Women's Rugby World Cup

[PilotFish]

For those who don't know - but perhaps them or their children were inspired by the Lionesses great win last night, the Women's Rugby World Cup kicks-off in England next month - with tickets available from as little as £10 ( a few of these are double headers - so two games on the same day for the price of one ticket)

England's Red Roses are the bookies favourites and it's a great chance to see world class sport up close and personal - https://tickets.rugbyworldcup.com/

I’m Welsh… I am sad! But not taking away from Scotland in the slightest and a good win for them. Just a shame that we were so diabolical! Line out issues, conceded a penalty scrum and our discipline was sorely lacking. We will not beat Canada, so our WC is pretty much… in the WC! Look forward to watching the other home nations play however. My great, great grandmother on my other’s side was Irish… so might have to go green for the duration!

Having followed the England women's team in several world cups, unfortunately the persistent theme seems to be that England women's play amazingly well in every game, get to the final and then lose to New Zealand!

We have tickets for England v Australia, and the final. Very excited as it will be DS’s first rugby game. I hope that the atmosphere will be good.

Can I encourage you all rugby fans to vote for Maggie Alphonsi?

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cpvjee3nw9eo

There are some fantastic nominees there.

I love Maggie - indeed have met her and she was so nice in person - but difficult to forget the 2012 Olympics, and Jess Ennis Hill's contribution or the contributions Tanni Grey-Thompson or Laura Kenny in particular made to their disciplines.
I'm a big football fan as well and Lucy Bronze would have to be up there for me.

We went to Canada vs Fiji. Itwas wonderful. Canada look pretty sharp. However fijis only try was the best of the match. So exciting to watch,

For me the biggest difference between the men's game and the women's game is the laughter and smiles.

Thats not to say that female rugby players don't take it seriously (it is the World Cup after all). But they just seem to enjoy having a laugh and messing around more the men's game - they just seem "happier" and that happiness is infectious.

Compare the seriousness of say Antoine Dupont (arguably the best men's rugby player ever) and the try celebrations of Ellie Kildunne or the massive smiles of Stacey Waaka.

I think women’s rugby is great. Because they don’t have the upper body strength of the men they have to play a more nuanced and intelligent game. No “bash it up” for the women and very little box kicking. Also noticeable were the low number of penalties and cards for high tackles compared to the men’s game.

It is obvious which are the best teams but the matches at the weekend were all so good, and so well supported. I loved the crowd at FG for SA vs Brazil- what a carnival atmosphere 😊

Looking forward to next weekend!

Nice poem that appeared on X recently

Anyone watching Japan v New Zealand at Sandy Park?
interesting game so far!
(watching from Japan and supporting the Sakura fifteen)

Me, but now I have to go and collect ds from a birthday party because he's feeling sick and wants to come home. Is there radio commentary anywhere? Hopefully I can keep listening

38-5 to the Black Ferns at the end of the first half.
Japan defending well but lost control a bit - let’s see what happens in the second half (so far, it’s not the bloodbath I was expecting!)

Final score 62-19
it was a cracking match!

Some good matches this weekend. Looking forward to England vs Australia later. First Scotland vs Canada which should hopefully be competitive. Come on Scotland! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I have the pain of Wales v Fiji later… but as long as they do their best. It’s been a hard campaign. At least I am in Mumbles with wine on hand and some cats to hide behind cwtsch.

Not sure if any of you have picked up on this, but the Wales player Georgia Evans has had to put out a statement this week due to abuse she’s received on social media (because she plays with make up on her face and bows in her hair). Her statement is here - any support I’m sure would be welcome: https://www.instagram.com/p/DOEDJsLjLI3/?img_index=1&igsh=YTZveWEyYTl0bmNi

My club put out a post in support - not sure if any of you are players or involved in a club, but it would be great to see more like this. https://www.instagram.com/reel/DOLFseljMoZ/?igsh=dHh1ODJqZGQ4dDN3

Is there a thread following the games?

Another convincing win by England against Australia. Yes the first half was patchy, nervous even and mistakes were made but anyone looking at the BBC website report by Mike Henson would wonder which match he was watching.
Another attempt to bring our women down.

I liked that several of the Welsh players had some kind of pink bows in their hair in support of Georgia Evans. DH was at the match the previous week and said there was a group of Welsh “supporters” who spent the whole match bad mouthing the Welsh players and commenting on their physical appearance. The detractors were very much in the minority and the rest of the spectators just drowned them out with louder cheering even though they were there supporting other teams.

My view is that they are irrelevant dickheads that have no interest or knowledge of women's sports let alone rugby.

The reality is that there will always these dickheads on social media and if it was her make up then they would be commenting on the colour of her boots etc etc. Rather than clubs putting out statements on this which just gets more publicity for the dickheads I would prefer if it was ignored and confined to the bin of irrelevance where it belongs.

Actually I thought that the commentary was fair, in the first half for England there were far too many simple mistakes which as they progress forward they simply cannot make. But glad to see they got it together in the second half.

Bearing in mind that the Women's Rugby World Cup traditionally results in England playing really well and getting everyone's hopes up whereupon they lose to NZ in the final, then hopefully yesterday's first half will give them a bit of a kick up the bum.

I think it’s the coach’s job to give the team a ‘kick up the bum’ not negative and unjustified press comments. I was pleased to see Mitchell accentuate the positives, in public at least.
Australia were very motivated but couldn’t keep up that intensity for a whole game.

Yay Japan beat Spain to finish third in Pool C - which ends the Sakura Fifteen’s stint at this year’s RWC
they’ve improved so much since the last World Cup! Fingers crossed for the RWC in Australia in 2029

And now I’m fully committed to supporting the Red Roses 🌹

Absolutely love the Sakura 15 - win or lose they do it with such class and humility.

For me yesterday's NZ v Ireland was a masterclass in rugby with the last try being the try of the tournament.

As a neutral the outcome of women's rugby World Cup historically goes England do really well and get to the final whereupon they lose to NZ and the only variable is by how many points.

I don't doubt England will make it to the final but based on this weekend's England v Australia and NZ v Ireland then NZ are by far the better team.