So it was back to Twickenham on Sunday to watch the Women’s World cup final, with the hosts England taking on the Black Ferns of New Zealand. I have to say the atmosphere at the ground was amazing and as we walked towards the stadium from the flats behind the ground we were being heckled by a group of Kiwis dressed as wrestlers. To be honest they showed up in huge numbers and it made for a cracking feeling in the stadium.
The Haka is a very different thing in the women’s game I am led to believe they need special permission to perform it and I am glad they receive it unlike the men’s game it doesn’t seem as blood curdling and threatening but it is still a fantastic sight and at the end as they stepped towards each other and faced off it set out the format for the next 80 mins.
I am not going to go into every aspect of the game but the standard of rugby New Zealand produced was up there with the best, only matched really by the immense defensive performance that England put in. Immense does not do them justice. For huge portions of this game New Zealand hammered and hammered on the door of the England try line, and time and time again England kept them out. Jo McGilchrist, the second rowers, tackle on the flying Kiwi winger was just an incredible effort and an example of the bloody minded determination England showed all game. It is hard to criticize England really, there were one or two errors of judgement but the truth is when you are starved of the ball as much as England were; you are going to face problems in doing positive things with it when it comes your way.
What makes New Zealand so good? I talked about the funding reduction the women have faced but they just seem to have a glut of natural talent. Maybe this comes from a national rugby obsession but oddly enough I realised today New Zealand are World cup holders in Men’s League, Women’s League and women’s Union. How odd they can’t transfer that to the ultimate New Zealand team, the All Blacks. In reality, it’s tough for a country to justify, a reduction in funding, for a team that wins successive world cups for 4 tournaments in a row. A team whose players are unpaid and make huge sacrifices to play, yet throws money at a team that has, with the exception of the inaugural tournament, failed to bring home the trophy. If I were a New Zealand woman I would probably be kicking up a hell of a fuss over that…….obviously I am neither so maybe I should just butt out…..
For England I don’t know how you get over a defeat like that. I cried for a day when Chesham 2nd IV lost a plate final of a merit league trophy we got a bye into. So to lose a final of that magnitude would probably require years of intensive therapy. I am sure they will come to terms with it and hopefully look back with pride at just what they did manage to do against a team so advanced in terms of skill’s and game play. There is talk that this result may see a reduction in their budget for the next few years. I hope that doesn’t happen. I think all that need’s to happen is to simply look at the way the foundations are laid and stick huge resources into bringing women into the game and find ways to do it with urgency. Our own club faces a real crisis in terms of its women’s section in the coming year, simply because there is a huge gap in who has gone and who is coming in. I wish I could find a way to solve that issue. They are a team I have a huge amount of affection for and have been lucky enough to play a small part in their history, all be it one of the most unsuccessful parts but all the same it was a good learning curve and something I will always be very proud to have been involved with.
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