Participation numbers, the quality of the All-Ireland League (AIL), juggling sevens and 15s, and contracting players. After a wide-ranging discussion with the IRFU’s women’s director of rugby Anthony Eddy, we had to remind ourselves that here we are in late 2021 still talking about the same old issues plaguing women’s rugby in this country.
he big difference now, however, is that Ireland’s recent World Cup qualifier failure has firmly shone the spotlight on cracks that have been papered over for years.
It’s not that long ago Ireland were winning a Grand Slam and beating New Zealand, yet those heady days are a distant memory as the level of ground they have lost recently has been laid bare.
Losing to Spain at any level is unforgivable, yet Ireland left themselves with a mountain to climb, and ultimately they weren’t able to scale it as Scotland heaped further misery on them.
The players will have to deal with the scars for the rest of their careers, while those at the top table of the IRFU go about rectifying the damage that has been caused.
It is coming up on seven years since Eddy was appointed by the union, with the Australian’s remit stretching across sevens and 15s.
On the pitch, there has been a steady decline in Ireland’s performances as the gap grows wider between themselves and their Six Nations rivals England and France, who right now are operating on another level.
The ‘Women in Action’ plan, which was laid out by the IRFU in 2018, set out its five-year targets, with many of them missed, including finishing in the top six at the 2021 World Cup and qualifying for the 2020 Olympic sevens.
Considering that and how the AIL is struggling for oxygen, as well as the manner in which the provinces were treated in the dressing-room scandal at Energia Park recently, there have been some grim times.
“I don’t think the growth of the game has helped is one thing,” Eddy said. “A number of the other countries have progressed the growth of the game and the development of their competitions.
“If you look at what the RFU have done around their Premiership, it’s linked now to a number of the professional men’s clubs and everything else.”
Asked why the IRFU haven’t done something similar with the AIL, Eddy responded: “It’s on the cards now, to be honest.”
So, does that mean it has not been a focus in recent years?
“It was reviewed there a while back but then Covid hit our AIL, that was changed some time ago with the inclusion of two new teams. Now we’re seeing where that’s at at the moment.
“I think at the end of this season, we need to review that again and discuss whether that’s the way to go forward or whether some changes need to be made around what the competition is.”
Eddy revealed that he hasn’t yet been involved in the ongoing wider women’s rugby review, while he was also unable to clarify if an ‘elite status’ exemption had been sought in order for the interpro teams to be allowed to use changing-rooms.
“I don’t know, is the answer, whether they applied for elite status or not. I’m not too sure.
“I won’t comment because I don’t have any idea on that – what they had to do to get those games up and running.
“That was through the provinces and our own operations department as to how they put those games running.”
Eddy said “some findings” from the review would be made public, with many people still concerned about players juggling sevens and 15s commitments.
That has long been a talking point, particularly when it comes to contracting, but in Eddy’s mind the current model works, as he strongly rejected the suggestion that sevens was given preferential treatment over 15s.
“They’re contracted to play sevens but it’s a women’s rugby programme so they’re playing both forms of the game all the time, which we have to do,” he insisted.
Ireland will return to action against USA on Friday night, facing a strange scenario knowing their current head coach Adam Griggs is on his way out the door after next week’s clash with Japan, as Greg McWilliams takes over.
Perhaps that is the clean slate everyone needs, yet there is a lingering sense that the bigger-picture stuff will take years to fix.