Women’s Rugby News in 60 secs – Dec 4-11

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news in under 60 seconds for Dec 4-11. New Zealand swept Cape Town 7s winning the final over Australia while USA took home back-to-back bronze medals over Ireland. The next HSBC 7s Series stop will be January 21-22 in Hamilton, New Zealand followed the next weekend by a stop in Sydney, Australia on January 27-29.

In XVs news, Hong Kong defeated Kazakhstan 31-7 and they will play again this weekend. The Energia AIL Division final was pushed due to weather but in the Conference final, Wicklow defeated Galwegians 22-17. The Thunderbirds will take on the Avengers in the Uganda Cup Finals, and Gloucester-Hartpury continues to lead the Allianz Premier.

We close out the week with 16 features and 10 media.

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tl;dr: Women’s Rugby in 60 secs for Dec 4-11 saw New Zealand win Cape Town 7s over Australia while the USA took home back-to-back bronze medals over Ireland.

60 Second Video Update

https://www.tiktok.com/@yscrugby/video/7177050106498190635

Top Women’s Rugby Stories

XVs

International

• Hong Kong hasn’t played since 2019 but defeated Kazakhstan 31-7; return match is 12/17

Domestic

• The Energia AIL Division final was pushed to December 17 due to weather
  • Wicklow won the Conference Trophy over Galwegians 22-17
• In the Uganda Cup semi-finals, Thunderbirds and Avengers are moving on after bigs wins over Lira Matrix and Lira Strikers
  • The finals are December 17th
• Gloucester-Hartpury remains on top of Allianz Premier with 19 points but Exeter, Harlequins and Sale are in the hunt

7s

• New Zealand won Cape Town 7s after going undefeated in their pool and beating Australia 31-14 in the Cup Final
  • USA won back-to-back bronzes as they defeated Ireland 20-12

Women’s Rugby Features

• New Zealand learned that they will lost Hamilton as a stop on the HSBC Sevens Series
• Yueli Ang shares why she loves being a rugby referee and hopes that more women will pick up the whistle
• Worcester Warriors skipper Vicky Laflin spoke to Talking Rugby Union about what it means to be able to play in Allianz Premier this term
• Captain Liz Crake on leading Wasps through a difficult time which saw them lose the majority of their playing squad and funding from the men’s club in a matter of months
• UK women’s sport viewership is up sevenfold since 2012 and “the sport with the biggest increase in hours since 2012 was found to be rugby union, as its viewing hours were boosted by 5,072 per cent”
• Alice Soper: Sports that are safe for transgender athletes are safe for everyone
• Blackrock Captain Michelle Claffey shares her journey and what she is looking forward to in the Energia AIL Final
• David Algie the Chief Guardian of the Utrecht and Raeburn Shields tells Scrum Queens about his initiative
• Andrea Di Giandomenico has left the technical management of the Italian women’s national team
  • Scrum Queens shares more about his 13 years at the helm
• In the afterglow of the Black Ferns’ World Cup victory, will more mums consider returning to rugby? Alice Soper speaks to two former Black Ferns helping pave the way for them
• Canada announced the six successful applicants who will receive support through the Women in Leadership Fund in 2022
• Railway Union director of rugby John Cronin says it’s “self-defeating” for Irish women’s rugby that the biggest game of the club season takes place without some of Ireland’s top stars
• Ruahei Demant ‘overwhelmed’ after sweep of awards to finish momentous year with Black Ferns
• It’s the time of year for reviews…Ireland announced results while England and USA shared that they are beginning theirs
• Baffling red card reversals leave fans wondering: when will powers that be wake up?
• David Meihuizen: The tale of a Stormers talent that was robbed by head injury

Women’s Rugby Media

• Hannah Jones gives a round-up of the 2021 RWC and what learnings Cymru can take into the Six Nations
• Women’s Rugby Pod returns with Siwan Lillicrap where they chat about all things Wales
• Gloucester-Hartpury centre Sophie Bridger talks about learning from, and now playing with, England favourite Natasha ‘Mo’ Hunt on No Tackle
• Crossover athlete Steph Rovetti discusses her road back to professional rugby after suffering a season ending leg & ankle injury in October of 2021
• Scaz reveals what it was like to face the haka in the final against New Zealand and the story behind ‘Mo’ Hunt’s squad omission on The Good, The Scaz and The Rugby
• TW2 was joined by Sale Sharks Women co-captain Georgie Perris-Redding to talk their blistering start to the season
• Hannah Tyrrell previews the Energia AIL Final for Her Sport
• Listen to the reaction from a few of the 2022 Women in Leadership fund recipients after Canada announced this year’s six successful applicants
• Hosts Dallen Stanford & Robin MacDowell are joined by legend Kelly Griffin for Rugby Hive Episode 32
• James Graham says the way to address the brain injury issue in elite contact sport is by getting coaches to buy into a new culture