Women's Elite Rugby tipped to have big impact on USA

USA Women head coach Sione Fukofuka believes the introduction of a professional league in the country will have a huge impact on the fortunes of the national team.

Earlier this month it was announced that Women’s Elite Rugby (WER), the USA’s first professional women’s rugby union league, will launch in 2025.

WER organisers hope to have between six and eight teams competing in the inaugural season and think it can capitalise on the global growth of women’s sport as the game builds towards Women’s Rugby World Cup 2033 in the States.

Fukofuka watched the Women’s Eagles concede 40 unanswered points to slip a 50-7 defeat against Canada in only his second match in charge on Sunday but is confident WER’s arrival can only benefit his squad and the game in the USA.

“Huge,” he replied when asked how important the new league could be.

“It'll have a big impact. The fact that the players can spend time in a daily training environment is a good component in terms of time away from work and preparation.”

Of the 15 players the former Wallaroos assistant coach selected to start the World Rugby Pacific Four Series 2024 opener, only three do not currently play their club rugby in England’s Women’s Premiership Rugby (PWR).

“The fact that it provides us with the opportunity to bring some of those players back from the UK, so they contribute to our domestic league and increase the competition here is massive," Fukofuka added.

“The fact that I would have more access and the ability to work with my senior players and my national team players in country, is a big excitement around it.

“Obviously, my experience coming from Super W [is] when Super W is strong, the Wallaroos are strong and building that competition and that ability to have a daily training environment is a big part of it.

“And probably the last layer there is as WER comes into their planning and their development that will also obviously include high-level coaches coming in and the more access the US players have to technical and tactical coaching at a level that allows them to develop, the better it is for me and the national team.

“Because we end up with players that are much better prepared coming into this environment. So, it allows us to develop and progress even further.”

USA’s winless run against Canada now stretches to nine matches and their North American rivals ruthlessly exposed the gap between the two teams in Sunday’s second half in Los Angeles.

The Women’s Eagles have not won a Pacific Four Series match since beating Australia 16-14 in Auckland almost two years ago.

That looks like being the key match-up once again this year for the USA, with whoever emerges victorious at AAMI Park on 17 May likely to take their place at WXV 1 and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

Fukofuka knows the Wallaroos well, having worked with the bulk of Jo Yapp’s squad for three years before moving to America, and he is confident his current charges have the quality to win in Melbourne next month.

“I think they do match up pretty well,” Fukofuka said ahead of the Canada defeat.

“There is a fair bit of experience in this USA group. They play in the UK at a pretty high level, so I'm excited around that.

“Whereas Australia, you know, the Super W isn't necessarily at the same level of competition week in, week out. But there's some X-Factor in that backline that we've got to be really conscious of.

“This is going to be a bit cliched; I know, I apologise for it… but to be honest, the way I see the game itself is it'll be decided at the breakdown and the set piece.

“If they can service their outside backs, Maya Stewart and obviously Faitala [Moleka] at full-back then we'll have a pretty tough time.

“Whereas, if we can slow that down and win our share of ball, there's some pretty smart players in my team. So, I'm excited to see what they can do with a bit of possession.”

Fukofuka – who describes himself as an “attacking coach” – is well aware that one of the biggest jobs he faces is to give the Women’s Eagles the confidence they can win having only tasted victory in six of their previous 23 Tests.

That is why beating the Springbok Women in his maiden match in charge last month was so important.

He said: “It was a mindset thing against South Africa because one thing the US team hasn't done very well in recent [years] is win games against or at least perform against teams that they're expected to win against.”

And make no mistake, the goal for Fukofuka and the Women’s Eagles over the next three weeks is to beat the Wallaroos and book their tickets to Canada and England.

“If we play well, we get a result, we finish above Australia in the top three.

“Then we have World Cup qualification, and we get the opportunity to play the top six countries in the world. So, in short, yes that's our focus,” he said.

“It’s a bit of a controllable if we get that result [against Australia], then the rest of our year is pretty much planned for us. Whereas if we don't, then there's a little bit of the unknown.

“So, we're definitely chasing a bit of certainty.”