Under the Posts – Women’s Rugby News for Sep 13-19

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news for Sep 13-19! It was a huge week with the Rugby World Cup 2021 European Qualifiers, the Fast Four Tournament at Vancouver 7s, and more. 

The European Qualifiers began on Monday with Italy defeating Scotland 38-13 and Spain narrowly upsetting Ireland 8-7. Then on Sunday, the teams swapped opponents and we watched Ireland stifle Italy 15-7 while Scotland beat Spain 27-22. 

This leads us to a make it or break it weekend as the teams are tied with 5 points. Winning is the most important goal for the teams while the tie breakers will be win/loss between the teams, then points difference and then number of tries. The overall winner goes straight to the RWC while the second place finisher goes to the Final Qualification Tournament.

The Fast Four Tournament in Vancouver saw Great Britain and standout Jasmine Joyce scoring a hat-trick to take the Cup over USA 34-12. Third place went to the hosts Canada as they defeated Mexico 48-0. Teams now look forward to Edmonton 7s this weekend where the overall winner will take the 2021 HSBC 7s Series title.

In more 7s news, Asia has announced that they will host their 7s tournaments in the United Arab Emirates on November 19-20. These will serve as the Asian qualifiers for the Rugby World Cup 7s 2022 and England has “made a u-turn and reinstated [their] full-time sevens program”. This leaves players like Jasmine Joyce and others out in the cold as Great Britain 7s will not continue. 

We close out the week with 2 “Other News”, 10 features and 12 media.

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tl;dr: Under the Posts – Women’s Rugby News for Sep 13-19! An action packed week with the Rugby World Cup 2021 European Qualifiers and the Fast Four Tournament at Vancouver 7s. We also look at all the domestic competitions and some 7s news.

Video Summary

Featured Women’s Rugby News

The RWC 2021 European Qualifiers began with Italy defeating Scotland 38-13 and Spain narrowly upsetting Ireland 8-7. The teams then swapped opponents on Sunday and Ireland outlasted Italy 15-7 while Scotland fought back and beat Spain 27-22. 

This leads us to a make it or break it weekend for all four teams as they all have 5 points. Results between the teams counts first, then points difference and then tries. The overall winner goes straight to the RWC while the second place finisher goes to the Final Qualification Tournament.

Top Women’s Rugby News

XVs

International

• Tommy Conlon writes for Independent.ie about Ireland’s critical match this weekend while giving us a look back at how they got there
• Over 100 Wales players have signed on to an open letter asking on the Welsh Rugby Union to “do better” amid anger over its strategy for the women’s game
• We also finally learn a bit more about why Rachel Taylor left the WRU coaching staff
• Jay Tregonning has been appointed head coach of the Wallaroos as they continue their preparation for the RWC 2021

Domestic

• Round 1 of France’s Elite 1 sees French Stadium and Montpellier on top of their conferences
• Round 1 of Hong Kong’s Premiership sees DAC Kowloon and Kroll USRC Tigers on top
• Canterbury stays on top of the Dr Farah Palmer Cup Premiership while Manawatu stays on top in the Championship but Auckland, Counties Manukau and North Harbour will not continue this season due to COVID-19
• Bristol moves to the top of Allianz Premier 15s but is chased closely by Saracens
• Corstorphine leads Scotland’s Tennnet’s Premiership
• Connacht breaks their silence on Interpro facilities saying that they “would request that a review of the decision-making process which led to these circumstances be conducted and our hope is that more thought will go into decisions like this for the women’s game in the future.”
• The Texas Rugby Union announces their annual All Star tournament will be in December in Houston, TX

7s

• Asia has announced that they will host their 7s tournaments in United Arab Emirates on November 19-20; these will serve as the Asian qualifiers for the Rugby World Cup 7s 2022
• England has made a “u-turn and reinstates full-time sevens program”

Other News

• World Rugby reveals the 7s stars who retired after the Olympics and the list includes Canada’s Brittany Benn and France’s Fanny Horta
• The Texas Rugby Union has announced that their annual Summit Conference on the Game will take place in the greater Austin area on November 5-7

Women’s Rugby Features

• England’s Kat Merchant has received anonymous hate messages after she posted a video online but says she refuses to “give in to bullies”
• Lauren Heskin writes for Image about the Interpros scandal and the continuance of women’s sports being treated as second class
• Stella Mills also writes about the Interpros scandal for RugbyPass
• Club Rugby NZ and Adam Julian tell the tale of how Peter Joseph and Aotearoa Māori came to be
• Iroquois Roots Rugby co-founder Melanie Squire spoke with World Rugby about how the organization coped during the pandemic and what the future holds
• World Rugby is rumored to be considered Rugby World Cups every two years instead of every four
• Former Waratahs and Netherlands international player Inge Visser has jumped into coaching full force
• Rugby Africa Women’s Rugby Manager, Maha Zaoui talks with World Rugby about the new sports management program, which aims to inspire growth in female participation across the continent
• The Ric Suggit Women’s Rugby Memorial Award is highlighted by the Pronghorns
• Jess Hayden writes for The Times about how the Harlequins Women use science to address taboos of their players’ health and performance

Women’s Rugby Media

• #BackTheGirls releases episode 4 & 5 with Wales’ Rachel Taylor, Jess Kavanagh and Gemma Howlett
• The Women’s Rugby Show covers the Allianz Premier 15s clash between Loughbourgh and Wasps
• Women’s Rugby Pod talk the Interpros incident
• Watch all the tries from the Rugby World Cup 2021 European Qualifiers
• GrassRoots Women’s Rugby talks balancing life with rugby with Aterians Ladies and Sleaford RFC
• Sinéad Kissane shares videos with Ireland’s Ciara Griffin and Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe after their shock loss to Spain in the RWC 2021 European Qualifiers
• Teledeporte talks with Spain’s Patricia Garcia Rodriguez, Isabel Rico Vazquez and Olivia Fresneda about their win over Ireland
• Black Fern Ariana Bayler tells of three knee reconstructions on her path to playing with the Ferns
• Tamara Van Leeuwen, President for Curaçao Rugby Federation talks with Gift Time Rugby