The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup kicks off on Sunday - in SwedenThat's not a mistake - while the finals will take place in September 2010 in London (probably at Richmond and London Welsh rugby clubs if recent statements are any guide) the qualification process starts this weekend with the start of a week-long tournament to be played in Enköping and Stockholm in Sweden.
As mentioned a month or so ago most women's rugby nations will not be able to compete for a place at the 2010 finals, whereas every men's union has been able to play for a place at the 2011 men's finals. In Europe only 12 nations (out of over 30 that play rugby) have been given a chance to take part. The best four nations in this year's Six Nations have already qualified - this tournament will decide the remaining two European places. The eight teams have been divided into two groups, mainly based on FIRA rankings, and each group winner will qualify.
Group A features Scotland, Netherlands, Russia and Belgium. Scottish women's rugby is in an even worse state than the men's game at present - Scotland have played 20 games since the last World Cup and have only recorded wins over Italy (twice), Netherlands, Sweden and Spain. Its a poor record for the only nation (other than England and France) to ever win a women's Grand Slam, but despite that it is difficult to see how they could not qualify from this group.
Belgium (who the Scots have never played before) should cause no problems, and - despite huge strides forward - Russia should also not trouble Scotland much (though it should be closer than the 51-0 Scots win in the 1994 World Cup - their last meeting). Their final game - which should be a winner-takes-all game - should be a bit closer, but it is difficult to see how the Scots could lose to the Dutch.
Group B should be far closer. This will feature Italy, Spain, Sweden and Germany. The latter two should not trouble the former too much - though the Swedes have put huge efforts into their preparations for the tournament so could cause an odd surprise.
However, the final game between Italy and Spain could go either way. Italy are the Six Nations team, but they were only given that status in 2007 (at the expense of the Spanish) because the Italian men's team are in the Six Nations. In practice Spain not only have a far better international and Six Nations record compared to Italy, but they have also never lost to them! It is a fair assumption that they will have something to prove and will relish the chance to dump their rivals out of the World Cup - should be a heck of a game!
World Cup European qualifier fixtures:
Pool A
Sunday:
Belgium v Netherlands (Enköping)
Russia v Scotland (Enköping)
Wednesday:
Belgium v Scotland (Stockholm)
Netherlands v Russia (Stockholm)
Saturday:
Belgium v Russia (Enköping)
Netherlands v Scotland (Enköping)
Pool B
Sunday:
Germany v Spain (Stockholm)
Sweden v Italy (Stockholm)
Wednesday:
Germany v Italy (Enköping)
Sweden v Spain (Enköping)
Saturday:
Sweden v Germany (Stockholm)
Italy v Spain (Stockholm)
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