91Èȱ¬

Well we have at least had 1 team this year that can hold there heads up high. Unlike the our supposed football squad who seem to care about there bank balance more than national pride, Our rugby girls went out and done what anyone who wears the shirt for this country should do and thats simply give 110%. I have been watching this ladies tournament from day 1 and I have 1 critism, not against the ladies but against all the media including the bbc.... where was the coverage... a 10 second reminder by yourselves??? A very small article in most of the national papers??? No matter what a person representing this country in any type of activity should be honoured and not ignored. Lets ignore the overpayed footballers for a change then there wages will drop and they might get a sense of reality in them. Please lets get some pride back into this nation. Dont ignore the people who have pride....

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Yawnn pete, populist nonsense, yes they deserved some more coverage but Womens Rugby isn't a big sport so they didn't get the big coverage. Unlucky but more people want to wwatch football so the wages are higher.

CS yes well get a life and start wathing proper sport that u might enjoy rather than buying a season over priced season ticket to watch those panzie footballers fall over and cry!!!

I watch rugby far more than football, I've been to many a rugby game and played in many aswell. I'm not sure what you're arguing against. You are aware that football is far more popular hence the higher wages, mens rugby is far more popular hence their higher wages. Where do you expect this female rugby reporting to come from? There was a lot on the 91Èȱ¬ website and it was shown on sky sports. It's not a popular game so the 91Èȱ¬ aren't going to send hordes of reporters and cameramen to cover it because they know that most people don't really care.
I'm also big into cycling but I accecpt that their wages won't be as big as footballers because the market is smaller equally someone like Rooney will bring in massive revenue to man utd whereas Wiggins wont be able to do the same for Sky. That's just how it works, womens rugby isn't big and no one really knows anything about it and so the best it can hope for is a couple of articles once every 4 years.

Hang yourselves? A bit harsh no?Also, is a front page blog on a leading sports news-site not good coverage?

Nice article, Tom. Yes - a good showpiece for women's rugby and may media coverage and public interest increase. It was a tight game and although bereft of the try-fest sparkle seen on Saturday night in Bloemfontein, it was test rugby at it's toughest, tightest best.

But one comment: "austere referee Sarah Corrigan". Tom, I think you are being too generous. I thought she was a bit of a show boat, and at times barely competent. Added to that she was inconsistent. Why not get someone tried and proven at the top levels, irrespective of gender. The same goes for the assistant referees. They all made some fairly bad, basic errors - things which the players at this very top level of the game do not deserve. Something to work on for the next World Cup.

Congratulations to the Kiwis!

I watched this game and felt all the players were let down with the match officials - thought the ref was very inconsistent and how she managed to sin bin 3 NZ players while not 1 English player got binned

If she was the best ref in the world cup it doesn't say much for the rest or was the final given to her because she was female?

@petefromthemead: Apart from shouting and too many exclamation marks, a clear indicator of a loosely hinged mind, has it occurred to you that the hat-trick he refers to has nothing to do with football or the men's world cup? He's referring to England losing to the All Blacks three times in a row in the women's world cup final. It's not rocket science.

How heart-breaking to read this article and about England's defeat. When will we ever lift that trophy again? Work hard girls and the time will eventually come.

petefromthemead. get a life for the love of god. people like you should stick to the Daily Mail website.

Lay off the ref - crickey oh for a ref in the men's game that would stick 3 Kiwis in the bin. The Kiwis are notorious for pushing the laws to the limit in the ruck and on Sunday we had a ref who stood up to it. Well done ref.
Despite getting binned, NZ were the better side, more physical, better in ruck and maul and played as a unit. Their support play was brilliant - how often was a kiwi isolated - and they dominated most of the match. Congratulations to NZ.
For England they can hold their heads high. We didn't see their best in the final and that's a shame but they contributed to a great match and they've nothing to be ashamed about.
For the game the World Cup was a great triumph. I'd last watched women's international rugby about 4 years ago and this was a surprise. Its advanced tremendously. Yes it can still improve but its certainly worthy of support. Come on Premiership Clubs where are your women's teams (notable exception to Wasps and retrospectively Worcester). Double headers with women's Premiership Club matches preceeding the men's; like the sound of that.

LahdarBheinn- sorry I just wanted to point something out. The women's game has a premiership and the teams that are just because the teams that are there don't have equivalent men's teams doesn't mean a thing. Richmond, Litchfield, Bristol, Wasps... the list goes on and on. They've also given up a lot of their player's time to allow them to play in the World Cup. This should help with info:


In fact, all leagues in women's rugby are starting about 3 weeks later this year to allow for the world cup (supporters and players).

As for yesterdays game. It was a fine spectacle of women's rugby. An explosive game. But the biggest problem for England was that they failed to capitalise on their opportunities. Two missed penalties, Black Ferns down to 13. The lineout wasn't as strong, and sadly Amy Turner did not play at her best. A team can't afford to let these things slide against the Black Ferns. You just HAVE to take every single opportunity as it arises, and England didn't yesterday. They played their hearts out, but sadly the Black Ferns simply had too much.

Actually as a public service broadcaster, the 91Èȱ¬ does have a responsibility to cover the women's world cup far more comprehensively than it did - despite the fact women's rugby doesn't bring in a lot of revenue. I would have settled for it being on at some ungodly hour and having to record it if necessary, but once again, no Sky, no sport.
I am truly disgusted that the day after the final, most papers are more concerned with what Rooney got up to off the pitch.
Women's sport may not bring in huge amounts of revenue, but it's a chicken and egg situation - it needs coverage, to increase the amounts of revenue it generates. Also: It needs the coverage to encourage girls and women to take part and commit to elite sports. It needs the coverage to ensure adaquate and enthusiastic support. It needs the coverage to give our young girls something to aspire to other than glamour models and / or footballers wives. While this is indeed a good article, it is too little...

tokenista - nothing in my blog-entry suggests there is no
Wwomen premiership - I know exactly which teams are in the Women premiership but apologies to Saracens for missing them from my the list. I'm not suggesting that any the Women premiership teams are deficient or unworthy because they don't have equivalent men's Premiership teams. They are in the premiership on merit. I am suggesting that if more men's Premiership clubs had women's teams there would be a greater opportunity for exposure and the chance to market the womens' game more. I could be wrong of course but somewhere like Bath or Leicester might be able to offer greater exposure than say Old Albanians or Darlington MP. Certain premiership clubs brand themselves are being 'family clubs' but don't have women's teams. In contrast cricket has achieved this with nearly every or every county having a women's county team, even those with no first class men's county team (eg Berkshire, currently in Division 1).

retrogooseuk - unfortuntately more or less every sport gets 2nd rate coverage compared to association football and women's sport gets even worse coverage. There is a nice little 'club' - it consists of the media (press, radio and tv) who, worried about sales and ratings focus on association football, it consists of the football clubs and authorities who spend massive amounts on money on branding and marketing and it consists of the football supporter who gets bled of his/her money after being duped into thinking association football is in some way vital.
The BCC should be above this 'scrum', given they are non-commercial. Alas, by and large, association football gets saturation coverage on Radio 5 Live and pretty well every other sport comes a poor 2nd.
No criticism of Tom Fordyce intended here - thanks for your blog.

What a result! Crowing in the office today, a wall of glum england rugby supporters greeted me, finally a day without comments about the AB's lack of world cup wins etc.
I think that the standard of rugby at the tournament was fantastic and is a great demonstration of what prudent investment by individual rugby unions and the IRB can do. The strength of the game is in inspiring youth to play and seeing the young faces in the crowd, (both male and female), inspirational is exactly what those women were.
Sarah Corrigan made a few mistakes I agree, however I think that most international refs would have struggled to control any better, what was a feirce competition at the breakdown. Once the Kiwi girls understood how she wanted the breakdown played they settled down and the penalties reduced.
Great tournament played at an amazing level go the mighty Black Ferns. :)

Well done to the AB's, great game

I was gutted to have lost but in all fairness the Black Fearns were the better side, test rugby at that level is all about tiny margins; if you're not on top of all of them you will give away the momentum - and we did

I would like to say that I enjoyed all the games I watched immensely, you can't blame the standard of reffing, as pointed out above the AB's have always pushed the laws of the breakdown to the limits, McCaw is constantly breaking most of them but he gets away with it (fair play to him as well !)

It was a good spectacle and a great advert for women's rugby, well done to all the teams involved

There's always the next one, we'll be even better next time round :)

Tom, nice article!
I am however a little disapointed that you have not heaped praise upon praise to the English ladies and the way they fought tooth and nail right until the death, the spirit, togetherness, pride, skill and sheer effort that they showed throughout the tournament and especially yesterday should be a benchmark for all other National teams in this country!! The way they fought and scrambled yesterday was testament to the whole squad and the passion they should was truly inspiring. As you have said NZ did deserve the win, but then they were surely huge favouraites on paper going into the Final, having won the previous 18 World Cup games on the bounce - surely anything other than a black ferns victory would have been a big upset??
I think this article should undoubetdly highlight the National pride and passion that the women should yesterday and should undoubetedly act as a benchmark for the mens team heading to NZ next year - if they show the same passion and spirit then I'm sure we can offer the All Blacks some payback in their own back yard.

I also spare a massive thought for Heather Fisher and Fiona Pocock as I can only imagine how desperately sad the girls must have been to be injured for the Final after being 2 of the standout English performers throughout the tournament - I'm sure with those girls also in the team we would have run the black ferns even closer!!!!!

Surely womens rugby now deserves more attention and the Premeirship clubs should undoubtedly look at playing the games in warm-ups to Aviva Premiership fixtures!
What a fantatsic game of Rugby!

Nice article Tom. England missed the incomparable Heather Fisher in the breakdown, and unfortunately their set pieces let them down a bit. But given the possession and territorial dominance of the Black Ferns, how awesome was England's defense? Second row Jo McGilchrist chasing down the NZ winger and producing a try-saving tackle was an unbelieveable moment of commitment, technique and an absolute refusal to give up.

The right team won in the end, but so much to be proud of for the English.

I'm a keen follower of rugby, have been for years. I was at the Stoop on Sunday to see the final, only the second time I've been to a top class Womens game. (The first being earlier in the Tournament.)

It was the best game of rugby I have seen in a long time. The skills & commitment of both teams was amazing. I was dissapointed that England lost but they gave everything they could and New Zealand were the deserved winners.

If I may quote from Einstein.

"First you have to learn the rules, then play them better than anybody else"


This sums up the NZ attitude towards rugby. Obviously in mens and womens rugby.All this talk of McCaw cheating and getting away with it. When he does actually go too far, he is penalized. I submit he is indeed upholding Einsteins method which can only bring about success. He plays the game better than anybody else. And thats how it is. Pundits can complain and whinge. But he has no favor with referees, he is not a in any pockets. He is not part of a grand conspiracy. He just knows the game and the rules better than any other player currently in playing test rugby.And its a testament of the rugby mindset the Black Ferns had 3 yellow cards and still England couldn't take advantage of it. No disrespect to them as I thought they played brilliantly.

New Zealand - Carla Hohepa, Renee Wickliffe

Australia - Nicole Beck, CJ Morgan

What do these Women's World Cup stars have in common...?

They all play International Touch Rugby alongside Union. They excelled at Touch before they moved up to Union. Let that be a guideline into how to gain the pace/footwork/skills/awareness of the above players compared to their northern hemisphere counterparts. A sport largely ignored in the UK made these players great....

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