Women’s Rugby Rundown for Jul 17-23

Women’s Rugby News

XVs

International

• Italy’s victory against Spain in the last WXC Qualification match qualifies them for WXV 2, while Spain will compete in WXV 3 [link]
• The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Japan and Australia aims to promote rugby growth in both countries and the wider Asia Pacific region, emphasizing mutual development of high-performance programs [link]
• Nichola Fryday, a former Irish International rugby player, has announced her retirement [link], leaving the Irish National team without a head coach, captain, and manager [link], with continued concerns raised about the program’s lack of support [link]
• Canada will face the Red Roses in a two-match series in September as they prepare for the WXV [link]
• Japan will face Fiji (?) in September in a two-match series [link]
• Canada’s U23 will face USA in a two match “Border Battle on July 26 and 30 [link]

Premier & Club

• The Bulls Daisies continue to dominate South Africa’s Premier Division, scoring their second consecutive century of points on Saturday. Meanwhile, Free State Women remained unstoppable in the First Division, surpassing the 100-point mark for the second time in their season’s final pool round [link].
• In the Farah Palmer Cup’s second round, Auckland won against Wellington on the siren, while Waikato made history with an extra-time victory against Canterbury, stunning the reigning Premiership champions [link]
• More teams join expanding Welsh’s Admiral Women’s National League program [link]
• The USA’s Mary Graham All Stars will make its return on December 2-3 in Austin, TX, expanding to 12 teams, and offering awards in Cup, Plate, and Bowl competitions [link]
• Spain announced several changes to their women’s divisions for 2023-24 [link]

7s

International

• HSBC SVNS relaunches with 12 teams, uniting men’s and women’s rugby at all locations for the first time! [link]
  • The top eight placed teams, based on cumulative series points, at the conclusion of Singapore SVNS will secure their opportunity to compete in the new ‘winner takes all’ Grand Final in Madrid, where the women’s and men’s HSBCSVNS champions will be crowned [link]
  • Madrid will also host a high-stakes relegation play-off competition, where teams ranked ninth to 12th will join the top four teams from the World Rugby 7s Challenger Series, with the top four placed teams securing their place for next year’s event [link]
• The pools for Africa 7s in Tunisia on October 14-15 have been set [link]:
  • POOL A: South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe
  • POOL B: Madagascar, Kenya, Zambia and Ghana

Domestic

• The women’s Headliners took home another tournament win over the Locals – but BOTH teams qualified for the Championship [link]

Women’s Rugby Features

• Scottish Rugby issues statement as Crown Office investigates death of former internationalist Siobhan Cattigan [link]
• New Zealand has launched a ground-breaking project focusing on concussion amount women’s rugby players alongside Marker Diagnostics, World Rugby and the Farah Palmer Cup [link]
• Tamara Taylor is growing the game in Scandinavia and life as Sweden’s head coach [link]
• Limited merchandise for female athletes is a problem that needs to be solved [link]
• Will Owen takes an in-depth look at New Zealand’s attach during their recent Pacific Four Series triumph [link]
• Meath football star Vikki Wall may be joining Irish 7s in a bid to make the Olympics [link]

Women’s Rugby Media

• Watch the highlights from the last WXV Qualification match between Italy and Spain [link]
• Eagles Overseas interviewed Rich Ashfield, USA Head Coach and Katie Dowty, Assistant Coach [link]
• Off The Ball talks about Nichola Fryday’s retirement from Irish International rugby [link]
• The Rugby Sevens Rollercoaster chatted with Brazilian Olympian Rafaela Zanellato [link]
• Get to know the Robinson Sisters from the Harlequins [link]

Rugby Jobs

• NOVA is looking for a D2 Backs Coach, D1 Backs Coach and Director of Rugby / General Manager [link]
• Italy are searching for a Junior Communications Specialists [link]
• Exeter is searching for a Coach, Lead Graphic Designer, Accounts Assistant, Match-Day Asst Manager, and Analysis Work Placement [link]