THE IRFU BELIEVES women’s rugby represents the biggest opportunity to grow the game in Ireland over the next four years.
The union has launched a new strategic plan that runs until 2028 and though that document does not include specific targets for Ireland’s national men’s, women’s, and provincial teams during that period, CEO Kevin Potts confirmed that the IRFU will publish key performance indicators [KPIs] every year.
Central to the new plan is developing the participation in and support of women’s rugby, with the union confident that the women’s game can explode in popularity in the coming years.
The IRFU intends to have four contracted women’s provincial teams who compete in season-long, cross-border tournaments. There are currently two Irish teams taking part in the Celtic Challenge competition with Welsh and Scottish sides.
Potts said record crowds at Ireland Women’s three home Six Nations matches this year had resulted in each game making “a small profit” in a sign of things to come.
Having hit the historic low of missing out on qualification for the last World Cup in 2021, Ireland have enjoyed an upturn in form recently, finishing third in this year’s Six Nations – earning a place at next year’s World Cup and a spot in the top-tier WXV 1 competition later this year.
Potts stated his belief that next year’s Women’s World Cup in England could be “a defining moment” for the sport, both on the pitch and commercially. The Ireland Women’s 7s will take part in the Olympics in July, another chance to grow the interest in rugby here.
“In England, where obviously they are far more advanced than we are in terms of their structures and competitions, they’re getting big crowds at their games,” said Potts at the launch of the IRFU’s strategic plan in the Aviva Stadium today.
“We’re engaging with potential sponsors all the time, there’s greater interest, and the numbers of girls and women that are turning up at our mini-rugby and ‘Play Rugby’ programmes is phenomenal.
“I think, without doubt, it’s a true area for growth, and we in the IRFU and the provinces are committed to really giving it a boost over the next four years.
“Next year in England, full stadia for most of the games, and huge increase around the world from sponsors and partners, potentially, will give women’s rugby the boost we think it will get. We’re definitely committed to building on that.
“There’s a window in the next 18 months which really enables us as a sport, the IRFU and the provinces, to try and maximise the window of opportunity, and we intend to do so.”
The IRFU plans to appoint a new ‘Women’s Strategy Implementation Lead’ later this year.
The union is so convinced that women’s rugby is set for rapid growth that Potts said Ireland Women could be playing their Test matches at the Aviva Stadium sooner rather than later.
“I had that discussion with the players last October and there will come a point in the journey where they will want to play in the Aviva Stadium when they have a big crowd,” said Potts.
“If the fans get behind the team, really get behind the team in the next number of years and we can get big numbers at the stadium, that’s when the players want to play and they can play.”
The IRFU’s new performance director, David Humphreys, spoke to the media for the first time at today’s launch in Dublin, expressing his belief that Irish men’s and women’s teams, as well as the provinces, can be successful in the next four years and beyond.
He takes over from David Nucifora, who will leave the IRFU after the Olympics having been in the position for a decade.
Humphreys has been working alongside Nucifora in a handover guise for the past three months and has been encouraged by what he sees in Irish rugby.
“Having sat with you guys [in the media] during the World Cup and as a supporter really over the last three or four years, you certainly have a perception of how good Irish rugby is, the strength and success that they’ve had,” said Humphreys.
“My view is that having come in and seen all the good stuff and having a much greater awareness of what has been done very well, but also a much greater understanding of where some areas perhaps that we can do things… not necessarily better, but very differently and hopefully the outcome will be that we know from a high-performance point of view that we’re winning games.
“That’s the big difference in the strategic plan when we talk about winning teams. 20 years ago, it was about what game we could win to avoid the wooden spoon. The big difference now is we’re coming into every season with the expectation that our Irish men’s team is going to win, our provincial teams are going to be winning the URC, our provincial teams are going to be winning in Europe, so our mindset is absolutely that we’re here to win.
“We’re here to continue that. We know that so many of those teams within the system are at very, very different stages of their evolution and what that means is we will be working as quickly as we possibly can with them to address some of the areas.
“If you look at the women’s 15s going into a World Cup year, that’s a huge priority for us. Kevin has been very vocal in terms of where that sits in our strategy going forward. It’s about giving them support at a coaching level, playing level, preparation level that will ensure that by the time we get into the World Cup, they’re in a good position to compete.”
