Dubai round-up, Day 1

The first day of the first official IRB sevens has finished, largely predictably, but with some surprises.

The first surprise seems to be that felt by the Australian captain (right). Clearly no-one had told her that she would be forced to wear this natty little ensemble instead of the hallowed Green and Gold. She is not happy, is she?

What colour would you call it? Gang-green maybe? Slightly nausea inducing anyway. England's rep, on the other hand, will have already known that she would have to dress like Tommy the Tiger and had already chosen the tactic of hiding in the background instead of standing holding the cup (which, as No. 2 seeds, she should have done).

Anyway, crimes against fashion and good taste aside, the rugby has been competitive. As expected, Pool A was a ding-dong affair with Spain coming so close against Australian, and then throwing away a 14-0 lead to Canada before losing 19-14 from the final play of the game, before Canada beating Australia 14-7 (Australia's only points coming near the end). Any of these three games (with the possible exception of the final one) could have gone either way, which - if anything - shows how badly the IRB got the seeding wrong here. All three teams swept past Brazil with embarrassing ease.

England won Pool B - which is not a huge surprise, though the size of their win over the only serious challengers - USA - was remarkable (31-0), especially after England had only beaten South Africa by three points. Michaela Staniford was the hero, fresh from the Black Fern tests, she scored in every game.

The result is this is that USA will play Canada in one semi-final tomorrow, and England will play Australia - not, I am tempted to say, the semis that the organisers will have wanted, but games full of tension and history Australia will love to get some revenge for the WRWC semi-final defeat - and will probably be favourites to do just that - not least because they already have the experience of playing all their games in the main stadium, while England have bee plying their trade outside, a situation that seems very unfair by tells us where the TV power lies (Sky have the rights to this tournament in the UK and ignored the women's tournament completely).

Elsewhere, Netherlands and France moved pretty easily towards their inevitable final meeting in the Women's Invitational - a game which should see the Dutch record their first major tournament win.

Meanwhile, somewhere a bit warmer...

The Dubai Sevens have begun with the historic first IRB sanctioned women's sevens (World Cup excepted) (see earlier post for details). All seems to be going as expected so far, Spain ran Australia close but - it seems - lost out to dodgy refereeing decisions (according to the Canadians who were watching!), and Canada thumped Brazil. England have also won their opening game against China 26-15, and USA beat South Africa 22-10 - again as expected.

The opening two rounds of Pool A games are on the main pitch, so plenty of information on them - but England's pool is hidden away on Pitch 2 so the information coming out of there is a bit slow (like an hour behind!) - though we hear that apparently Michaela Staniford scored a hat-trick in the opening game.

Also on the back pitches Netherlands, France and Kenya are playing in another tournament. In fact there are five women's sevens tournaments going on, including what is in effect an Arabian Gulf "championship", and an U18 tournament for local girls.

Highlights from the second test

England v New Zealand, last night. For some strange reason this is only available for three days... so enjoy!

Amazing photo from last night's test

Is this one of the best rugby photos ever? It crackles with tension and movement and strength and... well, everything. Its brilliant.

It shows England's Alexandra Matthews (who is still only 18! If she was male she's be a household name and on her way to her first £million!) up against Amanda Murphy. She's clearly just stepped off her right foot - is she going to carry to her left, or dodge right again? Has Murphy got that covered? A moment frozen in time...

A few more from the same photographer - Rob Munro - can be found here. Meanwhile the Black Ferns have another photo diary, this time of the Second Test.

England go 2-0!

Full report from ScrumQueens - up online within a minute of the whistle!

Great win by the younger end of the England squad - 21-7. Whitewash looks on for the weekend!

Second test - LIVE

Quick reminder that the Second Test starts in 30 minutes - and will be streamed LIVE from http://www.rfu.com/englandwomenlive. FREE!

If you miss it, recordings will be available later on the same page.

BBC fails to recognise women's sport. Again.

The BBC have just announced their shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year... and they are all male.

Okay, we hardly expected any women rugby players, but in a year when there were a fair few British female world champions, not to mention a European win in golf's Solheim Cup (the female Ryder Cup) to have no women at all in the list is nothing short of a disgrace.

In times past the award was entirely in the hands of a public vote - but now a shortlist is produced by votes from Sports Editors of newspapers and magazines... including (and I kid you not here) soft porn "lads mags" such as Zoo and Nuts! No women's journals were invited to vote.

Complaints to the BBC - click here.

Black future? A Kiwi girls' rugby coach writes...

This is well worth a wider audience. Its a message sent to me from a girls' and women's coach in New Zealand (and as he also published it on a discussion board it already in the public domain). On the plus side it does suggest that England will lift the next World Cup, but that is about the only positive...

John I think England will win the series comfortably. The BFs have managed despite everything being against them in terms of resources, playing opportunities etc etc to keep above England but the great generation of BFs which generated a world dominance have retired and this a green squad. They haven`t even had recent match play (The first game for three months at any level for most players) so the odds were even more stacked against them. To be honest, I`m suprised they only lost 0-10. I would`ve expected England to be way more dominant than that scoreline in the first game. Anyway, if they lose the series 0-3 it might finally make the NZRFU get serious about the women`s programme.

Again, it`s an absolute joke that the 2014 WRWC is back in Europe and the NZRFU should hang their head in shame. The NZFA just hosted the womens U17 football World Cup last year and got many crowds of 10,000 plus including almost 20,000 for the Kiwi girls games at North Harbour Stadium. To put that into perspective, that`s more than the biggest crowd the Japan RFU or Italian RFUs got to the Junior RWCs. It`s also far more than the record for any BF test in NZ when not part of an ABs curtainraiser. Now if the NZFA can get those numbers for U17 womens football why the hell can`t the NZRFU put on a WRWC that beats the hell out of that?

Worse, the hard work of the NZFA is really paying dividends. NZ might have won the RWC and there might be a glow about rugby in NZ at the moment but it`s women`s football which is forging ahead in NZ, not rugby. The womens senior and age group teams have competed at the last few football WCs and have had some pretty big media attention. Many of the big high schools in NZ now have 2 or 3 girls soccer teams. Whereas girls rugby, now having been played in many high schools for 10 years or more is still struggling to put one team on the field every year with some schools playing some years and disappearing others which is a completely unsatisfactory situation. It should be at the stage where big schools have a junior team or B team as well a first XV. But it aint. There STILL isn`t even a national 7s or XVs girls high school champs in NZ! And to top things off during the RWC when Jacques Rogge attended the NZOC`s 100th anniversary with 7s exhibition games, the NZRFU told the media they were looking at crossover athletes because they didn`t believe there was enough talent within rugby`s own ranks. I just about had an apopletic fit!! Talk about dismissing all the hard work that coaches and administrators of womens rugby like myself have put in the last 15-20 years and dismissing any idea that they had to actually build girls rugby and create dreams of Olympic gold for high school girls in NZ. Sorry, you`re not good enough. We`re going to take a bunch of netballers or triathletes cos we think they`ve got more potential.

The BFs may have some match play v England for three years but the reality of womens rugby in NZ under the current NZRFU administration is nothing less than dismal. It shames and pains me to say this, but go England. I hope you give the BFs a towelling (Sorry to the BF players - I`m not against you. I just want you and womens rugby to get a better deal in NZ) It will be the best thing to happen for womens rugby in NZ for a decade.

First test, from a Black Fern perspective

The Black Ferns Facebook page have just published this remarkable photo diary of yesterday's game - from the team hotel, to the ground, the changing rooms, and match.

Lots to look out for - including evidence of a "learn the words of the haka" lesson.

One down, two to go...

10-0 to England!

More detailed reports will appear shortly, but a few impressions...

Emily Scarratt had a blinder - player of the match, deservedly, best game I have seen her play, for England anyway. Reminded me, though, of the time she came up against Letchworth and Nim Parnell in the National 10s... Boom - over the touchline, end of game! Made up for it when we saw her again in the Herts 7s, though!

Natasha Hunt also excellent at scrum-half - should be no.1 in that position - love the speed of pass. Maggie peerless as usual (what would England do without her?). Still worried a bit about Katy McLean, though - great drop, but her kicking is so inconsistent... can't be long before Sarah Hunter takes over?

More England Twitterers

Further to the list of England players you can follow on Twitter that appeared on here a couple of weeks ago, a few more names, including a fairly big one!

Maggie Alphonsi 
Sophie Hemming (Prop)
Marlie Packer (Flanker)
Fiona Pocock (Wing)

Lies, damned lies, and... (part 23. Approximately)

Interesting news article about the IRB's new plan for women's rugby (a copy of the plan would be nice), but in the meanwhile....

IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “These are exciting times for Rugby around the world. We have witnessed an 18% growth in participation across the sport since Rugby World Cup 2007"

How on earth does he know? Given the very loose link between many countries player registration data and reality (most especially England's hilarious claims) how can he possibly make such a statement? And with such laser-like accuracy? Not "about 20%", not "more than 15%" - exactly 18% (unless maybe someone said it was about a sixth?).

But also, given the fact that England's wildly inflated totals not only make up a sizeable proportion of the world's alleged rugby player totals, but have apparently been falling (see various panicked initiatives over the past five years or more, many reported on here), how on earth can player numbers be going up this much, if at all?

Wouldn't it be great if someone at the IRB (and RFU) could stop inventing statistics...

England v Black Ferns: Round 1 tomorrow

A reminder that (after the Barbarians/Australia warm-up act) the weekend's big game is on tomorrow at 5pm. The first test is only on Sky, but the next two will be free to all.

Lots of preview articles on Scrumqueens... so no need to add anything here. Should be very close - but I favour England, if for no other reason than they have fewer new faces than the Ferns.

Will be fascinating to see how the coaches manage their squads over three games in a week.

County rugby: Junior festivals

Last weekend saw the first ever official RFUW county festivals for junior teams - though, before RFUW became involved, they had been going on for some years in this part of the country at least, and with plenty of Hertfordshire success!

In London and the South East, as mentioned a couple of days ago, Hertfordshire success continued in the U18s with Simon Shutler bowing out as county coach with yet another county title (we think he never lost a festival as a county coach, either in his U15 days, or with the U18s - he certainly cannot ever remember losing!). The U15s lost their final to Kent (see report), but even so another festival with both of the county's team reaching a final.

Can anyone remember a county festival in the past 6-7 years where Hertfordshire's team failed to at least finish as runners-up? I must confess that I can't - which, for a county with not the most magnificent of sporting traditions, isn't bad. I wonder - have our girls' rugby teams, over the past few years, been the most successful teams that the county had ever produced in any sport?

Anyway - full results from the L&SE tournament are on the Herts blog. So lets look at how things went elsewhere.

North Division
First, congratulations to Lancashire - the only county to do the "double" and win both U15 and U18 titles at their Divisional festival. With Cumbria, Cheshire and Durham having to combine to create a geographically unlikely team, the Red Rose county only had three opponents, but even so it was an impressive performance. Their U15s lifted their title without conceding a single point (but scoring 94!), while the U18s had some scares but still came through unbeaten.

The scores...

U15 Results
Yorkshire 0 Lancashire 34
Northumberland 21 Cumbria/Cheshire/ Durham 0
Yorkshire 33 Northumberland 5
Lancashire 20 Cumbria/Cheshire/ Durham 0
Yorkshire 27 Cumbria/Cheshire/ Durham 0
Lancashire 40 Northumberland 0

U18 Results
Yorkshire 0 Lancashire 7
Northumberland 0 Cumbria/Cheshire/ Durham 0
Yorkshire 20 Northumberland 5
Lancashire 19 Cumbria/Cheshire/ Durham 7
Yorkshire 0 Cumbria/Cheshire/ Durham 5
Lancashire 5 Northumberland 7

South West Division
The biggest festival was in the South West, where seven teams competed for the U15 crown, and six for the U18. The U15s had a long day - a single round-robin pool, meaning six matches for each team. Cornwall came through this marathon as the only unbeaten team, though Berkshire held them to a draw (but then lost to Devon, but still finished runners-up).

Unfortunately Cornwall were unable to do the double as they did not enter a U18 team at all, so the six remaining teams played off in the same format as London & South East used. However, the far South West triumphed again with Devon taking this title, easily seeing off Dorset & Wilts in the final. Somerset, on the other hand, completed a disappointing day with two wooden spoons.

The scores:
U15 results:
Berkshire 21 Somerset 0
Devon 12 Oxon 0
Berkshire 19 Gloucestershire 5
Cornwall 12 Oxon 7
Berkshire 17 Oxon 5
Berkshire 0 Devon 10
Oxon 28 Somerset 0
Berkshire 5 Dorset &Wilts 0
Gloucestershire 0 Oxon 19
Berkshire 5 Cornwall 5
Gloucestershire 7 Devon 5
Dorset & Wilts 12 Gloucestershire 0
Cornwall 27 Dorset & Wilts 0
Devon 12 Somerset 0
Devon 10 Dorset & Wilts 7
Cornwall 10 Somerset 0
Cornwall 10 Gloucestershire 0
Gloucestershire 0 Somerset 0
Devon 0 Cornwall 5
Somerset 0 Dorset & Wilts 24
Dorset & Wilts 7 Oxon 5

U18 results:
Pool A:
Berkshire 5 Devon 19
Gloucestershire 5 Devon 10
Berkshire 5 Gloucestershire 5

Pool B:
Dorset & Wilts 27 Somerset 0
Dorset & Wilts 15 Ox & Bucks 12
Somerset 0 Ox & Bucks 12

Play-offs:
5th/6th: Somerset 5 Berkshire 15
3rd/4th: Ox/Bucks 15 Gloucestershire 19
1st/2nd: Devon 21 Dorset & Wilts 0

Midlands Division
And finally the Midlands. Four U15s and five U18s competed for these titles, with North Midlands (home of Worcester) missing out on a double by two points - the margin of defeat for their U18s against Staffordshire & Warwickshire who went on to take the U18 title. However, the North Midlands U15s had few problems in their event, which saw some very high scoring for short festival matches.

The results:
U15 results:
NLD 5 Leicestershire 29
North Midlands 24 East Midlands 10
NLD 5 North Midlands 34
Leicestershire 10 East Midlands 0
NLD 5 East Midlands 12
Leicestershire 0 North Midlands 38

U18 results:
NLD 5 Leicestershire 0
North Midlands 5 Staffs/Warks 7
East Midlands 0 Staffs/Warks 14
NLD 10 North Midlands 17
East Midlands 0 NLD 22
Leicestershire 0 North Midlands 12
Staffs/Warks 7 NLD 5
Leicestershire 5 East Midlands 0
North Midlands 22 East Midlands 0
Staffs/Warks 19 Leicestershire 0

Well done Herts!

Congratulations to Herts U18s, winners of the first official London & SE Divisional county championship, with an impressive performance today, winning every game and not conceding a single try.

Herts U15s also reached their final, but lost 10-7 to Kent.

This is all the more impressive when you consider that Herts has players from six different clubs, with six different coaches and playing patterns, all of which has to be brought together. I am not sure that many other counties select from as many teams.

All goes to show that Herts remains one of the leading counties for girls' rugby. Long may it continue, and let's also hope that the on-field success will now be followed by lots of Herts names being selected for the Divisional squads in the New Year.

Go Greens!

Herts juniors favourites for county finals

Despite a somewhat mixed set of performances this season, a very kind draw means that both Herts U15s and U18s are favourites to reach the finals at this weekend's London and South East divisional festival, to be played at Beckenham on Sunday.

The leadings county teams in the Division - in terms of results - have been Surrey and Sussex in the U18s, and Sussex and Kent in the U15s, all of which have 100% records. But Surrey, Sussex and Kent have been drawn together in Pool A for both the U15 and U18 competitions - true Groups of Death where it is impossible to guess who might come out on top!

Hertfordshire, on the other hand, are in Pool B where they will play Hampshire (who have so far lost all of their games at U15) and Essex (who have won only one of four). At U18 Essex have a good record, with a win and a draw, but Hampshire have yet to win a game.

Click here for fixture details

All three Black Fern games to be broadcast/webcast LIVE!

Great news from the RFUW - all three of England's games against the Black Ferns will be available watch live.

• The opening test on 26th November will still be on Sky (via the Red Button - which is a bit annoying as that makes recording it, or watching it online, impossible), kick off 5pm
• The second test, on 29th November (at Esher) will available on  www.rfu.com/englandwomenlive, kick-off 7pm
• The third test, on December 3rd, will also be available on  www.rfu.com/englandwomenlive, kick-off 3pm

The streaming page will be available from 28th November, and will be accessible free to viewers overseas as well as in the UK. A full recording on the page of the second and third tests will also be available for three days after each game, and edited highlights will also www.rfu.com.

This is not the first time that England women's internationals have been streamed, five or six years ago some home games were covered by independent, commercial webcasters, but viewers had to pay a subscription fee to watch the live games. This will be the first time that the RFU/RFUW have streamed their own games - and the first time the games have been made available free. Most international games in North America and the Caribbean, as well as occasional games in France and eastern Europe, have been successfully webcast for some years.

• England will also be playing against Wales at Twickenham in the Six Nations, which means that there is a very good chance that this game will also be broadcast on the BBC.

England Sevens avoid Group of Death

The day after England announced their very young and inexperienced sevens squad for Dubai (2-3 December) - the result of a clash with the Black Ferns tour, rather than adventurous thinking on the part of the English selectors - the draw for the tournament seems to have been leaked by the Spanish RFU. Though as yet unconfirmed by the IRB, the draw does make sense as it seems to be largely based on the result of the 2009 World Cup - with one important alteration.

If the IRB had kept strictly to the 2009 rankings, Pool A in Dubai would have brought together Australia (winners in 2009), England (5th), Canada (6th), and Brazil (10th) while Pool B would have been USA (3rd=), South Africa (3rd=), Spain (7th), and China (9th).

However, the unbalanced nature of these groups seems to have resulted in a bit of tinkering that moves England from Pool A to Pool B, at the expense of Spain. It has to be said that recent form suggests that Canada and the USA should also have swapped groups, but perhaps IRB's knowledge of the relative form of non-European teams is limited.

The result is that the weaker Pool B should see England's young team win a semi-final place - though whether they will go any further is questionable. Pool A, on the other hand, gives have no room for mistakes for any team with the deciding factor perhaps being the order in which the games are played - whoever plays Brazil last will benefit from knowing what they have to do to make the last four.

The (unconfirmed) pools, as announced by the Spanish RFU, are:

Pool A: Australia, Canada, Spain, Brazil
Pool B: England, USA, South Africa, China

Rugby failing to sell holiday destinations

The Caribbean... . Sun, sand, sea - a holiday paradise. That is the image we have of these islands, isn't it?

Well, anyone following the current North American & Caribbean Sevens in Barbados may be getting a different impression. This (right) is what the pitch looks like near the start of Day 2 - Day 1 ended early with driving, torrential rain and corner flags bent all but horizontal by the wind.

This deluge comes fresh on the back of the recent rain-swept men's World Cup that did so much to encourage potential visitors to ensure that they packed an umbrella, if not a wetsuit, for any antipodean holiday, while England's tour to the south of France earlier this month appeared to take place in a previously unrecorded Mediterranean monsoon season.

Once upon a time it was said that, to make it rain, all you need do was attempt to play cricket, now it seems that in order to end any drought all you need do is organise an international rugby tournament. Anyone venturing to Dubai next month should ensure that pack waterproofs. And flippers.

Eight changes as England call up big guns for Ferns

Eight of women's rugby's biggest names are back in the England squad for the series against the Black Fern.

The squad announced today includes 18 players from the party that went to France, but replaces Rosemarie Crowley, Rose Jay, Ceri Large, Sarah McKenna, Harriet Millar-Mills, Isobel Noel-Smith, Tamara Taylor and Lydia Thompson with Maggie Alphonsi, Rachael Burford, Becky Essex, Sophie Hemming, Katy McLean, Claire Purdy, Tamara Taylor, and Nollie Waterman.

However, two new caps from the French tour are retained - Hannah Gallagher and Alex Matthews.

This is clearly a squad that means business. Every player has played at least one test match - following the last Six Nations England have had both the Nations Cup and the French tour to experiment with new players, positions and tactics - five tests and one uncapped international, so there is no need to try anything new. The result is a pretty awesome team.

The challenge, of course, will be to keep the team on top form over a challenging three games in just over a week - but again England's preparation for that could hardly have been better, with four test in a fortnight in Canada and now two in four days in France.

The full squad is:

• Margaret Alphonsi (Saracens)
• Rachael Burford (Richmond)
• Rowena Burnfield (Richmond) 
• Rochelle Clark (Worcester)
• Rebecca Essex(Richmond)
• Victoria Fleetwood (Lichfield)
• Hannah Gallagher (Saracens)
• Sophie Hemming (Bristol)
• Natasha Hunt (Lichfield)
• Sarah Hunter (Lichfield) 
• Laura Keates (Worcester) 
• La Toya Mason (Wasps)
• Alexandra Matthews (Richmond)
• Katy McLean (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
• Katherine Merchant (Worcester)
• Kimberley Oliver (Bristol)
• Marlie Packer (Bristol)
• Claire Purdy(Wasps) 
• Alice Richardson (Richmond)
• Georgina Roberts (Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
• Emily Scarratt (Lichfield)
• Michaela Staniford (Wasps)
• Amy Turner (Richmond)
• Tamara Taylor(Darlington Mowden Park Sharks)
• Danielle Waterman (Worcester)
• Kay Wilson (Richmond)

The dates for the three tests are:

• Nov 26th England v New Zealand, Twickenham Stadium, KO 5pm, live on Sky Sports
• Nov 29th England v New Zealand, Esher RFC, KO 7pm
• Dec 3rd England v New Zealand, Esher RFC, 2pm

Tickets for the game at Twickenham on November 26th are available from Ticketmaster.co.uk and group booking are available from the RFU by calling 0871 22 22 017, option 6. Prices range from £65 to £35. Junior tickets cost just £15.

Tickets for the international tests at Esher RFC on November 29th and December 3rd will be available on the gate and cost £10 for adults and £5 for juniors. They can also be purchased in advance at www.esherrugby.com

Counties - looking ahead

After last weekend's results (see below) the senior county teams have one more round of games to look forward to on 4th December:

Lancashire  v Yorkshire; Cheshire  v Durham; Northumberland  v Cumbria; Warwickshire v NLD; East Mids  v Leciestershire; North Mids  v Staffordshire; Middlesex  v Surrey; Eastern Counties  v Hertfordshire; Sussex v Kent; Hampshire  v Essex; Dorset & Wilts v Devon; Somerset  v Gloucestershire; Berkshire  v Cornwall 

The juniors, on the other hand, have divisional festivals on 20th November. Hertfordshire will, of course, be in the London and South East divisions tournament at Beckenham and the current form of their opponents looks like this:

London & SE U18s
1. Surrey (2 wins from 2 games, points difference +78)
2. Sussex (2 wins and 1 draw from 3, +39)
3. Essex (1 win and 1 draw from 3, +2)
4. Kent (1 from 2, -4)
5. Hertfordshire (1 from 2, -14)
6. Hampshire (0 from 2, -50)
7. Middlesex (0 from 4, -91)
8. Eastern Counties (have not played)

London & SE U15s
1. Sussex (4 from 4, +186)
2. Kent (2 from 2, +48)
3. Hertfordshire (1 from 2, +1)
4. Surrey (1 from 2, -16)
5. Middlesex (1 from 4, -90)
6. Essex (1 from 4, -103)
7. Hampshire (0 from 2, -33)
8. Eastern Counties (have not played)

Elsewhere one result (Leicestershire U18s v East Midlands) has not been published, so the Midlands table is not quite complete. However, that aside :

Midlands U18s

1. NLD (3 from 3, +54)

2. Staffs/Warwicks (3 from 4, +64)

3. North Mids (1 from 2, +38)

4. East Mids (0 from 3, -70)

5. Leicestershire (0 from 2, -86)

North U18s

1. Northumberland (2 from 2, +15)

2. Lancashire (1 from 2, +5)

3. Yorkshire (1 from 2, 0)

4. Cumbria/Durham (0 from 2, -20)

5. Cheshire (have not played)

South West U18s
1. Dorset & Wilts  (2 from 2, +112)

2. Berkshire  (3 from 3, +79)

3. Gloucestershire  (3 from 4, +22)

4. Devon  (2 from 3, +51)

5. Oxford/Bucks  (0 from 4, -72)

6. Somerset  (0 from 2, -80)

7. Cornwall  (0 from 2, -102)

Midlands U15s
1. East Mids  (2 from 2, +51)
2. North Mids ( 2 from 2, +18)
3. Leicestershire (0 from 2, -24)
4. NLD (0 from 2, -48)
5. Staffs/Warwicks (have not played)

North U15s
1. Lancashire  (2 from 2, +119)
2. Northumberland  (2 from 2, +53)
3. Yorkshire (0 from 2, -68)
4. Cumbria/Durham (0 from 2, -104)
5. Cheshire (have not played)

South West U15s
1. Devon (4 from 4, +109)
2. Berkshire (2 from 2, +91)
3. Dorset & Wilts (1 from 2 (+1 draw), + 58)
4. Oxford/Bucks  (3 from 4, + 51)
5. Cornwall (0 from 2 (+1 draw), -12)     
6. Gloucestershire (0 from 4, -71)
7. Somerset (0 from 2, -145)

County results: round 2

Adult county results are now on Rugby Roundup, but not (it seems) juniors - so...

Seniors


After two games, only seven of the 26 counties remain unbeaten with North Midlands and Somerset the stand-out teams. North Mids followed a 53-0 win over Warwickshire in round one with a 48-7 win at Leicestershire last weekend, while Somerset beat Berkshire 50-3 this weekend having beaten Dorset & Wilts 36-0 in round one. However, the biggest win was Middlesex's 83-0 demolition of Sussex, despite having lost to Eastern Counties in their opening game. Overall the major plus is that every county has now managed to get a team on the field.

Hertfordshire recovered from their narrow first round defeat  to Kent with an impressive 22-15 win over Surrey.

Results:

• Lancashire 45-0 Cumbria
• Durham 0-27 Northumberland
• Yorkshire 20-18 Cheshire
• Warwickshire  44-20 East Mids
• Leciestershire  7-48 North Mids
• NLD  17-36 Staffordshire
• Essex  25-3 Eastern Counties
• Middlesex  83-0 Sussex
• Hertfordshire  22-15 Surrey
• Hampshire 19-38 Kent
• Cornwall  beat  Dorset & Wilts (walk-over)
• Gloucestershire  25-17 Devon
• Somerset  50-3 Berkshire

U18s

Only five U18 counties are unbeaten - Dorset & Wilts, Berkshire, Surrey, NLD and Northumberland. The first three teams seem very strong - Dorset brushed aside Cornwall 64-5 having beaten Somerset 53-0 in round one; Berkshire have yet to concede a point in their three games to date; and Surrey sent Hertfodshire U18s to possibly its biggest ever defeat (certainly at home), winning by 40-5 - but not that much of a surprise given Surrey's 43-0 win against Hampshire in round one. Cheshire and Eastern Counties have yet to get onto the field. A more detailed form guide can be found here.

Results:

• Cumbria / Durham 10-22 Northumberland
• Yorkshire 22-19 Lancashire
• NLD 22-12 North Mids
• Leicestershire 0-38 Staffs / Warwick
• East Mids 0-36 Staffs / Warwick
• Middlesex 7 -22 Sussex
• Middlesex 12-47 Essex
• Sussex 12-7 Essex
• Hertfordshire 5- 40 Surrey
• Hampshire 10-17 Kent
• Cornwall  5-64 Dorset & Wilts
• Gloucester 14-0 Devon
• Gloucester 19-14 Oxford / Bucks
• Devon 29-7 Oxford / Bucks
• Somerset 0-27 Berkshire

U15s

Things are rather more polarised in the U15s with eight out of 23 counties with 100% records. - but Sussex stand out with four wins from four games, scoring 186 points and conceding none. Lancashire, Devon and Berkshire have also scored over 100 points. Hertfordshire came back from defeat in round one with and impressive 45-15 win over Surrey last weekend. Cheshire, Eastern Counties and Staffs/Warwicks have not managed to field any U15 teams so far. A more detailed form guide can be found here. 

Results:

• Cumbria / Durham 21-50 Northumberland
• Yorkshire 7-51 Lancashire
• NLD  lost to North Mids (walk-over)
• Leciestershire 12-15 East Mids
• Middlesex 0-43 Sussex
• Middlesex 5-12 Essex
• Sussex 67-0 Essex
• Hertfordshire 45-15 Surrey
• Hampshire 0-19 Kent
• Cornwall  17-17 Dorset & Wilts
• Gloucester 0-38 Devon
• Gloucester 12-24 Oxford / Bucks
• Devon 26-5 Oxford / Bucks
• Somerset 0-87 Berkshire

Watch this - top level women's international sevens!

From last week's Elche Sevens, Spain v Netherlands. No sound - which slightly spoils the atmosphere - but great play from both teams. Most of Spain's other games are also available.


(Spain won by 12-10 - the final Spanish try is converted off-camera).

Autumn internationals... part 1

And so ends the first part of this autumn's women's internationals... now its time to take a breath before New Zealand arrive. However, before it all gets lost and forgotten in the inevitable fuss and hoopla that will accompany the arrival of the Black Ferns, its worthwhile looking back on the past couple of weeks.

Losing both games on their French tour is not what England would have expected, but it was refreshing to see the management take a risk and leave some big names at home so that the stars of the future could have a taste of the game at the highest level. Having winning as an absolute priority, and always picking the absolute best team available for every game, is all well and good but flirts with disaster as often the entire squad plays, ages, and retires together.

Now England have five new players with international experience who could be in the team for 2018, never mind 2014, which is a huge positive. Hopefully England will continue to allow these five, and other up-and-coming players, to develop their careers over the next year. The only fear might be that we may get a repeat of what seemed to happen after the Sevens squad failed to win its first warm-up tournament in the spring - the panicked jettisoning of the policy of the long build-up to 2013 and the drafting in of established players to ensure that England won every game thereafter. RFUW need to hold their nerve - after all its not the results this season that matter, its the ones in 2014.

And puncturing complacency is not a bad thing - as is seeing England's biggest European rivals turn a corner. Its six or seven years now since the Six Nations was last truly competitive, but the next tournament could be one of the best for some time. France, buoyed up maybe by the success of their men's team, found a consistency and self-belief that was remarkable. Not only did they win all three internationals, in the space of just eight days, but they also took part in a highly competitive Elche Sevens tournament in Spain at the same time (raising the question of why England were not there - after all, their men's team were).

A significant factor in French success was rediscovering players who could kick. The return of Aureile Bailon to the team - absent throughout last season - and the discovery of the remarkable Jessy Trémoulière gave extra strength to any already exciting backline. Trémoulière is, of course, yet another international goal kicker who has converted to the game from another code - when will Unions see that girls need to include kicking in their game from the earliest years? In particular, if English girls do not kick a ball before the age of 13, where will our future international full-backs and fly-halves come from?

The week was about more than England and France, however. Scotland started their season with something that they have seen little of for some years - a win, and a convincing one too, in Amsterdam, by 33-10. Admittedly the Dutch are rather concentrating on Sevens at present, and their best players were all at Elche where they finished runners-up to to the hosts. It was just the result that Spain needed - and had to achieve as they prepare for the IRB Sevens in Dubai (if nothing else it justified their selection).

Perhaps the only country that finished the week with negatives would be Italy. A team that has performed so well in recent Six Nations was beaten with embarrassing ease by a young French team, a result that follows on from their disappointing European Trophy performance. They may struggle to repeat their recent performances in the next Six Nations.

But until then we have the Black Ferns tour, Dubai Sevens - plus international sevens and fifteens tournaments across the globe from the Caribbean to Indo-China. The world's second biggest women's team sport rarely stops these days!

England downed... by French kicking!

England have just lost the test match in France by 16-15, despite outscoring their hosts by two tries to one. Three French penalties and a converted try were enough to sneak past England - who had lead for almost the entire game.

Given the nature of the teams (many of England's leading players were rested for this short tour) it does not mean a sudden change in world rankings, but maybe the real significance is that first line above. France scored three penalties and a conversion in conditions that were pretty awful (heavy rain - again).

Considering that eight months ago or so France's penalty takers would not have reliably kicked the skin of a rice pudding this is a remarkable turn round - especially if you recall that their kicking display in the midweek game was also pretty good.

No news yet as to who it was who kicked England to defeat, but this does suggest that the Six Nations could actually be quite competitive this year - which would be no bad thing.

• It is interesting to learn that the golden French boot belonged to Aureile Bailon, who is not exactly new to the French team as this was he 28th cap. However she missed all of last season, but now seems to be back with a bang, not to say a boot. With Jessy Trémoulière (who impressed everyone on Wednesday) also in the team, France are building a challenging team.

Follow England from the inside

Either because of a change of policy at RFUW, or maybe because they have not noticed yet, the social media has at last made an impact on the England team.

Its not quite the blog or tour diary, like the Americans and Canadians have managed in recent years, but some of England's players have begun to embrace Twitter. So for the first time you can follow the ups and downs of being part of the team from the inside, including occasional unguarded unofficial photos, like this flattering image of Michaela Staniford after Wednesday's uncapped friendly against France.

England players and officials tweeting at the moment include:

Amy Turner (hooker and for scrum-half)
Sarah Hunter (captain and No. 8)
Alice Richardson (fly/centre)
Claire Allen (centre)
Kim Oliver (fly/centre)
La Toya Mason (scrum-half)
Natasha Hunt (scrum-half)
Claire Purdy (prop)
Isabelle Noel-Smith (Flanker)

Janice Anastasi (vice-chair of RFUW)

The great trans-European hitchhike

Okay, for once this is not a directly rugby posting, but normal service will be resumed shortly on that score. However it is sort of relevant as it is the tale of an ex-Legend, and  does involve a carload of Australian rugby players.

Suffice to say Nichola (ex-second row, currently based in Utrecht) and a friend recently hitchhiked from the Netherlands to San Sebastian in Spain, mainly to do some surfing. Her adventures are currently appearing on this blog and apparently they'd like comments. Enjoy.

(And if there are any has any other Legendary Tales of Ex-Legends, let me know). 

Rugbygirl - New Zealand's latest website

Rugbygirl is a new website set up to "grow and develop women's rugby in New Zeakand". Aiming to "bring you the latest womens rugby news from around the world so you can keep up to the minute with what's going on" it obviously has a significant New Zealand bias at present and is the second Kiwi site to launch since the World Cup (the other being Women's Rugby NZ).

Both help to fill the southern hemisphere news gap. There are still a few obvious gaps - most we still need dedicated sites from Australia and maybe South Africa - but we are getting there. The other major independent news sites are:

• YSC Rugby covers USA and, to an extent, Canada
• DFO and Promotion du rugby feminin cover France
• ScrumQueens covers UK and Ireland in detail, plus much of the rest of the world 

Independence is important as sites run by Unions will obviously never criticise the Union itself, or the IRB, or any official body - so at best you get a very upbeat impression of everything. Reading nothing but official press releases is like living on a diet of marshmallows - okay for a short while. but it gets a bit difficult to digest and you desperately hanker for something savoury and meaty.

Interestingly Rugbygirl is being run by an "incorporated non-profit society" (a charity?) and aims to attract funding to be spent on the game. Good luck with that, guys - I am not aware that any women's rugby websites make any measurable amounts of money at the moment, and hopefully the aim to attract funding will not interfere with your editorial independence.

Schoolgirl answer to French kicking woes?

French women's rugby posters...

Love 'em or hate 'em, they are always original, artistic, very French and just a bit different to anything Twickenham would ever produce - and the one promoting Wednesday's uncapped international in Marseilles just what we have come to expect.

I wait with baited breath to see what they will come up with for the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2014.

Anyway, France disposed of a strong Italian team with almost disrespectful ease, and may have unearthed someone who can kick in the form of Jessy Trémoulière - a late addition to the squad - who plays for  Elite 2 side Romangnat, and may have attracted attention when she single-handedly defeated Bayonne a couple of weeks ago with three penalties, a try and a conversion.


What is more, Jessy (who only turned 19 at the end last month) is rising through the ranks at a rate that can only be described as meteoric - she started playing the game two years ago, having previously had a promising football career. After taking part in a "fun come-and-try-it" session at school, her ability was spotted by her local club, Bonnefort. Attracted by a game that offered so much more (not least contact) Jessy was quickly hooked. Barely 6 months later she was winning the "Young Sports Hopes of Auvergne" award and talking about how her greatest ambition was to play for local Elite side Romangnat... no thought then that she might be pulling on an international jersey! Her only previous international experience prior to yesterday was warming the bench when France U20s played England in February.

Jessy - who has also been picked for the national 7s squad - played the first 60 minutes against Italy, slotting two conversions in five attempts, which may not be a fantastic kicking percentage, but particularly given her experience it is significantly better than more senior French players achieved last year, Whether it will be enough for her to hold her place we shall see - but chances are she will have a run out on Wednesday.

Europe's route to Moscow (and details about the 2012 European Sevens series) released

While not officially confirmed, details about how Europe will decide which of its five nations will go to Moscow have now reached me from two different sources so its a reasonable assumption that they are correct.

2012 will be a huge - and potentially confusing! - year for women's sevens in Europe. 

To begin with, the top 12 - England, Spain, Netherlands, Russia, France, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Moldova, Ukraine and Switzerland - will play play two tournaments - rather than just one - (on weekends of 16th-17th June and 30th June-1st July) to decide the European Champions.

Meanwhile the rest of Europe will be starting on the road to the Sevens World Cup. Around 24 teams will take part in two tournaments to be played over the weekend of 9th/10th June. Where these tournaments will be is not yet known (as bids are being invited to host the events - and come to that two legs of the European Series as well), but sources in the Finnish RFU suggest that Wales will be taking part and will be competing with Finland, Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway, Malta, Poland, Israel, Georgia, Serbia, Luxembourg and one other team in one of these tournaments. No news about Scotland or Ireland.

The finalists from each of these tournaments will join the Top 12 at the second leg of their series, so - as well  as deciding the European Championship - the tournament will also decide who goes to Moscow. Basically - although the European title will be decided over both legs - Europe's qualifiers for Moscow will be decided based only on the second leg. 

Bizarrely this means that the European Champions could fail to qualify for Moscow if - say - they won the first leg, and then only finished 6th in the second!

Meanwhile the continent's eight leading XVs teams will also be having their European Championship, while the rest (or, at least, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands and Russia) will be competing in a a pre-qualifier in Sweden for the 2014 Womens' Rugby World Cup. Quite how this will work remains even more confusing than the Sevens at this stage... though England (and France) have no worries as they have already qualified.

...And more good news, this time from Africa

Very nearly counted out before they could get onto the field, Uganda's women's seven team - know as the Lady Cranes (all the women's teams in African seemed to be named after animals...) - are now through to the continental qualifier next year.

Uganda's women are the only team from their country to ever qualify for a world cup finals in any sport, but with their Union in financial meltdown getting to Moscow in 2013 seemed dead until an international fundraising appeal raised the money to send them to Botswana.

And they have repaid the faith of their supporters had with a 100% record in their qualifying group today - beating Kenya 17-5, Botswana 17-7 and Madagascar 17-0 - to reach the semi-finals. With the top four going through, this was enough - more than enough - to put the Lady Cranes one step away of repeating their success of 2009.

There is still this weekend's tournament to finish off, and tomorrow they will play Zimbabwe in the semi-finals, while South Africa take on Kenya. These four teams will join Senegal, Burkina Faso, Tunisia and Morocco  in Morocco next September competing for (probably) two African places at the Sevens World Cup.

A Baltic good news story

One possible downside that Olympic rugby raised was the possibility that 7s would take over as the major form of the game, especially in women's rugby. The policy of the IRB when it comes to qualification for the Women's Rugby World Cup has hardly helped - what with free passes to the finals for USA, Canada and South Africa at the expense of any other nations who wanted to at least compete for a place in the finals.

It is reassuring therefore to see how much playing full 15-a-side rugby remains the ambition of so many players in smaller rugby nations around the world. Botswana - host for this weekend's southern African 7s - aim to form a 15-a-side national team next year, and last weekend all the clubs in Latvia got together to play their country's first ever women's 15s fixture, again with the aim of forming a national team to compete for with other Baltic nations like Lithuania and Finland.

A glance at the pictures appearing in an article in the local press suggests that they have a long way to go when it comes to, well, pretty much everything - in fact they look exactly like teams playing their first 15s match -but you have to admire their commitment, ambition (and range of ages!). Given just a bit of support by the IRB or FIRA and we could well have a new test playing nation in a few years time. As it is one team seems to already have gained a sponsorship deal with the Leeds Building Society, which is a neat achievement for a club side based some 1,500 miles and five countries away...

Largest ever round of autumn internationals starts today

The RFU may think that there are no autumn internationals this year, but they could not be more wrong.Never have we seen so much international activity at this time of year, especially in Europe.

This afternoon France kick the season off with a game against Italy in Nice (6.30pm BST). Italy will be at close to full strength - just a couple of new caps in the front row - while France have a number of interesting young players in their squad.

The French squad then move down the coast a bit to Provence where they have two games against England, who have also picked a young, very experimental, team. RFUW are even insisting that the first game - on Wednesday in Marseilles - is not a full international, so we can expect players like the former Welwyn pairing of Hannah Gallagher and Geri Thomas to have a chance to prove themselves here. The second game next Saturday in Aix-le-Provence - will be a full test match, with everyone in the England team aiming for a place in the squad that will play New Zealand at the end of November.

The day after the France/England test, on Sunday 6th, Scotland travel to Amsterdam to take on the Netherlands in game that really could go either way - the Six Nations weakest side against a nation with the world's only professional women rugby players. Its an important game for both nations. Scotland need to pull out of a nose-dive that has seen them win just one of their last 15 internationals (against Sweden in the World Cup), while for Netherlands the target will be next spring's European Trophy, and a place in Europe's qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.

And its not just XVs rugby - this is a huge weekend for the rugby nations east and southern Africa, who gather in Botswana to sort out who four teams will play in the continent's Sevens World Cup qualifier next September. Its an event that the players from the likes of Botswana, Uganda, Kenya and South Africa (among others) will have been preparing for for years, not least because for everyone other than the South Africans this is the only World Cup they have any chance to qualify for (at the moment there is every indication that South Africa will again be given a free pass to the XVs Women's Rugby World Cup without having to worry about having to prove themselves on the field).

News of girls' rugby at Letchworth

"Pottsy" has been in touch to remind me (and everyone) that girls rugby is alive and well at the club. Not quite the heights of a few years ago yet - very much a rebuilding stage in the club's history - but this does mean its also an ideal time for new players to come along and try out the best team sport there is.

Training is on Thursday evenings at 6pm, and 11 o'clock on Sundays (unless there are fixtures). No previous experience required.

Pottsy himself can be reached by email here. Girls of all ages are welcome.

Forward pass! Or not...?

Fascinating short film here from the IRB about the forward pass.

Bit of an obvious rule, really? Well no - as the video shows, if a player is running and passes back then their forward momentum can often mean that the ball actually moves forward (in relation to the field). So does that mean its a forward pass? No!

Anyway - check it out.

Saluting Stéphanie Madaule

Who?

Well, because I am writing on French domestic rugby each week (or so) for ScrumQueens I have had to do a fair bit of research on the game over there - its partly the reason why there has been a number of French stories on here in recent months.

Women's rugby has been a part of the French sporting scene for longer than pretty much anywhere else - their national championship is 40 years old this season which makes it at least 10 years older than any other national championship (the first British league - and at that time it was a UK-wide competition - did no start until 1986) - and the enthusiasm for the game at club level is remarkable. Live local radio commentary on club games is not unusual, most home international are on TV, and the crowds at home internationals - and major club games - are routinely higher than anything seen over here. They have significantly more registered players than we do in England (though this probably says more about the the mess that is the women's registration process in England than anything else).

Indeed quite why, with all this, the French struggle to compete on the field against England is a bit of a mystery with any answer possibly saying more about attitudes among key people and the general lack of imagination within the French rugby union (FFR) than anything else.

One thing that the French do really well is promote their games - even at club level. Take a look at this example from last weekend, promoting Lille's home game against Bobigny (won my Lille, I am delighted to say as I am becoming a bit of a fan). When did any English club at any level, including the Premiership, ever routinely produce posters advertising their home games, never mind do anything of this quality? Posters advertising England games are rare enough!

Which takes me back to Stéphanie who has set up an advertising agency to advertise and promote women's rugby and women's rugby teams.

I came across her website last week and am increasingly amazed by what she is doing. Not only does she manage to publish national league results on her site some hours before the FFR can manage it (okay, that is a trick that some of us have managed in England too!), but she has launched a range of clothing, carried out photo-shoots at a range of clubs, published some great interviews with players at all levels, and is now moving into the broadcast media as well, getting onto radio and TV promoting the game. How does she find the time? And energy? And. presumably, make money while doing it?

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could have someone like Stéphanie over here? Better still, can RFUW arrange to hire/kidnap her, change her allegiance to England, and install her at Twickenham?

County results: round 1

For unknown reasons county results will not be appearing on Rugby Roundup this year (they are now  there, apparently - I was misinformed. Apologies). However, I have been sent the results of last week's first round games (below). County rugby across the board is now being taken a more seriously than in the past as it is the first step on the way to possible national selection.

So it is  disappointing to see walk-overs. In the seniors Durham (home of a premiership club??) and Sussex were unable to raise teams, while Staffs and Warwickshire cannot enter a U15 side (and have to combine for the U18s), and Cheshire with no junior county teams at all. What happens to girls from these areas, I wonder?

Herts had a mixed weekend - the U18s (with Sydney!) being unbeatable (again - when did they last lose?), while the seniors and U15s were less fortunate.

Meanwhile Sasha was playing back with Eastern Counties seniors and scored a dramatic try - see comments!

Seniors:

• Cumbria v Durham w/o to Cumbria
• Cheshire 16 Lancashire 10 
• Northumberland 10 Yorkshire 27 
• North Mids 53 Warwickshire 0 
• Staffordshire 19 Leciestershire 10 
• East Mids 10 NLD 25 
• Eastern Counties 10 Middlesex 5 
• Surrey 44 Hampshire 0 
• Sussex v Essex - w/o to Essex 
• Kent 15 Hertfordshire 12 
• Devon 33 Cornwall 5 
• Berkshire 12 Gloucestershire 17 
• Dorset & Wilts 0 Somerset 36

U18s:

• Lancashire 12 Cumbria /Durham 20
• Northumberland 22 Yorkshire 19
• North Mids 48 Leciestershire 0
• East Mids 19 NLD 38
• East Mids 5 Staffs / Warwick 20
• NLD 25 Staffs / Warwick 0
  (Trianguar - won by NLD)
• Surrey 43 Hampshire 0
• Sussex 10 Essex 10
• Sussex 39 Middlesex 5
• Essex 17 Middlesex 10
  (Triangular - won by Sussex)
• Kent 13 Hertfordshire 24
• Devon 43 Cornwall 0
• Berkshire 7 Gloucestershire 0 
• Berkshire 45 Oxford / Bucks 0
• Gloucestershire v Oxford / Bucks - w/o to Gloucestershire
  (Triangular - won by Gloucestershire)
• Dorset & Wilts 53 Somerset 0

U15s:

• Lancashire 85 Cumbria /Durham 5
• Northumberland 36 Yorkshire 12
• North Mids 40 Leciestershire 22
• East Mids 53 NLD 5
• Surrey 29 Hampshire 15
• Sussex 31 Essex 0
• Sussex 45 Middlesex 0
• Essex 10 Middlesex 15
  (Triangular - won by Sussex)
• Kent 32 Hertfordshire 3
• Devon 29 Cornwall 17
• Berkshire 14 Gloucestershire 10
• Berkshire 0 Oxfordshire 33
• Gloucestershire 5 Oxfordshire 32
  (Triangular - won by Oxfordshire)
• Dorset & Wilts 63 Somerset 5

U13s "Transition Rugby": At last the rules and training resource!

I mean, the season has only been going six weeks...

All of the video and notes are available from RFUW on CD, but can also be watched (but annoyingly not downloaded - because the speed of the server is awful!) from here.

A number of significant changes have been made to the rules, as circulated at the end of last season - all of which seem to be improvements on the draft rules and may even indicate that someone has been listening. The major differences are....

• The minimum recommended coaching qualification is now - thank heaven! - Level 1. The ludicrous - and frankly dangerous - idea that the game could be coached by someone with only a tag qualification has been quietly dropped.
• All penalties that would normally result in scrums will now result in (uncontested) 3-player scrums (not free passes, as first proposed)
• When the ball goes into touch the game restarts with a free pass (not a scrum as originally proposed).

As a result the game  now looks like rugby union, instead of rugby league!

Much is made of the rather complex tackle rule - like about half of the rules video! Essentially once a player is "gripped" or grabbed below the shoulder the referee calls "tackle". The tackled player can then drive forward, or pass. If they cannot go forward they have to pass (or "make the ball available"), and if they go to ground then you effectively have a ruck. Rucks are restricted to one player per team (not including the tackled player or the tackler). 

If they do not go to ground then you have a maul, though the rules do not call it that (it is still the "tackle"), and again one extra player can join this from each team - so a maul will be a maximum of two players per side - and the defending side cannot try to steal the ball. As a result big, strong girls are going to love this - forget all this passing stuff. What with all the encouragement to tackle above the waist, all you need is a couple of big, "future props" working together and you should be all but unbeatable!

Other matters to note is that the game is for 6-7 players per side, and is on a half-sized pitch going (according to the video) from the 10m line to the try line. This is clearly an error as there are some obvious safety implications here - with the posts being on one touchline - so I'd run games from the 5m line to the 10m line, as in the old U14 game. 

That is about it - the full rules are here. There are some significant improvements and - taken as a whole - this is far better and safer game than originally implied. Once you get beyond the introductory rules video, there are some really good drills and teaching ideas here - including some emphasis on proper tackling technique and evasive and ball skills. As a means of introducing players to the game it is has real potential.

However, kicking is still banned, which is mad partly because girls coming up from the minis will be kicking, but mainly because kicking is the great weakness of the girls (and women's) game. To ban any kicking at all until U15 rugby (now from school year 9) is plain stupid. Where on earth are the goal kickers of the future to come from? 

But one big problem remains. This is an openly and avowedly introductory game and will be a significant step back for girls moving up from minis.The requirement that girls who already play rugby must also go through this makes no sense at all. Not only do you risk these players being bored, but a couple of good ex-minis in a training group or game - girls who can hit and tackle properly - has the potential to destroy the introduction that it is supposed to be.

Would it not be more sensible to offer two routes into U15 rugby? A direct path into the game for those moving up from the minis, and "Transition Rugby" for those starting to play at secondary school age. That is - after all - what we have had this season. As RFUW have clearly listened already, why can they not listen just a little bit more?

Club relaunch, French style

You have to admire the sense of humour of the French team from Herm, on the border with Spain, who call themselves the "Pachys" - hence Pachys D'Herm (ie. Pachyderm).

You also have to admire them a bit because, after being formed in 1989, following a charity game involving the wives and girlfriends of players from Herm's men's team, the "Pachys" recorded five French championship wins and uncovered 32 French internationals before a sudden collapse in player numbers saw them unable to complete their season in 2008-9.

Now they are back. Well, nearly - they are just one division away from the "Top 10" and - as part of the final push - have hired a publicity company that specialises in women's rugby (Promotion du Rugby Feminin) to mastermind a campaign to attract new players and support.

The results are interesting, from the website, the official video to some striking posters and other publicity photos. There is even a very watchable "making of" video.

Its all pretty impressive - and hopefully will help return one of France's oldest clubs back to the top,

Age regulations (Part 2) - what makes an adult?

And so it continues... There is clearly something seriously wrong with the drafting of RFUW regulations on age bands because misunderstandings continue. Recently I highlighted continuing problems about what makes an U18, caused by RFUW continuing to use their own badly worded definition instead of the RFU's rather clearer one. Now I hear that the definition of what makes an adult - or more to the point when you can start playing adult rugby - is still not properly understood.

I don't have a copy of the latest Yearbook, but I have to say this is odd because I thought this one really had been cleared up, not least because Hayley played adult rugby under these regulations some years ago with no real problems. And the regulation is (shock, horror!) a really good, sensible one.

Essentially it is very simple. Anyone can play adult rugby from the day they turn 18. This means that, in their final U18 season, any girl can also play adult rugby from the date of their 18th birthday - whilst also retaining their U18 status.

There are a few minor exceptions - for example you cannot play representative rugby in both age groups (you have to choose), and you cannot play two games in the same weekend (so if you turn out in an adult game in Saturday you cannot play a U18 game on Sunday). But that is about it.

You can play your U18 and adult rugby at different clubs. Being selected for an adult representative team (county, say) does not prevent you playing U18 rugby at club, or division. You genuinely do get the best of both worlds.

The idea behind this is also great. It is so that girls get to taste and try out the adult game, maybe guesting for a couple of adult teams, while still keeping a firm home base in the U18 game. Obviously girls born in September get more opportunity to use this rule than those with birthdays in later in the season, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Quite why this is misunderstood - or even not known about at all (even by officials in CBs) - beats me. Maybe RFUW need to issue some clarification about all this - say at the start of each season?

England back at Esher again for Black Ferns games

England have confirmed the dates and venues for the visit of New Zealand in November... but have again wasted an opportunity to spread the game to a wider audience.

It is great that the first game in the series - at Twickenham on November 26^th  will be screened live on Sky Sports, following the men's Barbarians v Australia fixture (a game that is tactlessly (and inaccurately) being marketed by the RFU as the "only international this Autumn" - not least because Barbarians games are not test matches, whereas the women's game they are choosing to ignore is).

However, the other two tests will both be at - Esher RFC (again) on November 29^th and December 3^rd and will not be televised by anyone, and presumably not webcast either as neither RFU nor RFUW seem to have arrived in the 21st century yet. The best we might hope for is some highlights. I wouldn't hold your breath on that, however

This is unlike, say, the USA, Canada or even the Cayman Islands, all of whose unions almost routinely webcast their internationals. Doesn't Twickenham find it just slightly embarrassing that tiny little Unions in some of the remotest parts of the world can manage this new technology thing just fine, but England - richest union in the world, with 2.5 million players (allegedly) - can't? What exactly is the problem?

Its not as if Esher is in the middle of no-where - and indeed that is the other problem. The RFUW have not exactly pushed the boundaries and used this tour to spread the game, have they? Esher is less than 10 miles from Twickenham and firmly within the M25. So anyone in South West London gets to see all three internationals on their doorstep, while the rest of the country (for the second and third tests) will have to put up with a match report and photograph on ScrumQueens.

When England travel to New Zealand in 18 months time or so, will all their games be in Wellington? No - I would be amazed if they were all on the same island.

England are also going to France for a couple of games next month... and are they both their games in Paris? No! In fact, in a move akin to the RFUW playing the Black Fern games in Newcastle or Manchester, the French "Autumn tests" will be played in the south of France with an "uncapped friendly" in Marseilles on 2nd November and a "full on" test in Aix-en-Provence on the 5th.

France will also be playing Italy the previous week (29th October) in Nice...well over 100 miles away from Marsailles in south-east France. In addition, France's three home Six Nations games will be played in Calais, Clermont Ferrand (central France), and Pau (south west). Add in their international venues in the past couple of years and most Frenchwomen will have had at least one international nearby (within 50-100 miles at worst) in the past 2-3 years.

Time was when England were almost as adventurous - they made it all the way to Leeds in 1997! - but the last time England travelled further north than St Albans was when they found their way to the remote outpost of civilisation that is Northampton in 2001.

When last questioned on this policy a few years ago, RFUW claimed it was not their fault and blamed international regulations about airports and hotels. So for those of you in Newcastle and Manchester who thought you had airports and hotels you'd better check they are really there. And if they are then clearly they are not remotely as good as those to be found in Clermont Ferrand and Pau.

• One other confirmed Autumn International will be Scotland's visit to Netherlands on 6th November, probably in Amsterdam. Considering recent Scottish form it could be a very close game indeed... Wales and Ireland have no games currently announced.

Catching up with our "pro"

Just a quick update about the ex-Legend who is now as near as dammit to being a "professional" rugby player - Rosie Randfield.

In theory Rosie is in the army, but her actual soldiering seems to be pretty minimal these days as she tours the country (and the odd neighbouring country) playing both 15s and 7s rugby union.

And when there is no rugby union to be had, Rosie switches code to play league - most recently last weekend when she turned out for the Combined Services against England Students. The only report I could find is a Navy report so no-one who is not in the Navy gets a mention, but going by the pictures Randy had a pretty good game, with her team winning 28-18.

Festivals? What festivals?

Remember the youth calendar for this year? If not its actually online.

You will recall the (very welcome) new development this season was the appearance of a number of festivals across the season, all to be organised by the Divisions with competitions for various levels of club - developed, developing, etc.

The first festivals are but weeks away (4th December) which raises the question.... where are they? As anyone who has ever organised a festival will say, you need at least a couple of months of lead in to make any such event a success - especially if its a new event - just let everyone know its on, get entries, organise ground, volunteers (BTW on the subject of volunteers, please go here - the RFU are carrying out an important survey), etc. etc. - but not only do I not hear any news of any such events, I am told that for some clubs in this area the 4th December has already been changed to a league weekend.

In fact the only festivals anyone has confirmed with me are the "traditional" end of season tournaments - Herts 7s on 29th April, Worthing 10s on 6th May, and the National 7s on 12th May (though there is also a possible Worcester tournament, annoying likely to clash with Herts 7s). Beyond that... nothing.

Unless anyone knows different?

More on the rise of girls' rugby league

Just to show that girls' rugby league is not just growing in the North East, here is the story of spectacular growth in the North West.

And this only a day after reading something I never thought I'd see. Worcester Girls' - Worcester Girls' (who some of us think of as the biggest, best, most successful, most well run girls'club on the planet) - have had to cancel this weekend's U18 home game because they do not have enough players.

Worcester do not have enough players. Let us pause to take the implications of that in...

Scary, isn't it? I mean, for the future of junior rugby union?

In the meanwhile, back to the North West and the obvious question. While The North may indeed be - for Twickenham at least - "a land far, far away of which they know little", clearly the inhabitants of this land are doing something right. Maybe someone should be, perhaps, finding out about it and learning from this success?

Changes to Autumn international fixtures

While the New Zealand games remain on track (with the November 26th fixture at Twickenham to be shown live in Sky), there are some subtle changes to information about the other games, as first released by the French rugby union back in July (but still not an official peep from the RFUW, where the information remains a state secret).

Essentially both of the England v France autumn tests will now be in France -  Marseille, November 2nd and Aix-en-Provence, 5th. In addition, France will play Italy in Nice on October 29th.

England's U20 game with France will now be in Périgord-Agenais on 10th March 2012- and France will also play Wales (as will, presumably, England), which means we could have an (unofficial) U20 Three Nations - if someone wants to award points.

Mêlée spontanée - les mains loin!

Pity the poor French rugby referee who - thanks to the demands of the French language police - will now, presumably, have to shout out the above tongue twister (eight syllables) instead of the rather more direct "ruck - hands away" (three) that we are used to.

This is one little gem to be found in the French government's response to the World Cup - Ballon ovale… Prêts pour la mêlée ? - a guide to the "correct" French words to be used when talking or writing about rugby.

Other interesting French words for English rugby terminology include raffut for
"hand-off" - an odd choice for a word that normally means "racket" (as in the sense of a loud noise or argument - hullabaloo would be another equivalent). Indeed you wonder how much the French government's language experts know about the game as they kindly give us French translations for "goal average", "sparring partner" and "time-out" but nothing at all for "maul", "scrum/scrummage", or "bottle" (in the sense of the verb describing what New Zealand men's rugby teams normally do).

Even so - much here to impress a teacher or examiner for anyone who is doing GCSE French!