Its only taken 139 years!

Today one of the great historic barriers fell. Deborah Griffin, chairwoman at the RFUW, has joined the board of the RFU - the first woman ever to sit at the top table of English rugby.

Deborah will represent women's rugby on the Board, and her election is part of the integration process that sees RFUW becoming part of the RFU. However, though her role may seem restricted, Susan Carthy at the IRB has already shown what can be achieved by having a female voice at the heart of the game. Susan joined the board of the world's governing body in a similar role only 18 months ago, but the result has been a subtle by steady improvement in the IRB's attitude to the women's game.

If anyone can follow on from Susan's success, then it is probably Deborah. She was key to the organisation of the first World Cup in 1991. She has also been an accountant with top city firm Deloittes for over 13 years, where she is a director in the Corporate Finance Advisory team. All in all then she is unlikely to be overawed by a body that former England men's captain Will Carling famously dismissed as "57 old farts" (they promptly sacked him).

Its an important development because, ultimately, this is the body that makes all the major decisions about the game - decisions that, perhaps without intending it, can have a negative affect the women's and girls' game. With Deborah around this should no longer happen, and laughably sexist publicity campaigns will also (hopefully) become a thing of the past!

As Deborah acknowledged, “Getting a seat on the RFU Council is an important step in our transition to a fully integrated men and women’s game in England and is testament to the hard work of many people in the RFUW over the last 15 or so years.

"We have made great strides forward but we aspire to much more. The Women’s Rugby World Cup this year will provide a high profile platform for the game across England and we are determined to seize the opportunity to make a further step change in participation when the tournament is over.

"We have come a long way but have huge ambitions for the future!”