Fury over ‘ban’ on World Cup heroines
None of RFU’s 20 contracted England women’s players will be released for club duty in the coming season, with the governing body citing ‘player welfare’ and the need to impose ‘effective player management’ in the run up to the 2016 Olympics.
Championship promotion hopefuls Thurrock will be among the worst affected clubs, with the Essex outfit set to lose four of their six England internationals, including Rachel Burford who is widely considered to be the world’s best centre.
Thurrock rugby director Dean White told The Rugby Paper: “The RFU have taken 20 players out of the Premiership and Championship and completely diluted the leagues. We’re planning a promotion challenge but they’ve ripped the guts out of us.
“Three of the girls are back-line players – Emily Scott’s our No.10 which is pivotal, Rachel is the best centre around and Kay Wilson’s one of the best finishers in the world – while Heather Fisher is a phenomenal back rower who won the World Cup.
“The excuse being given by the RFU is it’s welfare related and they’re having too much game time, but that’s a load of tosh. If anything, they’re not getting enough game time.
“We’ve had this dumped on us and only found out last week, so how are we going to replace these players before the league starts in September?”
Tensions between clubs and the RFU are set to explode, with White adding: “The likes of Richmond, Saracens, Bristol and ourselves are angry and frustrated over this and there are rumblings about Premiership clubs pulling away from the RFU because they’re unhappy at the way they’re being treated.
“The World Cup legacy is being shot to pieces and they’ve definitely missed the boat. There should be positive PR everywhere in women’s rugby after winning the World Cup but we’re just being steamrollered and it’s completely the opposite.
“We’ve had tremendous interest at Thurrock through the World Cup girls we’ve got playing for us and playing numbers are up, but if they’re not allowed to play that momentum will be lost. I’m angry and will be taking this all the way to Ian Ritchie.”
In a statement released to the women’s rugby website scrumqueens.com, the RFU argue: “Going into the new season, which is an Olympic year, we know that the season is going to be longer and even more intense.
“Also, the volume of training and level of playing intensity is very different in Sevens and XVs rugby which means we need to manage players’ workloads consistently and even more carefully throughout the season to maximise their potential as we strive for Olympic success on behalf of Team GB.”
However, a source within women’s rugby told TRP: “What the RFU are doing is self-defeating. It would be good to do well in the Olympics, of course, but England have no track record in Sevens and what will losing the best players do to our Six Nations prospects?
“Besides, you can only take 12 players to the Olympics and it’s a GB side. Presumably four or five of those girls will come from Wales and Scotland, so you’ll effectively have half the England squad playing no meaningful rugby for another year at least.
“The RFU seem obsessed with Sevens but the upshot is that we might not see Emily Scarratt, the best player in the world, on a 15s field again. I’m sure some of the girls themselves will be very unhappy they can’t play for their clubs.”
NEALE HARVEY
