THE IRFU SAID it will consider bringing in contracts for female 15s players but CEO Kevin Potts claimed that Ireland Women’s players were not supportive of the recommendation around contracting made following a review into their failure to qualify for this year’s World Cup.

Among the 30 recommendations in that independent review is the suggestion that the IRFU should consider “the introduction of hybrid or retainer contracts for XV players to manage physical, emotional, time and other pressures.”

With England having gone professional, New Zealand recently bringing in contracting, France offering part-time contracts to its players, and Wales also recently confirming 12 full-time contracts, this is an area of growth in the women’s game.

At present, the IRFU contracts female players for 7s rugby, with some of those players also featuring for the Ireland 15s team.

However, Potts said today that Ireland Women’s players had been uncomfortable with this particular recommendation from the review.

The IRFU chief executive did say the union will consider the recommendation.

“Everything in the review is going to be considered seriously, that’s for sure,” said Potts. “We would like the arrival of our new head of women’s high performance to be on board to start to look at that whole area.

“Everything will be considered seriously and we will look forward to recommendations coming back from him or her in the months ahead regarding that issue.

“It was quite interesting that one of the comments back to me from the player group was that they were uncomfortable with that recommendation because they didn’t want this review to be about talk on professionalisation.

“In fact, they would have preferred that not to be there at all because they wanted this to be focused on all of the other things. That was an interesting and welcome thought.”

Fiona Steed, who is part of the IRFU Committee and chair of the Women’s Sub-Committee, added that improving Irish women’s rugby is about much more than just contracting players.

The 30 recommendations from the World Cup Qualifier review focus on things like selection, player development, squad culture, nutrition, psychology, and more.

“World Rugby have put together a ‘pathway to professionalism’ document for the women’s game,” said Steed.

“It goes through raising the standards on and off the pitch and it’s not just about professionalism. It’s about creating the environment, enabling the elite female athletes to maximise their potential, and embedding within that what is necessary in each country and region.

“There have been different iterations around the world as to what professionalism looks like. You look at Wales bringing on board 12 full-time professionals, then what happens to the other 20-something.

“It’s exploring it and doing it right and not just throwing money because that’s what people would like to say – ‘we have a professional structure.’ We need something that is sustainable, something that ensures women can perform to their absolute best.

“What that looks like can’t be a knee-jerk reaction, it can’t be handing out contracts to 10 or 30 players. It needs to be what suits us.

“That’s very much what World Rugby’s guidance is on it. That can be different in different regions.”

Meanwhile, Potts insisted that hooker Cliodhna Moloney was not dropped from the latest Ireland Women squad due to her comments about former women’s director of rugby Anthony Eddy last year. The IRFU CEO said that the decision was solely down to “form.”

Moloney was Ireland’s first-choice hooker last year as they failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup through a Qualifier tournament in Italy.

Soon after that competition, Eddy gave a media briefing in which his words were perceived as laying the blame at the feet of Ireland’s players. Moloney took to social media to describe Eddy’s comments as “slurry.”

In December, the 28-year-old hooker was tipped as the possible next Ireland captain by former international Claire Molloy, who plays alongside Moloney with English club Wasps.

However, Moloney was absent from the first squad named by new head coach Greg McWilliams’ ahead of the Six Nations, which kicks off for Ireland against Wales on 26 March.

“Greg McWilliams has selected his squad, he has selected it on form and any question as to why players are in or out of the squad can be addressed by him in due course,” said Potts.

When asked to provide a guarantee that it had not been the case that Moloney was dropped for speaking out, Potts repeated that it was only about form.

“Absolutely guaranteed that is not the case,” he said. “It’s form.”