Women’s Rugby News for Jan 30-Feb 5

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news in under 60 seconds for Jan 30-Feb 5. Portugal tops the European Trophy standings after defeating Finland 39-0 while Wales and Ireland will look to improve gender representation on their committees by at least 40% by the end of the year. This of course is one of the responses after the recent scandal revelations in both Unions.

In XVs news we are looking at all the standings across USA Club, Allianz Premier, France’s Elite 1, Energia AIL Cup, the Welsh Admiral National League, Nan Fung SEWIT Hong Kong Premiership, and the Kenya Cup. We are also looking ahead to Super Rugby Aupiki which begins February 25 and South Africa’s Premier Division which announced that seven teams will battle it out; we’re still awaiting news on when that league will begin.

In 7s news, the pools for the next HSBC 7s stop in Vancouver, Canada in early March were announced and Premier Rugby Sevens added their eighth franchise in Pittsburgh, PA, the Steeltoes.

We close out the week with 17 features and 3 media.

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tl;dr: Women’s Rugby in 60 secs for Jan 30-Feb 5 saw Portugal defeat Finland in the European Trophy while Wales and Ireland responded to their recent scandals by proposing to boast their female representation by 40% on their Boards.

60 Second Video Update

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Your #wrugby News in under 60 seconds for Jan 30-Feb 5 saw Portugal defeat Finland in the European Trophy while Wales and Ireland responded to their recent scandals by proposing to boast their female representation by 40% on their Boards. Watch our video & read the entire update using the link in our bio! #womensrugby #wrugby #rugbyunion #rugbytok

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Top Women’s Rugby Stories

XVs

International

• Portugal defeated Finland 39-0 in the European Trophy and move to the top of the table
• The Combined Provinces beat The Thistles 45-12 in the second game of the Celtic Challenge
• World Rugby confirmed the Match Official Appointments for the TikTok Women’s Six Nations
  • A total of 10 match officials representing nine nations will take charge of the 15 tests
  • Fifteen of the 18-strong RWC 2021 match officials team involved in the 2023 Championship
• Scrum Queens gave a detailed overview of the proposed governance changes in Ireland & Wales
  • Wales will improve gender representation on their main committee to 40% by the end of the year
  • Ireland is reacting to pressure from government, including a mooted financial penalty, and committed to reaching 40% by the end of the year

Domestic

• We dug through all the Club D1 and D2 competitions for the USA:
  • D1
    • East
      • MAC play began in the fall and won’t restart until March but NOVA currently leads with Raleigh close behind but DC Furies and Philadelphia in the fight
    • Midwest
      • The Metropolis Valkyries won the Midwest Championship over the Chicago Lions 35-21
      • This year there is a new look with a hybrid league. The top two teams out of the eastern and western conferences advanced to the DI semifinals, while the remainder funneled into the DII playoffs along with the DII-only leagues
    • Frontier/Red River
      • This competition continues to be a cross-over between Frontier and Red River teams; standings aren’t published yet
    • Pacific
      • Pacific Northwest is competing in a newly created hybrid league where play began in the fall and they are on break until March; Salem Attack Owls lead
      • SoCal began in January and the Surfers currently lead but are chased by Santa Monica, Belmont Shore and Tempe
  • D2
    • East
      • Capital began play in the Fall and restarts again in mid-March; Severn River currently leads with James River, NOVA and Norfolk chasing
      • Empire play has concluded with New Haven retaining their title and will move on to the Superregional
    • Midwest
      • Milwaukee Scylla beat Chicago 30-28 in the Midwest Championship
      • This year there is a new look with a hybrid league. The top two teams out of the eastern and western conferences advanced to the DI semifinals, while the remainder funneled into the DII playoffs along with the DII-only leagues
    • Pacific
      • NorCal play began this weekend with a win by Berkeley; the match between Life West and the Sacramento Amazons hasn’t been finalized yet so we don’t know the result…
      • Pacific Northwest is competing in a newly created hybrid league where play began in the fall and they are on break until March; Salem Attack Owls lead
      • SoCal began play in mid-January and sees the Warriors lead but are pursued by Outlaws and Mermaids
      • Southwest began play in late January with Phoenix leading
    • Gulf Coast
      • True South began in the fall and is on a break until March; Chattanooga leads but is chased by Knoxville and Memphis
      • Florida began in early January and Tampa leads
      • Red River began in mid-January and Little Rock leads the North while San Antonio leads the South
• USA Rugby is also searching for a host for their 2023 USA Rugby Club XVs National Championship June 2-4
• Gloucester-Hartpury continues to lead Allianz Premier with Exeter, Harlequins and Saracens in pursuit
• Montpellier defeated Stade 54-5 and moved up from fourth to second in France’s Elite 1; Bordeaux still continues to lead
• UL Bohemian leads the Energia AIL Cup but Blackrock, Railway and Cooke are close behind
• The Thunderbirds continue to lead Uganda’s Central League
• Pontyclun leads the Welsh Admiral National League with Llandaff North and Nelson chasing
• The Nan Fung | SEWIT Hong Kong Premiership has resumed and Natixis Ice leads with Kroll Tigers, Gaui Wu and Valley RFC chasing
• Impala leads the Kenya Cup but is followed by Mwamba, Nakuru and W. Spears
• Valsugana leads Italy’s Excellence and is followed by Color, Villorba and Capitol
• Sky Super Rugby Aupiki begins play February 25 with Hurricanes Poua taking on Chiefs Manawa and Matatū verses the Blues
• South Africa announced that seven teams will battle it out in the Premier Division with eight teams in the First Division; dates and final structure will be revealed soon

7s

• The next HSBC stop is the first weekend of March in Vancouver, Canada; pools are:
  • Pool A: New Zealand, Fiji, Great Britain, Invitational TBC
  • Pool B: France, Australia, Japan, Spain
  • Pool C: USA, Ireland, Canada, Brazil
• PR 7s added their eight franchise in Pittsburgh, the Steeltoes
  • ID Camp for this team is March 19 in Pittsburgh, PA

Women’s Rugby Features

• Montpellier is improving and their most recent win has propelled them to second in the Elite 1
• The Irish Independent calls out Warren Gatland for not calling out gross behaviour instead of sidestepping it
• Sir Rod Eddington appointed independent chairman of Rugby World Cup 2027 and 2029
• Sale Sharks Women and Worcester Warriors Women have been issued with a conditional offer to join the Allianz Premier 15s league for the 2023/24 season
• Carleton Newsroom profiled Lauryn Walker for Black History Month and her fast rise in rugby.
• Alecs Donovan is open about her experiences with the Welsh Rugby Union and wants to change things for the better
• USA’s Sylvia Braaten shares six exercises to help avoid slipping and falling down
• World champion Black Fern Hazel Tubic wary of Super Rugby Aupiki young guns
• Reported problems with the proposed Netflix documentary around the Six Nations is prompting some to just give it to the women
• TikTok unveils Six Nations Rugby content plans
• ‘Nobody was listening’: Wales kick off Six Nations under a cloud of scandal
• The Blue Bulls company have affirmed their commitment to championing the development and professionalism of women’s rugby at the franchise level in South Africa
• Meg Jones decided to play for England to become the best player possible
• The TikTok Six Nations is highlighting a player per nation who has scored more than 50 points in the Championship
• Rugby saved transgender player Julie Curtiss, so she’s fighting the RFU ban against her
• Milly Mackey has Super Rugby Aupiki Hurricanes Poua pride
• Gill Whitehead appointed independent Chair of Rugby World Cup 2025 Board

Women’s Rugby Media

• Stella Mills spoke with Shaunagh Brown at a recent 2025 Rugby World Cup Impact event
• Australia’s Emilee Cherry is working with the next generation of Aussie 7s talent
• Scottish Rugby Podcast talked to Sam Abdulla about Scotland’s decision to ban transgender women from participating in rugby & place restrictions on transgender men’s ability to freely take part