Welsh Rugby Union gives 37 professional contracts to women players
The Welsh Rugby Union has issued new full-time professional contracts to 37 women players.
The move – which comes as Ioan Cunningham’s squad prepares to face Australia in the WXV2 tournament in South Africa this weekend – includes many extended two-year deals for the first time.
The WRU, who first introduced full-time deals for 12 of its players in January 2022 and subsequently increased that number to 25 for 2023, said the new agreement makes Wales one of the best paid international women’s teams in the world game.
WRU chief executive Abi Tierney said: “We have reached a good place with this Wales squad and we are excited about the future.
“We have a stated aim to continue to invest in women’s rugby and that means both at the professional level and in the structures and systems which underpin it.
“Professional international contracts are a vitally important part of the ecosystem we are creating to promote success.
“We have not completed this work and we will have plenty more to say on this subject when we announce our full strategy this autumn, but this is a hugely positive day for women’s rugby in Wales.”
Among those retained under the new deal are squad captain Hannah Jones, 76-times capped hooker Carys Phillips, recent matchday skipper Kiera Bevan and Team GB sevens star Jasmine Joyce.
There are also deals for talented youngsters Nel Metcalfe, Sian Jones and Molly Reardon, as well as the likes of Lleucu George, Alex Callender, Abbie Fleming, Sisilia Tuipulotu and Alisha Butchers.
Wales recorded third-place finishes in the Women’s Six Nations Championship in 2022 and 2023, but picked up the wooden spoon this year with their only victory coming at home against Italy.
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Ireland were ahead nearly the whole game. You got every decision. So who won is all that counts in Match 1, but in Match 2 its 'SA were in control, we should have won'. Thats classic SA supporter nonsense right there.
Go to commentsRazor is rebuilding foundations, as are Schmidt in Australia and Borthwick in England. You could add Wales to the list, but its not obvious there is a solution there. While good results would be great to see, they are not the way to measure these teams at this point.
Supporters should be looking for things like cultural commitment and cohesion, and basics like fitness, passing, tackling, kicking, and set piece execution. Other layers get built on that, including defensive structures, on-field communication, and positional combinations. And while you're building all of that you need to build depth of players in the squad. Its only when you have all of that in good shape that you can really be effective with attacking innovations, game plans, sophisticated game management, and effective tournament planning.
Some teams, including Ireland, France and SA, have been building all of this for years, with coaching continuity and plenty of time to refine it all. Right now, for "rebuild teams", like NZ, Oz and England, to be competitive at all is impressive. But in a couple of years things will be different. They may not be fully in their stride by then, but they will be consistently in the mix against anyone.
By RWC 2027 there are going to be seven or eight teams that will be serious contenders, including all four TRC teams. And I would not be surprised if NZ were ranked #1 at that point.
In the meantime supporters should be hoping for wins, but focusing on continuous improvement. It is what it is.
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