Women’s Rugby in 60 secs – Mar 21-27

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news in under 60 seconds for Mar 21-27. England, Wales and France took home the first wins of the TikTok Six Nations, Canada released their independent review and the Daily Mail reveals allegations against Wales.

Canada released their independent review which concluded among other things that they are a “dysfunctional organization at odds with its athletes, staff and supporters” while the Daily Mail reported allegations against Welsh Rugby Union for allowing a “culture of sexism and misogyny”.

We’re seeing more Six Nations coverage than ever before, so we’re looking at 27 features and  7 media to close out the week.

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tl;dr: Women’s Rugby in 60 secs for Mar 21-27 saw England, Wales and France take home the first wins of the 2022 TikTok Six Nations, Canada released their independent review and the Daily Mail reveals allegations against Wales.

60 Second Video Update

Top Women’s Rugby Stories

XVs

International

• The opening weekend of TikTok Six Nations was everything we hoped for! Attendance records were broken, matches were broadcast in more places every before and great rugby was played:
  • Results
    • France 39 Italy 6
    • Ireland 19 Wales 27
    • Scotland 5 England 57
  • France and England were clinical even if they both had a bit of the dropsies and Wales shocked everyone when they went deep into their bench and upended Ireland
  • Next Week
    • Apr 2 – France vs Ireland
    • Apr 2 – Wales vs Scotland
    • Apr 3 – Italy vs England
  • We’re predicting more wins for France, Wales and England
• The Springboks had a live session against the Hamiltons Men’s Under-20 in their first runout since November
  • “It was a tough ask for the players, who came into camp this week and to be involved in a game so soon thereafter, but I am fairly pleased with the effort of the team.” said Springbok Women’s coach Stanley Raubenheimer
• The USA Falcons (Stateside Eagles) dominated the WPL Selects 44-5
• We’ve covered the recent resignations in Spain’s camp over the last few weeks and another interview of José Antonio Barrio is available
  • He reaffirms that he was asked to resign and did so because nothing was changing for women
• 44 players have been chosen to take part in the Black Ferns camp which will take place in Christchurch in early April
  • 25 of the selected players are currently contracted (Aleisha-Pearl Nelson, Charmaine McMenamin, Kelsie Wills and Grace Brooker are still returning from injury), with the remaining 19 having been picked off the back of Sky Super Rugby Aupiki form
  • Wayne Smith will be added to the coaching set up, alongside head coach Glenn Moore
• An independent review into Rugby Canada’s high-performance programs depicts a governing body too busy fighting fires to have any long-term strategy while also calling it a dysfunctional organization at odds with its athletes, staff and supporters
• Daily Mail has an exclusive reporting on allegations that the Welsh Rugby Union has a culture of a culture of sexism and misogyny
  • Reports of  inappropriate incidents were shared with the WRU and no action has been taken

Domestic

• RFU confirms Allianz Premier 15s final will be held at Sixways on June 3
• Results from the Allianz Premier Cup:
  • Worcester 43 Sale 5
  • Harlequins 12 Bristol 31
  • Exeter 47 Loughborough 15
  • DMP 14 Wasps 42
• The IRFU has structured this season’s All-Ireland League campaign to reflect its importance to Ireland’s Six Nations squad and the Ireland national squad
• Entering a team in England’s Premier 15s league is a “long-term goal” for Scottish Rugby, says national women’s head coach Bryan Easson

Women’s Rugby Features

Most of these occurred before we knew the results of the opening weekend of W6N but we wanted to include them!

• England women will not be offered a squad bonus if they win a third consecutive Six Nations Grand Slam even though the RFU has routinely handed out player bonuses to England men for the same in the past
• Italy’s Beatrice Rigoni ready to win 50th cap at TikTok Women’s Six Nations
• The door is open for Cliodhna Moloney and other Ireland internationals who missed out on selection for the Six Nations, insists Greg McWilliams
• Learn how Natasha Hunt got back into England’s setup and the Six Nations squad
• Luka Connor stamps mark on Sky Super Rugby Aupiki
• Ali Donnelly wrote for The Guardian that the 2022 TikTok Six Nations “can be something special”
• Worcester Warriors’ Flo Long shaves her head in support of her mum and raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support
• Greg McWilliams makes big calls for Wales clash in effort to hit ground running
• Railway Union’s John Cronin says Ireland needs to ape England by creating a league based around representative clubs in the big population centres – Cork, Limerick, Galway, Belfast and four teams in Dublin
• A student of Criminology & Criminal Justice at UC Dublic, Railway Union’s Eve Higgins starts for Irish Rugby this weekend
• Jasmine Joyce: “professional Wales raring to go in Six Nations”
• World Rugby focuses research investment on the women’s game:
  • Developing Data-Derived Head Impact Reduction Protocols for Women’s Rugby Union (Swansea University, Wales)
  • Efficacy of the World Rugby Activate injury prevention programme in the female setting: a multi-centre home nations approach (University of Edinburgh, Scotland)
  • A cross-sectional study investigating retired elite female rugby players’ health (Fowler Kennedy Sports Medicine Clinic, Canada)
  • Injury prevention in female youth rugby union: a multi-site international study (University of Calgary, Canada)
  • No time to waste: moving towards a necessary health support system for retired professional rugby players (Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Netherlands)
• Alice Soper: How Chiefs Manawa set the blueprint for success in women’s rugby
• Siwan Lillicrap: How tears of despair after a 45-0 loss to Ireland turned into tears of joy as she was unveiled as a professional athlete
• Lost and Found: The story of the original Women’s Rugby World Cup
• Kenya Lionesses Janet “Shebesh” Okello signs for Japanese MIE Pearls
• England’s Zoe Aldcroft won’t ever forget the moment she was crowned World Rugby’s Player of the Year for 2021 but is hell-bent on making more memories in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations
• Ahead of the TikTok Six Nations, Scotland head coach Bryan Easson has said that, in terms of supporting the players, 35 squad members “all have an individual package now that suits their lives”
• Sarah Beckett is relishing her England comeback after returning from injury
• Katherine Aversano shares after a long and grueling recovery after a sky-diving accident, Kat rediscovered rugby and the joy and confidence it ignited in her

Women’s Rugby Media

• England’s Natasha Hunt shares her Jersey Tale
• Back the Girls has Gem, Rachel Taylor and Georgia Emily Evans talking all things W6N
• Women’s Rugby Pod has two shows, first with Sarah Hunter and her thoughts on the potential of this Red Roses squad and how far they can go and then Johnnie and Rachael Burford have 5 guests talking all things W6N
• Episode 4 of our Empower Her project with Shawbrook Bank gives further insight in to the Saracens
• Watch the highlights of the USA Falcons vs WPL Selects
• Ali Donnelly was on BBC Woman’s Hour talking all things women’s rugby
• Try Hards previews the W6N
• Wales’ Carys Phillips gives her views ahead of the opening weekend of the TikTok Six Nations
• In no particular order, here are our top five tries from Sky Super Rugby Aupiki
• Harlequin’s Emily Robison shares her  rugby career
• Take a look behind the scenes are Railway took home the Double AIL
• Harpin’ On Rugby chatted with the Irish Women’s Supporters Club about their outlook for the W6N
• Keria is World Rugby’s next Youth Unstoppable
• The Good, Scaz and the Rugby was joined by Red Roses rehab crew for a special live show around the W6N