It has been a big week for Australian women’s rugby.
The Wallaroos took on the Black Ferns in a two-Test series in New Zealand. The first was played as the opener to the final Bledisloe match at Eden park, a daunting task for a new look Wallaroos team, who went down 67-3.
After a quick turn-around, the Wallaroos played their second game against the Black Ferns on Wednesday afternoon in North Harbour. Though they stepped up their game, they still lost 29-3.
Closer to home, the Central Coast Sevens took place last weekend. The two-day event showcased the best Australian talent in the shorter format of the game, with the Aussie Pearls fielding two teams in the competition that eventually met in the final.
The two rugby formats tell very different stories when it comes to developing the women’s teams.
As our women’s sevens squad flourishes, this year has demonstrated the potential that can be unleashed when sporting bodies prioritise growth and development of female athletes. Female players of the longer format continue to hear that there is a commitment to grow women’s rugby, but tangible progress remains slow.
The opportunity to play regular, elite rugby remains limited for the Wallaroos squad. Prior to the Black Ferns match up, the Wallaroos had not played a Test in two years, and came into their Eden park game with 13 debutants in the squad.
The National Championship is held annually, with the best players from each state coming together once a year, but a regular national competition remains elusive.
In comparison, New Zealand has a national provincial competition which has been running since 1999. All players in the national team compete in this. The Black Ferns also play at least one Test match a year.
The improvement between the first and second Test for the Wallaroos was huge. They were stronger at completing the basics and were able to work set plays. This was reflected in the final result.
As captain Ash Hewson noted, if this is how far they could come after one game, imagine how they could improve if they had the opportunity to play regular international games.
Contrasting the questionable commitment to the women’s XV format is the strength of the rugby sevens development program.
The Pearls are professional athletes, training full-time with the men’s team at the Australian Sevens centre in Narrabeen. They play regular tournaments throughout the year as part of the HSBC World Series, as well as in smaller invitational tournaments abroad and locally, such as the Central Coast Sevens.
The players are on full-time contracts, allowing them to dedicate themselves completely to their sport. The development program implemented by the ARU is also building the depth of talent available to the women’s sevens team for the long-term.
The success of women’s rugby sevens is just one example that shows when Australia invests in its elite female athletes, the dividends can be immense. Winning gold at the Olympics was a huge achievement for the team and opened rugby sevens up to mainstream viewers.
With continuing talk of a national sevens competition, there is the opportunity for even more players to develop their skills at an elite level.
Yet that success and recognition must come from somewhere.
It needs to be grown with commitment from the ARU, corporate sponsors, and the Australian public.
After the Wallaroo’s spirited bounce back in their second Test, here’s hoping that we see Australian rugby take stronger action to develop the format for women in Australia.
teinu
Guest
That's common place unfortunately with regards to our international rep sports women and it hurts that they are being screwed over as just a side show or something shame on you W.W.R.U
Herbert
Guest
Something many may not know is the women's national side does not play under the Australian Coat of Arms and therefore are not entitled to even paid leave time to represent their country. They take annual leave and if they have none it's leave without pay. The least we could do is play them under the above. I wonder how many other national sides do this. Not many
Herbert
Guest
You're completely correct the hardest game between the two best sides and not a selector coach or trainer in sight. Everyone wants the women to give greater commitment. Let's start with the officials giving a bit
Jill
Guest
Clarke G... While most of the northern hemisphere nations have some sort of November/Autumn test series in their build up to Dublin 2017, not to mention the Women's 6Nations comp in Feb/March, the Wallaroos in contrast have nothing more until June/July when a still to be confirmed series is planned btwn Aust, NZ, England & Canada(?) -probably in NZ - in the lead up to the WRWC in Aug.
Jill
Guest
Righteous, XVs definitely needs more financial support and more regular game time with an annual Test series being the minimum. But it should be noted the 7s prog did not just throw together a team of varying sportswomen over 12months and end up with a world title and an Olympic title. The Aussie7s prog began in 2012/13 with a very defined 4yr plan. It drew sportswomen from XVs, touch and athletes from a few other disciplines who showed the necessary skillset to shape them into 7s rugby players. It has been a structured and well planned 4yrs including three annual World Series (starting end 2013) and a 7s World Cup in that mix on the road to the current success and dominance. So the Wallaroos have quite a way to go to get from 6th in the world to challenge for dominance at the top but you're right in that the ARU must put plans in place to make this happen.
John P
Guest
Its all very well to rave about the improvement of the Wallaroos but being unable to score a try in 80 minutes and leaking close to 100 points in that time leaves a lot of work still to be done. Just look at the first try by the Ferns in game 2 and ask yourself how easy would that have been to stop and we didn't. Look back at the try in the first test scored by the scrum half and look at the commitment of the Aussie lock just to the left of her on screen where she didn't have her body in any position to defend on the line and really if she is a test player I think we need to reassess our selections. The best and toughest game of women rugby in 2016 was the Sydney Women's grand final it was a physical no nonsense game where the two blues really gave it to Sydney Uni and no aussie selectors were there and in arguable the toughest women comp in Australia only 5 got selected then one more added.
ClarkeG
Guest
That will explain it then. Gee how come no one else thought of that.
lewismarsh
Roar Rookie
yes your right it was in fact off the kickoff.
ClarkeG
Guest
Don't miss the Womens Rugby World Cup in 9 months time in Ireland Akari. The Australian Buildcorp Wallaroos are automatic qualifiers. I'm not sure if they have any further games scheduled for this year but as a comparison NZ have tests in the following weeks against Eng, Canada and Ireland. Obviously they improved in the 2nd test and they need more tests to back that up.
ClarkeG
Guest
That is a little misleading to say that it was in the lead up to the first try considering the try was scored some 4 mins after that incident. However it was a brain fade on the part of the referee for sure. If it was deemed a ruck then yes Goss (no 7) was offside but even if not a ruck then at the very least she has entered the tackle area incorrectly. Penalty either way.
Jerry
Guest
Yeah, that was the ultimate brain fart by the ref. They seemed to have taken the 'no defenders = no ruck' situation and applied it to the tackle which of course is completely wrong.
lewismarsh
Roar Rookie
Did anyone notice that in the lead up to the first try in the second test, the black 7 came from an offside position and ripped the ball of the aussie?. It wasnt just a little offside either, it was so startling in its pure offsideness that i had to watch it again to make sure i had not imagined it. Boy oh boy that 7 has serious invisibility talent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uisb2JumTVA its in the first 30 seconds, have a look, its awsome
In Brief
Guest
I always find the use of term 'discipline' problematic in rugby as many penalties are questionable to begin with or forced by opposition play, not poor discipline. You can have players who are attempting play positive rugby penalised for actions outside of their control. In this case it is not discipline that causes the penalty, it is either dominant play by the opposition (winning a turnover or scrum penalty) or a 50/50 call in many cases the referee gets wrong. In rugby the word discipline can only really be applied to the things you control, which are offside and foul play.
Blinky Bill of Bellingen NSW
Guest
Really enjoyed watching the test and seeing the difference a couple of days can make. I thought the Wallaroos, while not yet in the same class at the Black Ferns, really progressed in some of the areas that let them down in test one. I was pleased to see improvements in ball retention, defense and the breakdown. 'A' for effort. We had plenty of time in their 22 with little to show for it, so next is to get that attack humming. If we can match the way the NZers pass the ball and their interplay, we're a chance of an upset one day.
S .Johnson
Guest
The Wallaroo's discipline is shocking...they keep that up more cards will be given...
S .Johnson
Guest
The Wallaroo's discipline is shocking...they keep that up more cards will be given...
righteous
Guest
This just highlights the difference between 7s and 15s. 7s you can pull players from any sport train them for 12 months and they are world beaters, like australia has done. Do the samething to the 15 side and they'll get smashed everytime.
Akari
Roar Rookie
Thanks to Scott Allen for promoting the two tests on this site as I otherwise would have missed both. I certainly was surprised with the high standard of the rugby and how slick the women were, in particular, the Black Ferns with ball in hand. I think it was unfortunate that the Wallaroos got two YCs, which helped the B Ferns to run riot with the eventual score-line in the 1st test. The improvement in the W'roos is the 2nd test was remarkable and a credit to the coaches in players. Top stuff and the investments in women's 15s rugby has been justified. More please, ARU and potential sponsors.
BrainsTrust
Guest
The funding for the womens sevens comes from the Olympic funding. If your expecting the ARU to start funding womens 15 rugby then you are dreaming. In terms of free money Cricket Australia is loaded and still very stingy they could easily put in ten times more money into the women and only recently strated putting money in, then you have the AFL while they are financially bigger their money is more tied up but again they could easily spend 10 times more even if they put a fraction of their subsidies for mens AFL in Sydney for example and they did nothing till last year, NRL their pockets have only recently swollen, in particular their next TV deal increases it even more they are , they could easily fund a full time womens national team or a womens national league. While the ARU are a complete deadbeat when it comes to financing womens rugby they haven;t got the loads of cash the other recalcitrants have. Its hard to work out which is the biggest deadbeat as regards to womens sport.However you would think their first assignment would be to at least fund a womens national team. On the other side of the ledger Netball being women only all the funding goes to women so they have the best wages by far for womens with a tiny budget. FFA and Basketball Australia have had national womens leagues for ages so they and Netball put the rest of them to complete shame.
Stuart John Pearson
Guest
The Wallaroos must have more test matches at 15 a side.Sydney and probably Brisbane would be great for another test match vs the Black Ferns for starters next year.