Women’s Rugby News for Mar 6-12

Welcome to the top women’s rugby news in under 60 seconds for Mar 6 -12. Wales and France named their squads for the TikTok Six Nations and Siobhan Cattigan was finally honored by the Scottish Rugby Union.

In domestic XVs news, Mwamba defended their Kenya Cup title as they defeated the Impala Saracens 21-20, Exeter and Gloucester-Hartpury have secured playoff spots in Allianz Premier, the Technical Architecture Rugby Club of A Coruña or C.R.A.T. upset the Crocodiles but they still lead in the Iberdrola league, Chiefs Manawa topped the table of Super Rugby Aupiki and will face Hurricanes Poua while Matatu will face the Blues and not much has changed in USA Club Women’s rugby other than Little Rock overtook San Antonio and Las Vegas leads Southwest.

In 7s news, Scrum Queens got the scoop on next season’s HSBC 7s series, there will be no relegation this year and the winner of next month’s Challenger Series in Stellenbosch will become the 12th team. The bottom four teams in the Series after Round 6 will compete with the top four from the Challenger Series for four places in the following year’s World Series.

We close out the week with 12 features and 14 media.

We need you! Become a supporter of our site at https://www.patreon.com/yscrugby.

tl;dr: Women’s Rugby in 60 secs for Mar 6-12 saw Wales and France name their squads for the TikTok Six Nations and Siobhan Cattigan was finally honored by the Scottish Rugby Union.

60 Second Video Update

Can’t watch on TikTok? Watch on Youtube or any of our other social media channels.

@yscrugby

Your #wrugby News in under 60 seconds for Mar 6-12 saw Wales and France name their squads for the TikTok Six Nations and Siobhan Cattigan was finally honored by the Scottish Rugby Union. Watch our video & read the entire update using the link in our bio! #womensrugby #wrugby #rugbyunion #rugbytok

♬ original sound - YSCRugby

Top Women’s Rugby Stories

XVs

International

• Wales and France named their squads for the TikTok Six Nations
• Scotland finally honors Siobhan Cattigan but on their terms, not as the family desired
• A third straight bonus-point victory in the Rugby Europe Women’s Trophy gives Portugal an almost unassailable seven-point lead at the top of the standings as well as an improved position in the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini
• Former Springbok flyhalf and SA Rugby’s High-Performance Manager Louis Koen has been appointed as interim head coach of the Springbok Women’s team for their tour to Spain later this month, with Junior Springbok Women’s coach Laurian Johannes-Haupt taking the reins as assistant coach on the trip

Domestic

• Mwamba defended their Kenya Cup title with a 21-20 victory over the Impala Saracens
• Round 14 of Allianz Premier secured playoffs spots for Exeter and Gloucester-Hartpury; Saracens, Bristol and Harlequins remain in the hunt for the other two spots
• Railway Union and UL Bohemian continue their unbeaten streaks in Ireland’s Energia AIL Cup
• C.R.A.T. upset the Crocodiles but they remain on top of Spain’s Iberdrola league
• Bourdeaux is still on top of France’s Elite 1 with Montpellier, Toulouse and Lons Section Paloise in pursuit; they have one remaining round after the Six Nations
• Valsugana continues to lead Italy’s Excellence and is followed by Villorba, Colorno and Milan; they also have one round after the Six Nations
• Not much has changed in USA Club Women’s D1 or D2 Rugby
  • D1 – HARC remains on top of Red River/Frontier while Surfers and Seattle won their matches and they remain on top of their respective tables
  • D2 – Red River saw Little Rock overtake San Antonio (they are trading each week!) and Las Vegas leads Southwest by points differential over the Atomic Sisters
• Chiefs Manawa remain on top of Super Rugby Aupiki and will face the Hurricanes Poua in the semi-finals while Matatu will face the Blues

7s

• Scrum Queens got the scoop on next year’s HSBC 7s Series, the winning women’s team from the World Rugby Sevens Challenger Series in April will join next season as the 12^th team, alongside the current 1 through 11 ranked teams on the Series
  • No relegation this year
  • The winner of next month’s Challenger Series in Stellenbosch (20-22 and 28-30 April) will become the 12^th team
  • * No “guest teams” will take part in any round of the Series after this season
  • A new minimum three-round “Challenger Series” will run in parallel with the seven-round World Series
  • The seventh round will be a “Grand Final”.
  • The top eight teams in the World Series after Round 6 will complete their Series at the Grand Final
  • At the same time, the bottom four teams in the Series after Round 6 will compete with the top four from the Challenger for four places in the following year’s World Series
• The LAI 7s finally had it’s women’s Elite Division final but it didn’t happen until this weekend when the San Diego hosted the Rhinos Green and Black teams during half-time of their match
  • Rhino Black won a tight affair over Rhino Green 12-10

Women’s Rugby Features

• Former Professional Rugby Board (PRB) chair Amanda Blanc has spoken about the misogyny she endured at the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU)
• Rugby Australia chief executive Andy Marinos is confident that a $2 million injection into the women’s game will help deliver the best Super W season in the competition’s history
• The 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations will be a new experience for Abbie Ward after she announced her pregnancy
• Sarah Chobot, American Raptors coach fills Rugby World Magazine in on the “wild ride” in Súper Rugby Américas
• Women’s rugby revolution gathers pace but the sums don’t yet add up writes Robert Kitson for The Guardian
• World Rugby looks back at 2022, a year in which boundaries were constantly pushed back in the women’s game
• Super W Trans-Tasman competition the key to fighting off NRLW threat, say experts
• Bryan Easson’s journey to Scotland head coach has been far from straightforward but he would not change a thing
• The Charleston Hurricanes are ready for the Carolinas post-season
• Shona Campbell reflects on a “crazy” past 17 months and is “living in the moment” and keen for more rugby success
• Five major signings increase Super W stocks
• England and Lions legend Fran Cotton has called for a return to conventional rucking as the best way to increase the safety of rugby in the modern day

Women’s Rugby Media

• Several supporters posted videos of Siobhan Cattigan’s tribute
• The Sports Desk and Katie Smith of Women’s Sport explores how the menstrual cycle affects performance and some of the myths around periods in sport
• Wendy from YSC Rugby was on MLR All Access as they profile her as the first female play by play commentator in their league
• Mo Hunt discusses her rugby career from the start at Drybrook Rugby where she played alongside her sisters, to her appearances for Team GB at the 2016 Rio Olympic and 2020 Tokyo Olympics, as well as how she recovered after getting ill before England’s 6 Nations Grand Slam match
• Stan Sport takes a look behind the scenes of the Super W season launch
• Ireland’s Lindsey Peat and Anna Caplice share stories of playing for the Barbarians at Twickenham and smashing rugby for House of Rugby
• USA’s Emilie Bydwell has her ambition set on taking her USA side to the very top
• APSM shared video of the 1928 France Women’s Rugby Championship
• Women’s Rugby Pod episode 139 covers the Six Nations, Wales Contracts, Sale Sharks, Premier 15s, the global game and World Rugby news
• Watch highlights of the European Trophy between Belgium and Germany
• Wales’ Hannah Jones says it is a “dream come true” to be on a professional contract
• England’s Abbie Ward chats about a trailblazing policy in place to top off an incredible year
• BBC Wales had exclusive access to Wales as they prepared for the 2021 Rugby World Cup
• Wales’ Ffion Lewis gave her thoughts on seeing more and more young girls get involved with rugby