Women’s rugby World Cup-What Are England’s Chances?
In August 2010 lots of women rugby players are arriving to Surrey to play in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. There are 12 teams competing at a brand new Surrey sports Complex. They will spend the next few days training and polishing off their team play and tactics.
The champions New Zealand were the first to arrive on Saturday in order to be able to have more time to get over jet lag. They are in Pool A with Australia, Wales and South Africa. England is in Pool B with Ireland, Kazakhstan and USA. In pool C there are Scotland, France, Canada and Sweden.
The 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup will be the sixth in its history. The first ever was held in Cardiff in April 1991. The 12 teams in 1991 were the hosts Wales, Canada, England, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, USA and the USSR. England and USA made it to the final with USA winning 19-6. The following tournament, played 3 years later, saw England getting revenge against USA in the final. It was a compelling game in which England beat USA 38-23.
Gill Burns, a player for the England squad in 1994, who is an iconic figure in the history of Women’s Rugby today sits as President of the Rugby football Union for Women. She believes that England’s current players have a good chance to enjoy success again on home soil. Gill Burns remembers that in her day it was belief, teamwork and mental strength that carried her team through to win the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1994.
She believes that the home venue will have a great advantage for the English girls, who with the crowds behind them will have every chance of being the champions. However they need to be careful not to become complacent even though they got the Grand Slam in this year’s Six Nations. Their win over France was by no means an easy one and was tense and exciting, with France leading right up until the last few minutes of the match. In the history of Women’s Rugby World Cup England have made it to every single final however they only enjoyed victory in 1994.
Gill Burns was a ballet dancer from a young age as well as excelling in a variety of sports. She only took up rugby aged 23 and within a year was wearing the England rugby shirt, which is something that she says would not happen due to advancements in today‘s women’s rugby. These days the players have several years experience and are very polished by the time they get into the rugby team.
About the Author
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England tackle Australia at the ANZ stadium in Sydney on Saturday desperate to return to winning ways on the site of their most famous win.
It is almost seven years since Martin Johnson lifted the sport’s biggest prize following their dramatic rugby World Cup Final victory over the Wallabies but England have failed to notch a win in the southern hemisphere since that day. That disastrous run reached 10 games in Perth last weekend when an England side dominant in the scrum but devoid of invention were beaten by an exciting Wallabies side that may have lacked grunt, but boasted an abundance of game-breaking backs.
As a result, England enter this latest Cook Cup clash under increasing pressure to illustrate that they can not only learn from their mistakes but also demonstrate they have what it takes to beat the best on the road – something they will have to do repeatedly when the game’s elite gather in New Zealand next year for Rugby World Cup 2011. Last weekend’s loss was seen as a huge missed opportunity for this current crop of England stars and the midweek victory over the Australian Barbarians by the second string side will have done little to appease the side’s growing number of critics. The alarm bells were ringing last weekend and another defeat on Saturday night will no doubt lead to changes within the squad and while Johnson’s own future appears bomb-proof, his coaching team would appear those with the most to lose.
In contrast, Australia look increasingly like world-beaters under the stewardship of coach Robbie Deans. His inexperienced front row may have been handed a lesson by their English counterparts but such was their excellence and bravery elsewhere – and a continuing injury crisis – that Deans has been forced to chance his arm again. Another victory over their fierce rivals will be further proof of their growing stature and act as a warning to a demoralised Ireland, who visit later in the month, and also their Tri-Nations rivals who loom on the horizon.
Johnson has opted for minor surgery in the wake of their latest defeat with just two changes to his starting XV. Scrum-half Ben Youngs is granted his first start ahead of Danny Care having impressed off the bench last Saturday while lock Courtney Lawes is another to make the run-on side for the first time in the place of veteran Simon Shaw. Both players represent England’s future, with the 20-year-old Youngs still fielding plaudits after a stand-out season in the Premiership for champions Leicester, and he looked very much at home in his most recent cameo – adding some much-needed urgency to proceedings. Lawes is another to have long been heralded as not only one for the future but more pressingly the here and now. His athleticism is seen as the answer to many of England’s ailments and he will be expected to make his presence felt at the set-piece and more importantly in the loose, where England sorely lacked aggression and penetration.
Fly-half Toby food retains his place despite a poor kicking game in Perth and inside-centre Shontayne Hape is another to escape the axe. Outside-centre Mike Tindall has shaken off a dead leg and will once again start. The only other change sees Mathew Tait lose his place on the bench to Delon Armitage.
Australia have been bolstered for the clash by the return of Matt Giteau and Will Genia, who add to an already impressive backline arsenal. Deans has restored Genia to the No.9 jersey despite a strong showing from Luke Burgess last time out with the latter dropping to the bench. The Reds skipper has overcome a knee ligament strain to reclaim his place in the starting line-up while Giteau is back at inside-centre in place of Berrick Barnes after recovering from a hip problem.
Genia will relish the chance to lock horns with England once again having been named man of the match in Australia’s 18-9 victory at Twickenham in November and his showdown with opposite number Youngs is shaping up as a mouth-watering clash. Giteau, who has also tormented England previously, is to resume the kicking duties from James O’Connor and in Australia’s last two games at the Olympic stadium in Sydney he has been their sole points-scorer.
Deans’ decision to leave his tight five unchanged is a brave one considering the mauling they suffered in Perth and they can no doubt expect a similar assault on Saturday. They are unlikely to have solved all their problems in the space of a week but they may have learned a little at least from last weekend’s harsh lesson. The Wallabies had hoped to recall Tatafu Polota-Nau but the hooker aggravated an ankle problem while playing for the Australian Barbarians against England on Tuesday and he will now undergo surgery. Reds prop James Slipper will once again cover both tight-head and loose-head off the bench, where he is joined by Adam Ashley-Cooper after the versatile back shook off an ankle injury.
England have plenty to lose with defeat likely to severely dent if not end some World Cup dreams. And such is their current predicament, even if England were to rediscover an ability to cut the opposition open in devastating style it would mean little without the result to back it up. Just as Australia are unlikely to suddenly become a force at scrum time in the space of a week, England will not rewrite the textbook when it comes to attacking flair so this game may well be a carbon copy of their first meeting. But victory for England could force an immediate re-think as to both sides’ ability to conquer the world.
Australia: J O’Connor (Western Force); D Mitchell (NSW Waratahs), R Horne (NSW Waratahs), M Giteau (ACT Brumbies), D Ioane (Queensland Reds); Q Cooper (Queensland Reds), W Genia (Queensland Reds); B Daley (Queensland Reds), S Faingaa (Queensland Reds), S Ma’afu (ACT Brumbies), D Mumm (NSW Waratahs), N Sharpe (Western Force), R Elsom (ACT Brumbies, captain), D Pocock (Western Force), R Brown (Western Force)
Replacements: H Edmonds (ACT Brumbies), J Slipper (Queensland Reds), M Chisholm (ACT Brumbies), M Hodgson (Western Force), L Burgess (NSW Waratahs), B Barnes (NSW Waratahs), A Ashley-Cooper (ACT Brumbies)
England: B Foden (Northampton); M Cueto (Sale Sharks), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), C Ashton (Northampton); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); T Payne (Wasps), S Thompson (Brive), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester, capt), N Easter (Harlequins)
Replacements: G Chuter (Leicester), D Wilson (Bath), S Shaw (Wasps), J Haskell (Stade Francais), D Care (Harlequins), J Wilkinson (Toulon), D Armitage (London Irish)
I’m 32 years old, 190-200lbs, I am fit, have a high endurance level, power and descent speed. I recently re-joined a rugby team, and I’m looking to find my true space. I am currently not playing this season due to shoulder injury I sustained in a car accident. But I’d like to know what position(s) I should train for/ or be best suited for. I love playing the back line.
I was asked about my height…I’m 5’10″
This is not really a full answer, I would agree that you would make a prime forward, but height is such a key piece of information for finding one’s place on a rugby field. For example, without my height in consideration, I could be considered anywhere in the back row, but with my height (and loudness) it becomes apparent that I should play scrumhalf.
If you consider yourself very stocky, and feel like you are quite flexible, try hooker.
If you are quite tall, and believe you have a very strong back and legs, try lock.
If you are average height or relatively tall, and want to tackle and ruck, definitely go with flanker
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Brian Gerald O’Driscoll is an Irish professional rugby union player. He is the current captain of the Irish national team and captained Leinster Rugby until the start of 2008 season. He also captained the British and Irish Lions for their 2005 tour of New Zealand. Registered at University College Dublin RFC, he plays at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster. O’Driscoll was chosen as Player of the tournament in the 2006, 2007 and 2009 RBS Six Nations Championships.
O’Driscoll has 109 test caps, 103 for Ireland, and six for the British and Irish Lions. During this time he has scored 40 tries for Ireland and 1 try for the Lions in 2001, making him the highest try scorer of all time in Irish Rugby. He is joint 9th-highest try scorer in Rugby Union history, and the highest scoring centre of all time. He holds the Irish Six Nations record for most tries scored with 22.
In 1999, O’Driscoll was selected for the senior squad and was on the bench for a match against Italy, although he did not play. He won his first test cap at age 20 on 12 June 1999 in a 46-10 loss to Australia in Brisbane as part of the tour of Australia. Since then, he has established himself as one of rugby’s top outside centres. O’Driscoll played for Ireland before he played for the senior Leinster team. In 2000, he memorably scored a Hat-trick of tries in a Six Nations Championship victory against France in Paris.
In September 2005, as O’Driscoll was said to be preparing to leave Irish provincial rugby and agree to a contract to play in France, the IRFU quickly announced they would do all they could to keep him in Ireland. O’Driscoll subsequently signed a deal with the IRFU to keep him at Leinster through the 2007 World Cup. O’Driscoll made his playing comeback for Leinster in December 2005.
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I realize that the data may no exist, given the number of different countries the sport is played in. But by way of contrast, between 600 and 700 people have been killed playing American football in the United States over the last 80 years. That works out to between 5 and 10 per year. Any hard data for rugby out there — at least amongst the Six or Tri-Nations?
Edit: thanks Mr. Simpson. So, 71 deaths since 1900. May I ask your source for that number?
2nd Edit: Per the clarification. I’m talking about deaths directly related to on-field activity at all levels. For example (and by way of contrast) in gridiron one sees a significan number of heat strokes (and sometimes deaths) amongst high school players. That should count. So onfield injuries (game or practise) causing death, at all levels.
Good question, and I agree with you that one needs citations, because exactly of Larry’s general point: one needs to understand what the numbers are actually all about. For example, does this mean deaths either directly on the field or as a direct and short-term outcome of what happened on the field after being removed? Many of the US football deaths are from heat “stroke”, and often death would have occurred in the hospital some hours or perhaps a day or two after the player was stricken, and heroic measures were abandoned by the family. I’d count that as a football death, certainly, but some databases might not.
Larry’s point about premature deaths associated (at least potentially) with injuries, but long delayed from the injury, is very much harder to quantify, and the statistics for it would need very careful attention. But it is undoubtedly real, and for rugby it can be associated not only with head injuries, but also with catastrophic spinal-cord injuries that lead to pulmonary failure, sometimes years later.
This actually happened to a mate of mine, a hooker who went down in a collapsed scrum, injuring the spine at C6. The guy was a complete stud, in great shape when he was hurt. But after an initial recovery that allowed him to return to work (he was a lawyer), Shlomo started having breathing problems that could not be reversed. Finally about 5-6 years after the injury, the signals to the lungs were simply inadequate and he died of “pneumonia”. There is no question whatsoever that he would be alive today except for that rugby injury, and that the spinal-column insult was the initiating step in his death. But I would bet anything that his death is not part of any body of sports statistics.
My guess is that the major difference, normalizing to numbers of players or hours played or something to make the numbers truly comparable, will be in deaths from heat injury, with that being a very large proportion for gridiron and a low one for rugby, simply as a matter of kit.
Mark L.
EDIT: Andrew – Thanks very much. Shlomo was a good man. The injury was very shocking, of course. Hard to look him in the eye a couple of days later at the rehabilitation hospital, all braced up in that damned head-gear they use, and not think, “Christ, he’s probably thinking why was it me – I should never have gone on.” I know I was thinking something like that. The long decline turns out to have been much, much harder, really.
I’m trying to find a good college rugby team (Women’s) around the great lakes. Hopefully in Ohio or Michigan.
if you go to http://www.usarugby.org and click on “find a club” on the left menu, you can enter search criteria and the results give you teams that have been active the last 2 years and their contact info. there are a ton of great teams in and around chicago area.
Im 16 and really wanna improve on all areas of kicking eg. Goal kicking,punting ,drop kicks etc
How much time should i be puting into it a day..week? thanks By the way season starts early april.
and i want to make a good impression aswell :p
I’m the kicker for my team, its all about practice! I used to play soccer for years before I started rugby, which certainly helped, but its mainly about striking the ball with the right part of your foot. They say to kick it with your laces, so when you punt the ball, it should hit the laces of your cleat, not your instep. Practice kicking back and forth with someone else and the repetition will make things easier. Goal kicking is harder to get a feel for, you need to get a good running start for it, I usually start to the left of the ball (since I am a right footed person) and curve my run in towards the ball when I kick it. As for drop kicks, they are difficult to do in rugby because the ball has to touch the ground first before you can kick it. There are two different strategies to this, you can 1.) hold the ball so that the points are vertical and sort of forcefully throw it straight at the ground and kick it the second it touches, or 2.) another unique way I learned was to hold the ball with the points facing horizontally and throw it at the ground so it bounces up and kick it on the bounce. The second method is a bit harder to get right, but really successful if you can master it. Hope this helped a bit!
Rugby World Cup 2011 – Kick with the wind Achievement guide
