Women’s Rugby in 60 secs – Feb 21-27

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news in under 60 seconds for Feb 21-27. Scotland has qualified for the 2021 Rugby World Cup after defeating Colombia 59-3, Spain was crowned the European Champion for the ninth time this past weekend and Railway Union won the overall title of Energia AIL while Suttonians topped the Conference.

Scotland has returned to the big show after 12 long years! They join New Zealand, Australia and Wales in Pool A and will open their Rugby World Cup campaign on October 9 against Wales.

In more XVs news, Saracens grabbed the first semi-final spot in Allianz Premier 15s but are chased closely by Bristol, Harlequins, Exeter and Wasps. We review the standings in Elite 1, and are looking forward to Australia’s Super W beginning this weekend as well as the start of New Zealand’s Sky Super Rugby Aupiki. Aupiki teams have been relocated to Taupō to form COVID bubbles. Lastly, South Africa’s Premier Division will feature six teams and begins April 23.

We close out the week with 9 features and 7 media.

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tl;dr: Women’s Rugby in 60 secs for Feb 21-27 saw Scotland qualify for Rugby World Cup 2021, Spain was crowned the European Champion while Railway Union won Energia AIL.

60 Second Video Update

Featured Women’s Rugby Stories

• Lots of big matches this week, let’s start with Scotland who has qualified for the 2021 Rugby World Cup after they defeated Colombia 59-3 in the Final Qualification Tournament! They join New Zealand, Australia and Wales in Pool A. They finally return to the Rugby World Cup after 12 long years.
• Spain was crowned the Europe Champion after defeating Russia 27-0. This is their 9th straight title! It was an incredibly emotional day as the match started without anthems and many were thinking of Ukraine. Further punching it up was that it was Patricia’s Garcia Rodriguez’s last match. 
• In the Energia AIL, Railway Union defeated Blackrock College 24-18 in the Top 4 and Suttonians wiped Galwegians 26-0 for the Conference Title. 

Top Women’s Rugby Stories

XVs

International

• World Rugby has announced that Sally Horrox will join the organization as Director of Women’s Rugby in early May. Horroz comes with an impressive wealth of management and board level experience in sport and business and will be responsible for World Rugby’s transformational Women in Rugby 2017-25 plan, which was refreshed in late 2021 after huge initial success.

Domestic

• Toulouse is still ahead with 43 points in Elite 1 but ASM Romagnat moves closer with 33 points while AC Bobigny, Lons Section Paloise and French Stadium try to catch up
• Allianz Premier 15s remains tight as Saracens clinch the first semi-final spot; Bristol, Harlequins, Exeter and Wasps are still in it
• An expanded Buildcorp Super W featuring six teams, additional fixtures and more double headers than ever before will see Australia’s premier women’s Rugby competition hit new heights in 2022 with all matches ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport
• New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has made the decision to relocate the four Sky Super Rugby Aupiki squads to Taupō to ensure the inaugural season of the competition can take place
  • The competition will be played in a condensed format with matches being played on Saturday 5 March, Thursday 10 March, Tuesday 15 March with the Final on Sunday 20 March
• In South Africa, the Mastercard Golden Lions Women will join the six teams from the 2021 Women’s Premier Division – defending champions, the Border Ladies, as well as DHL Western Province, EP Queens, Boland Dames, Blue Bulls Women and Cell C Sharks Women – in a new-look competition played over a double round from 23 April, with the final scheduled for 30 July

Women’s Rugby Features

• Fiji’s women’s rugby captain Sereima Leweniqila will lead her team as they participate in the Super W competition
• Scotland’s Helen Nelson shares her early beginning in sport with skiing and how she got involved with rugby
• France’s Jessy Trémoulière returns to her school in Cohade (Haute-Loire) to answer children’s questions
• See what England’s Ellie Kildunne had to say about the Mattioli Woods Welford Road crowd
• World Rugby caught up Spain’s Bruna Elías to talk about her introduction to international rugby, learning from Patricia García and Spain’s Rugby Europe Women’s Championship campaign
• Identical twins Siobhán & Kate McCarthy from Co. Clare only found out a decade ago that women could play rugby. They just played in the Railway Union squad for the AIL Women’s Division Final.
• England’s Amy Turner is using the Rugby World Cup 2021 coaching internship program to strengthen RFU Pathways
• Scotland’s Jade Konkel shares her origins as a rugby player
• Wales’ Georgina Gilbert and Rebecca Rowe hope to break a world record when they trek across the Antarctic

Women’s Rugby Media

• Rugby in Aotearoa has never had a year as big as this, Rikki Swannell and Dana Johannsen discuss the State of the Union
• We have all the highlights from Energia AIL including the Top 4 and Conference
• Aoife McDermott talks with Ocean FM  Sport about capturing the AIL league title
• Lily Peat chats to Luke Delaney about her side’s performance after AIL Women’s League Final victory
• The Ruck Podcast includes a women’s rugby update from Jess Hayden
• Scotland’s Jade Konkel joined the BBC Radio Scotland Rugby podcast team as they previewed a huge weekend
• Meet the officials behind the Final Qualifying Tournament who are hoping to be selected for Rugby World Cup 2021