Women’s Rugby News in 60 secs – Aug 15-21

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news in under 60 seconds for Aug 15-21. Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand had wins over the weekend which saw Ireland move up to 6th place in the World Rugby rankings while the Springboks matched their previous high of 11th place. 

In more XVs news, Scotland’s Tennents Lager Premiership returned with opening wins by Corstorphine, Watsonia and Stirling County while in the Farah Palmer Cup Canterbury and Otago remain unbeaten which all but secures them home semifinals and the Allianz Premier cup and league fixtures were released. 

In news surrounding the brain injury crisis, Rylands Legal is representing 200 ex-rugby union players and 85 players from rugby league as they battle rugby’s governing bodies. This week the firm further issued claims from an additional 30 men and 5 women who are former amateur players suffering neurological impairments caused by playing the game. The claims have been split into buckets including professional,  semi-professional and those who only played at amateur level.

Richard Boardman, of Rylands Legal said “We allege that there has been a systematic failure by the rugby governing bodies to protect all adult players from concussive and sub-concussive injuries, including those involved in the amateur game.”

We close out the week with 18 features and four media.

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tl;dr: Women’s Rugby in 60 secs for Aug 15-21 saw wins by Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand while Rylands Legal issued further claims against rugby’s governing bodies on behalf of players suffering from neurological impairments.

60 Second Video Update

@yscrugby

Your #wrugby News in under 60 seconds for Aug 15-21 saw wins by Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand while Rylands Legal issued further claims against rugby’s governing bodies on behalf of players suffering from neurological impairments. Watch our video & read the entire update using the link in our bio! #womensrugby #wrugby #rugbyunion

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Top Women’s Rugby Stories

XVs

International

• Ireland and South Africa climb World Rugby Women’s Rankings
  • Ireland’s 57-22 win over Japan in Shizuoka lifts them above Italy and into sixth place, while South Africa have matched their previous high of 11th following a 37-14 win over Spain
• New Zealand defeated Australia soundly 52-5 in the first match of the O’Reilly Cup series; second match will be played August 27
• Ireland beat Japan 57-22; second match is scheduled for August 27
• South Africa made it five wins in a row as they defeated Spain 37-14

Domestic

• Scotland’s Tennents Lager Premiership returned this weekend with wins by Cortorphine, Watsonian and Stirling County
• Canterbury and Otago remain unbeaten after Round Six of the Farah Palmer Cup, all but securing home semifinals
• The Allianz Premier cup and league fixtures have been confirmed by the RFU
  • League competition will again be played over 18 regular rounds with home and away fixtures culminating in semi-final play-offs (10 June 2023) between the top four teams and a title final (24 June 2023)

Women’s Rugby Features

• Former Black Ferns Davida Suasua and Vania Wolfgramm, and past English Roses captain Paula George, tell Suzanne McFadden where the Black Ferns have made big strides under the new directorship of Wayne Smith, and where they’re still lacking
• Giselle Mather shares that in her search of a new challenge she will become Ealing Trailfinder’s Director of Women’s Rugby
• Ireland’s Greg McWilliams happy to experiment with World Cup the target
• Springbok Women to continue putting building blocks in place
• The Welsh Rugby Union in collaboration with Cardiff Metropolitan have launched a ground-breaking Women in High Performance Coaching Programme to enhance the opportunities for women within the performance pathway.
• After a freak accident threatened to wreck her rugby season, exceptional loose forward Kennedy Simon has worked her way back into the Black Ferns, and taken on the co-captaincy in the final hit-out before the World Cup
• Kamana Giri keen to use exciting opportunity for good in Nepal
• South Africa Coaching development gains momentum in Women’s Month
• Ireland needs to ensure they promote the All Ireland League and grassroots rugby now that they will be awarding 43 professional contracts, according to Grand Slam winner Fiona Hayes
• NRLW players stand up to put body-shamers on notice
• The IGR Bingham Cup an inclusive rugby tournament is breaking barriers in Ottawa
  • The ‘Mark Bingham Field’ was named this year in memory of 9/11 gay rugby hero, Mark Bingham
• Olympic rugby star Ellia Green applauded for ‘bravery and leadership’ after coming out as trans
• Australian Rugby Champ Ellia Green Becomes First Olympian to Come Out as Transgender Man
• Over 29 Scottish players posted on social media that they “were never aware of [the] RPS article being published or the statements attributed to the team in this article. We are grieving our friend and teammate, our thoughts are with Siobhan’s family”
• We agree with Ali Donnelly that the way Siobhan Cattigan’s family is being treated is utterly shameful.
• A group of 35 former amateur rugby union players (including 5 women’s Internationals) are to bring proceedings against the sport’s authorities next month, claiming that they are suffering from brain injuries and early onset dementia
• Progressive Rugby issue package of urgent elite player welfare requirements to address brain injury crisis
  • The measures, produced in consultation with former and current elite players, are below, along with supplementary measures Progressive Rugby want to see investigated at pace:
    • Minimum 21-day non-negotiable blanket stand down after a brain injury, irrespective of elite player’s concussion history.
    • Failure of in-game HIA1 to trigger minimum 21-day period
    • Mandated weekly ‘bone on bone’ contact training limit of 15 minutes
    • Game limit reduced by 20% to 25 games (or match equivalent minutes) and mandated
    • Stiff punishments including Club/Country fines and points deductions for non-compliance
    • Minimum 8 week protected annual rest including at least 2 weeks in-season, with a further 5-week break between seasons and additional one week to be used at any time
    • Injury replacements only to eliminate collisions between fatigued and fresh players
• “I can say, hand on heart, elite rugby is not safe in my opinion“ – James Drake echoed Progressive Rugby’s concerns when he spoke exclusively with Rugby Pass

Women’s Rugby Media

• Watch highlights from the first O’Reilly Cup match
• Rugby India President, Rahul Bose spoke about his association with the sport over the last four decades, and how he sees things moving for rugby in the future in India
• Watch Takunda Rusike, Howard Rugby Women’s Captain’s interview on Gift-Time Rugby Network
• The Big Jim Show with Professor Bill Ribbans discussed some very sensitive topics with the aim of better understanding the challenges around concussion in our sport
• On the Scottish Rugby Podcast, John is joined by guests to discuss the recent reports regarding Siobhan Cattigan and the response from the SRU