Rachel Shankland

Under the Posts – Oct 19-25

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Under the Posts – Oct 19-25 starts with Round 4 of the Six Nations, the Dr Farah Palmer Cup will be battled out between Canterbury and Waikato, Round 3 of Allianz Premier 15s, Italy kicks off their Series A competition, the 2021 Rugby World Cup draw will be November 20, 6 player features and 5 medias.

Video Summary

Featured Women’s Rugby News

We stray from women’s rugby news this week a bit as we look at the 12 Barbarian idiots. The England vs Barbarians match was called of because 12 player violated their agreed upon COVID protocols. As one of the best tweets summarized, “for f*cks sake, coronavirus restrictions apply to all’, even rugby players.

Weekly Women’s Rugby News

Test News

  • The 2021 Rugby World Cup Draw will be in Auckland on November 20
  • The rescheduled Six Nations and Round 4 took place with Ireland beating Italy 21-7 while Scotland had a dramatic comeback to draw with France
    • Since France drew with Scotland, England wins back-to-back titles; the Grand Slam is still on the line
  • Tonga will face Samoa on November 14 in New Zealand for a World Cup Qualifier
  • Meanwhile Rugby Europe has postponed their World Cup Qualifying matches and that puts World Rugby in a pickle…
  • Kenya 7s continue to prepare for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games

Competition News

  • Canterbury and Waikato will battle it out at the Dr Farah Palmer Cup finals on October 31st
  • The Harlequins and Saracens are still tied on top after Round 3 of the Allianz Premier 15s
  • Italy has started their domestic competition with one match already postponed due to the pandemic
  • Australia has announced a new women’s XVs domestic competition and a select match between two of the state’s top teams
  • World Rugby takes a closer look at Kenya and Uganda’s Elgon Cup

Other News

  • Canterbury has made good on their promise of revealing Ireland’s women’s jersey without models
  • Ireland announced the winners of their women’s player of the year and 7s player of the year; Cliodhna Moloney and Louis Galvin respectively
  • Fiji appoints Senirusi Seruvakula as their XVs women’s national team coach
  • Ali Bowes highlights how women’s sports suffered during the beginning of the pandemic and how it’s continuing

Women’s Rugby Player Features

  • Saint Lucia’s Mary Roberts has an eye on the 2024 Olympics
  • Worcester Warrior Jessica Pardo Alvarez has been diagnosed with terminal cancer
  • Wales’ Siwan Lillicrap looks ahead to playing Scotland in Round 5 of the Six Nations
  • World Rugby looks at the impact Laurie O’Reilly had on women’s rugby in New Zealand
  • Nepal’s Chetan Raj Giri speaks with Rugby World about the growth they’re seeing
  • England’s China-Marie Kill wants to accelerate the progression of women’s rugby and inspire the next generation of female talent

Women’s Rugby Media/Podcasts/Videos

  • ICEF Rugby is featured by the Women’s Sports Foundation
  • Scotland’s Panashe Muzambe speaks with BBC Sports
  • England’s captain Sarah Hunter chats about training during the pandemic
  • The Women’s Rugby Show has two episodes this week
  • England’s Shanagh Brown is on the Women’s Rugby Pod

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Featured News

For our featured news this week we’re taking a look at the men’s England vs Barbarians match. It ended up being cancelled because 12 Barbarians violated their agreed upon COVID protocols. Was it worth it?

Women's Rugby News

Test News

The women’s Six Nations returned with a bang! It started with Ireland taking home a hard fought victory over Italy 21-7. Claire Molloy capped her 70th international appearance and was awarded Player of the Match.

The second match of the day seemed to be going to plan for France but a late charge by Scotland allowed for the draw. At the 4th minutes, France led 13-3 but France were reduced to 14 players after they had used all of their substitutes and replacement Corson went off injured.

Scotland’s Helen Nelson kicked a penalty to make it 13-6 in the 64th minute and then Rachel Shankland scored a try in the corner. The conversion kick looked impossible in the corner and with a wet ball but Nelson slotted it perfectly for the draw.

Round 4

  • Ireland 21 Italy 7
  • Scotland 13 France 13

The 2021 Rugby World Cup Draw has been confirmed for November 20, 2020 at SkyCity Theatre in the heart of Auckland. 

Seven teams qualified directly for RWC 2021 at the last tournament in Ireland in 2017, defending champions New Zealand, runners-up England, bronze medallists France, USA, Canada, Australia and Wales.

Fiji and South Africa confirmed their places through the regional qualification process back in 2019, via the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup and Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship.

The remaining three places will be filled by a qualifier from Asia and Europe together with the winner of the Final Qualification Tournament, a first for a women’s Rugby World Cup, offering a second opportunity for teams to qualify.

Tonga will face Samoa in a 2021 women’s World Cup Qualifer in New Zealand on November 14. This match was previously cancelled twice and we have to wonder if it will be for a third time…

Rugby Europe has postponed the upcoming tests between Spain and Russia (Oct 24th) and Spain and Netherlands (Oct 31st). This really complicates things for World Rugby as we get closer to the 2021 RWC. Stay tuned to see what shakes out.

The Kenya women’s rugby sevens team have been using the country’s lockdown to plan how they will take on the world at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Competitions News

Canterbury and Waikato will meet in next week’s Dr Farah Palmer Cup final. Both teams enter the final undefeated. Canterbury could take home their fourth title or will Waikato will make it two titles?

It will be broadcast live on Sky Sport in New Zealand.

Dr Farah Palmer Cup Final

October 31 – Canterbury vs Waikato

Round 3 of the Allianz Premier 15s sees Harlequins and Saracens maintain a tie at the top of the table with 15 points each. This week Loughborough has a chance to take down the Harlequins while Saracens will look to hold off Gloucester-Hartpury.

Round 3

  • Harlequins 33 Exeter Chiefs 14
  • Worcester Warriors 7 Wasps 22
  • Bristol Bears 5 Loughborough Lightning 12
  • Saracens 72 DMP Durham Sharks 0

Italy’s Series A competition started this week with action in Group 1. Group 2 will start November 15.

Group 1

  • Villorba 34 Colorno FC 0
  • Capitolina 0 Valsunga 118
  • Cus Torino vs Bennton was postponed

Australia has announced a new women’s XVs  domestic schedule across the East Coast in November. 

Also on November 7, a Queensland Women’s XVs Select Match will take place in Brisbane between two of the states’ top teams.

The Elgon Cup is named after Mount Elgon, a mountain on the border of Kenya and Uganda, and is the trophy given to the winner of a rugby match contested between the Kenya and Uganda men’s and women’s national teams on an annual basis. Click the link to learn more!

Other News

Canterbury took some major heat last month when they released their new women’s and men’s jerseys. The men’s reveal included current players while models stood in for the women’s reveal. They owned up to their mistake and said they would make it right.

Today they came through on that promise. Good on them.  

At the Rugby Player Ireland Awards Cliodhna Moloney was named Player of the Year and Louise Galvin claimed the 7s Player of the Year. 

Senirusi Seruvakula has accepted the head coach role for the Fiji women. He is ready to take up the challenge and lead the first national 15’s women’s team to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year.

“I have been coaching the men’s team all along and the reason why I applied for this new job was just to challenge myself. It’s also a big year as we have Rugby World Cup next year so I want to experience that and I’m really looking forward to coaching the national team,”.

Ali Bowes with The Conversation highlights how women’s sports are returning but they’ve suffered greater than men because of the pandemic. During the early months of the pandemic players earned less and had worse access to equipment. 

Men’s sports have been back for a few months now and most women’s sports are just returning. Some have different rules while their counterparts just continue playing. 

“While it is impossible for us to know the long-term implications of the COVID-19 pandemic will be on sport, our research shows the impact has been more significant for women. The snapshot we have taken of sportswomen’s experiences has revealed yet another gendered impact of the coronavirus crisis. But also shows that the pandemic has merely exaggerated the gender inequalities that already existed in elite sports culture.”

Player Features

Media

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