in turn defeated Singapore. However, the year did end with the re-emergence of a sleeping giant as a Chinese 15-a-side team who took the field for the first time for four years, winning a continental “Division II” title with some ease. Given a fair wind and continued support China could yet threaten Kazakhstan’s place in the 2014 World Cup.

Nonetheless the climax of the test match year came right at the end, with the reappearance of New Zealand for the first time since the World Cup. Their loss in the series against England shows that the power in world rugby could be shifting – it may no longer be possible for the Black Ferns to rely almost entirely on the strength and competitiveness of their domestic game to remain at the top of world rugby.

That series will be repeated next year and will undoubtedly be the highlight of the 2012. Next year will also see the first qualification games for the 2014 World Cup in Europe, and will certainly be the last opportunity for most of the rest of the world to complete their experimentation and rebuilding. As usual what else the year will bring remains something of a mystery, though history shows that it should be even busier than this year. A major highlight will definitely be the quadrennial European Championship in May, but will we also see an Asian “Division I” tournament, or perhaps the reappearance of Australia? If 2011 was a memorable year, 2012 has the potential to be even better.

See here for a full review of the 7s game this year.

Test playing nations in 2011:

England (13 tests); France (7); Scotland (7); Italy (6); Ireland (5); Wales (5); Canada (4); South Africa (4); United States (4); China (3); Spain (3); Trinidad and Tobago (3); Jamaica (3); Thailand (3); Cayman Islands (3); Netherlands (3); Philippines (3); Sweden (3); New Zealand (3); Caribbean Select XV (3); Finland (3); Laos (3); Russia (2); Hong Kong (2); Kenya (2); Uganda (2); Japan (1); Kazakhstan (1); Switzerland (1); Thailand (1); Belgium (1); Singapore (1); Uzbekistan (1)

Tournament winners:

Six Nations: England
FIRA European Championship: England A
NACRA Caribbean Championship: Trinidad & Tobago
Nations Cup: England
Asian Championship (Div II): China