WXV: 'Sometimes it takes the women’s game to bring rugby culture to the fore'

This week teams touched down in Vancouver, Cape Town and Dubai for the second year of World Rugby’s international women’s tournament, WXV. 

Although rugby fans worldwide will be familiar with Cape Town as a prime rugby destination, it may only be the rugby sevens followers who know that Vancouver and Dubai are also rugby hotspots.  

However, they are not just seasoned in the sevens format, as each city is hosting one tier of this three-tiered XVs tournament. 

If you are a traditional rugby fan who has generally spent more of your time following the men’s game, then welcome! 

Let’s be honest - historically rugby fans have mostly followed the men’s game - because that’s all there was.  Well, according to the media that is!  

But we’ve been here bubbling away for quite some time now, and with coverage, investment, interest and participation at an all-time high - it is a great time to get involved. 

If you want to get on the bandwagon however, you may want to hurry on as 55,000 tickets were scooped up in the first day of presale for next year’s RWC in England just this week. 

I remember one day a few years ago while training lineouts, I was under pressure to get the jumper quickly into the air.  I was only a small back row to be fair and, although I was strong, she was bigger and heavier than me.  I asked the coach “What’s the difference between her lifting me and reaching maximum height? And me lifting her and reaching maximum height?”   

He paused. Letting my question sink in.  He stared into the sky while going through the laws of physics in his head. 

In that moment I had a profound realisation.  A realisation that my coach, who was a fantastic coach and someone I still hold in high regard, hadn’t actually fully considered that he was dealing with something different here. 

 I thought in my head “You mean to tell me, that with all of your rugby knowledge built through years of coaching experience you have actually managed to overlook a blatantly obvious fact here?”  The fact that the women’s game does not have to follow the same rules as the men’s.  The fact that we’ve got some blank sheets in here that we can fill in ourselves.  

Eventually, he had no answer.  The answer, of course, is that there is no difference in height  - unless the lifter launches the jumper so powerfully that the jumper leaves her hands for a bit.  There’s the difference!  Power, speed, dynamics. They have the potential to look different on the women’s side of the game. 

I always enjoy overhearing conversations on women’s sports.  Until I want to jump in and correct someone.  Two fellas in the Irish pub after Ireland’s stunning performance against Australia.  “Did you see the women beat Australia?”  “Did they?  Fair play to ‘em! Even though ‘tis no surprise really given how useless Australia are.”   

“Excuse me!” I said.  “I think you’ve got your Joes and Jos confused. Joe Schmidt ain’t no Jo Yapp. Don’t be mistaking the troubles of the Wallabies with the building blocks of the Wallaroos. 

"Australia are absolutely not a useless team and have some unbelievably good players and potential.  For Ireland to put up such a scoreline against them is a huge testament to how well Ireland played.”  Even though I came up with this response after I had left and was at home on the couch. 

I hear similar comments when traditional rugby fans realise that Canada is one of the superpowers of women’s rugby.  “Canada?” Picturing the men’s side who are among the minnows of world rugby against whom higher ranked teams can give their bench and extended squad a runout when it comes to test games or world cups.   

In fact, having two North American sides playing in WXV 1 with USA taking the last spot in the six-team top level, might raise many an eyebrow.  It is the proof in the pudding that the rules are there to be written by the women who drive the game and have done for years, whether in the shadow of the men’s game or not. 

Don’t be surprised when you look through the list of fixtures and see the likes of Madagascar, Hong Kong China, Spain and the Netherlands all lining up to be part of these new waves of international rugby. Not forgetting the broken hearts of the likes of Kazakhstan, Kenya, and Colombia who played last year and just missed out on qualification for this year’s tournament.   

There is rich rugby culture everywhere.  It extends much further than the “top tier” nations might realise.  Sometimes it takes the women’s game to bring that culture to the fore!  Let it be written and let’s keep writing! 

Oh! Don’t forget… There's an online tournament predictor where you can predict the result of every game in the tournament for a bit of craic.  See if you really know your women’s rugby then eh?  What are you waiting for?