On and off the rugby field, Alice Soper is a force to be reckoned with... here, the Wellington Pride hooker scores a try against Counties Manukau in the Farah Palmer Cup. Photo: David Brownlie.

Under the Posts – May 18-24

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Under the Posts – May 18-24 starts with our featured video of the week, we’re going back to 2018 when USA Rugby hosted the U20s Tri-Nations Cup with England and Canada. This match comes on Day 2 of the tournament and we see the North American rivals face oof.

Next in Featured News, it’s a juxtaposition of women’s rugby news. World Rugby has gone on record multiple times indicating that women’s rugby is still one of their top priorities. However, we’re not necessarily seeing that emphasis coming from the next level down, individual countries and Unions. Alice Soper in particular has been using her voice to highlight that in New Zealand.

In all the other women’s rugby news, we look at an article that Catherine Spencer did on the entrance of two new teams to the top England women’s competition. These teams have well known men’s sides but their women’s side are either brand new or unproven. What does that mean for the league and the two teams that were pushed aside for their entrance?

That’s not all as we also look at Australia and Fiji working towards potential tests in 2020, The Rugby Journal has released their shortlists for ‘Rugby Photographer of the Year’ and Rachel Malcolm hopes to finish Scotland’s 2020 Six Nations campaign and continue preparing for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.

We’ve added a new section around player features as clubs look to continue growing their player recognition and brand. This week we’re looking at Colombia’s Isabel Romero, USA’s Charli Jacoby, Harlequin’s Zoe Saynor, New Zealand’s Farah Palmer and Ireland’s Su Carty. 

Last but not least we also have plenty of media, videos, podcasts and two #RugbyJobs.

Can’t wait a week? Join us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram as we will be posting daily. We have a bit more dialogue on Twitter if you’d like to join in.

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Video of the Week

Our featured women’s rugby video this week is from 2018. USA Rugby hosted the U20s Tri-Nations with USA, Canada and England. This match features the two North American teams in a classic matchup.

Featured News

This week we’re featuring a contrast of women’s rugby during the COVID-19 pandemic. First we start with World Rugby confirming that women’s rugby is still one of the “top three priorities” for the governing body. Then we see recent re-elected Bill Beaumont echoing that the women’s game is a priority including vowing to reach newfound territories, overhaul the current calendar and create equal opportunities for all parties.

Contrast this with New Zealand’s Alice Soper who fervently called New Zealand for their lack of communication around the women’s game. NZR released media confirming Super Rugby Aotearoa and Mitre 10 Cup would be returning in 2020. The press release did give mention of the Farah Palmer Cup and the Black Ferns test options in the last sentence of the article.

Soper was experiencing déjà vu as 10 years ago NZR threatened to cut the women’s provincial competition in a Women’s Rugby World Cup year. The Black Ferns won their fourth consecutive World Cup title that year and the competition wasn’t cut.

Women’s rugby is exploding across the world and if it isn’t truly a priority and it’s just lip service like we’ve seen before…it will crumble and hurt female athletes for generations.

Women's Rugby News

We did a 5-day giveaway last week and it was a smashing success! We’ll be sending out shirts and stickers later this week to all the participants.

Catherine Spencer gives us a frank review of the new teams allowed into England’s top domestic women’s competition. Exeter and Sale join the fray while Richmond and Waterloo are out. Players are already beginning to move around including Katey Daley-McLean over to Sale as a player-coach. Other star players have new clubs closer to home that will be tempting…

The competition in England is being shaken up and the next few years are going to be very interesting.

Australia is holding talks with Fiji about possible tests in 2020. These would be warmup matches for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup and would possibly take place in October and November. 

The Rugby Journal has released the shortlists for their ‘Rugby Photographer of the Year’. They had over 500 entries that were categorized as portrait, action, landscape, spirit, young and portfolio.

Category winners and the overall winner of the £1,000 1st Prize will be announced via Rugby Journal social media channels on June 23.

World Rugby has released COVID-19 courses for coaches, players and administrators. Get educated!

Scotland’s Rachel Malcolm is still hoping to complete the 2020 Six Nations Tournament. This may be tough as Scotland also has scheduled matches ahead of the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. 

Player Features

Media

#RugbyJobs
Looking for a job in rugby? Make sure to check out our listing of #RugbyJobs. Or even follow the hash tag on Twitter.

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