WOMEN’S RUGBY TOOK a huge step forward last year with the sensational World Cup that played out in New Zealand.
The high-quality and highly-entertaining rugby captured plenty of new fans for the game and confirmed to longstanding supporters that things are moving in an exciting direction.
Amidst all the drama, it must have been difficult for Ireland’s international players to watch on. They would have delighted in the showcase for women’s rugby that the World Cup was, but regretted all over again that they weren’t part of it.
The mission to ensure Ireland never repeat that failure to qualify is already well underway, with new head Greg McWilliams making good progress in his first year in charge of the national team. A crop of talented young players are breaking through to complement the more established Test stars.
The first few women’s 15s full-time contracts are now in place – with more to follow, one hopes – and the long-awaited Women in Rugby review landed last month. As always with these kinds of documents, there are lots of pertinent points raised but actions and actual progress speak much louder than words.
Whatever about the development that is required behind the scenes, a massive year on the pitch gets underway today as the 2023 Inter-Provincial Championship kicks off with Leinster hosting Connacht at Energia Park [KO 2.30pm] and Munster welcoming Ulster to Musgrave Park [KO 4.45pm].
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Ireland assistant coach Niamh Briggs is Munster's head coach. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
There are two further rounds of inter-pros to come over the next two weekends, with all games being broadcast live by TG4 or BBC NI. With lots of internationals and plenty of emerging stars involved, it promises to be interesting viewing. Munster, head coached by Ireland assistant Niamh Briggs, are the defending champions.
After the inter-pros wrap on 21 January, it’s straight into the new Celtic Cup competition the following weekend as the Irish team – known as the Combined Provinces XV – face a Welsh Development XV over in Cardiff.
The senior Ireland coaching staff of McWilliams, John McKee, and Briggs will lead that Combined Provinces side, with two games against Scotland’s Thistles XV to follow in February.
That will allow McWilliams and co. to prepare the best Ireland-based players for the Six Nations, although those contracted to English clubs won’t be part of the new set-up. Next year, the IRFU plans to enter two Irish teams into the Celtic Cup, while aiming to have four sides in the competition by 2028.
This season’s All-Ireland League finished up last month with Blackrock beating Railway Union in the final after a condensed season that passed in a flash. It remains to be seen exactly how what role the AIL has to play in future women’s rugby calendars.
Shorter-term, this year’s Six Nations is huge for Ireland as they must finish in the top three if they’re to qualify for the first tier of the new WXV international competition this autumn. World Rugby says the WXV will “revolutionise” the women’s game.
The top three nations from the Six Nations [almost certainly England, France, and another] will go into ‘WXV 1′ along with three of New Zealand, the US, Canada, and Australia, with the tournament set to take place in an as-yet-unannounced location in September/October.
There will be two further tiers below but clearly, that’s the kind of company Ireland want to be keeping. While competing in WXV 1 would be very difficult, it’s crucial to be playing against the best teams as regularly as possible if Ireland want to reel them in. They’re coming from a long way back.
2022 brought wins over Italy and Scotland in the Six Nations, as well as a victory against Japan on the first-ever Ireland Women’s tour, and now things move up a few gears in 2023. It remains to be seen if there are summer Tests thrown into the mix too but it looks like a busy calendar for leading Irish players.
It all begins with the inter-pros kicking off today in Dublin and Cork.
Ulster v Connacht, Kingspan Stadium, 2.30pm [BBC NI]
Round 3 – Saturday 21 January
Connacht v Munster, The Sportsground, 1.00pm [TG4]
Ulster v Leinster, Queen’s University Upper Malone, 5.30pm [BBC NI].
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Inter-pros launch a momentous year for Irish women's rugby
WOMEN’S RUGBY TOOK a huge step forward last year with the sensational World Cup that played out in New Zealand.
The high-quality and highly-entertaining rugby captured plenty of new fans for the game and confirmed to longstanding supporters that things are moving in an exciting direction.
Amidst all the drama, it must have been difficult for Ireland’s international players to watch on. They would have delighted in the showcase for women’s rugby that the World Cup was, but regretted all over again that they weren’t part of it.
The mission to ensure Ireland never repeat that failure to qualify is already well underway, with new head Greg McWilliams making good progress in his first year in charge of the national team. A crop of talented young players are breaking through to complement the more established Test stars.
The first few women’s 15s full-time contracts are now in place – with more to follow, one hopes – and the long-awaited Women in Rugby review landed last month. As always with these kinds of documents, there are lots of pertinent points raised but actions and actual progress speak much louder than words.
Whatever about the development that is required behind the scenes, a massive year on the pitch gets underway today as the 2023 Inter-Provincial Championship kicks off with Leinster hosting Connacht at Energia Park [KO 2.30pm] and Munster welcoming Ulster to Musgrave Park [KO 4.45pm].
There are two further rounds of inter-pros to come over the next two weekends, with all games being broadcast live by TG4 or BBC NI. With lots of internationals and plenty of emerging stars involved, it promises to be interesting viewing. Munster, head coached by Ireland assistant Niamh Briggs, are the defending champions.
After the inter-pros wrap on 21 January, it’s straight into the new Celtic Cup competition the following weekend as the Irish team – known as the Combined Provinces XV – face a Welsh Development XV over in Cardiff.
The senior Ireland coaching staff of McWilliams, John McKee, and Briggs will lead that Combined Provinces side, with two games against Scotland’s Thistles XV to follow in February.
That will allow McWilliams and co. to prepare the best Ireland-based players for the Six Nations, although those contracted to English clubs won’t be part of the new set-up. Next year, the IRFU plans to enter two Irish teams into the Celtic Cup, while aiming to have four sides in the competition by 2028.
This season’s All-Ireland League finished up last month with Blackrock beating Railway Union in the final after a condensed season that passed in a flash. It remains to be seen exactly how what role the AIL has to play in future women’s rugby calendars.
Shorter-term, this year’s Six Nations is huge for Ireland as they must finish in the top three if they’re to qualify for the first tier of the new WXV international competition this autumn. World Rugby says the WXV will “revolutionise” the women’s game.
The top three nations from the Six Nations [almost certainly England, France, and another] will go into ‘WXV 1′ along with three of New Zealand, the US, Canada, and Australia, with the tournament set to take place in an as-yet-unannounced location in September/October.
There will be two further tiers below but clearly, that’s the kind of company Ireland want to be keeping. While competing in WXV 1 would be very difficult, it’s crucial to be playing against the best teams as regularly as possible if Ireland want to reel them in. They’re coming from a long way back.
2022 brought wins over Italy and Scotland in the Six Nations, as well as a victory against Japan on the first-ever Ireland Women’s tour, and now things move up a few gears in 2023. It remains to be seen if there are summer Tests thrown into the mix too but it looks like a busy calendar for leading Irish players.
It all begins with the inter-pros kicking off today in Dublin and Cork.
Vodafone Women’s Inter-provincial Championship fixtures:
Round 1 – Saturday 7 January
Round 2 – Saturday 14 January
Round 3 – Saturday 21 January
Get instant updates on your province on The42 app. With Laya Healthcare, official health and wellbeing partner to Leinster, Munster and Connacht Rugby.
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2023 Inter-pros Women's Rugby WXV