World Cup drubbings part of growth - World Rugby

Minnows such as Brazil and Samoa will benefit from playing at the World Cup despite suffering a series of heavy defeats at the tournament, says World Rugby.

Brazil, the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, were beaten 84-5 by France on Sunday after a 66-6 loss to South Africa in their opening match.

Samoa have conceded a total of 165 points and scored only three in their matches against Australia and England so far.

However, Sally Horrox, chief of Women's Rugby at World Rugby, says such scorelines will happen with teams at different stages of professionalisation.

"We acknowledge that competitiveness is a talking point, and so it should be, but we also must remember the context - the relative youth of the women's game," she said.

"The men's professional game is 30 years old and we are in the very early stages, relatively, of that professional development of the women's game.

"We made an intentional decision to expand the Rugby World Cup from 12 to 16 teams in full knowledge that that would give more exposure to teams like Fiji, Samoa, Spain and Brazil.

"Their performance on the biggest stage is critical for their national pride, but also to attract fans, commercial investment and government investment to drive the teams and game forward."

Hosts and tournament favourites England have 32 centrally contracted players, with a pool of others paid by their Premiership Women's Rugby clubs.

Brazil and Samoa are at the opposite end of the spectrum with mostly amateur squads, some of whom are crowd-funding to cover the cost of stepping away from their regular jobs.

The inclusion of sevens in the Olympics since Rio 2016 triggered government financial support in many countries and it is hoped that including developing teams on the biggest XV-a-side stage, along with specialist coaches and support from World Rugby, will further fuel their growth.

There are also plans to relaunch the annual WXV competition, for international sides, to guarantee emerging nations more regular competition against teams of a similar standard.

The most recent men's Rugby World Cup also featured several blow-out scorelines, with France and Scotland putting 96 and 84 unanswered points on Namibia and Romania respectively in 2023.

At the 1995 Rugby World Cup, just before the men's game officially turned professional, New Zealand scored 21 tries as they beat Japan 145-17. In 2019, Japan reached the last eight as hosts.

"Not all boats are rising at the same level at the same time, but the tide is rising very fast and rising for all," said World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin.

England and Samoa's players danced together after the teams' meeting in Northampton

Gilpin added that the women's game is already ahead of the men's in the way the players connect with fans, both in the stadium and on social media.

"We are seeing at this incredible tournament that you can be yourself in rugby," he said.

"It is a welcoming place where personalities shine and individuality is celebrated and where perceptions about our sport are being challenged, changed and, in many cases, blown out the water.

"We believe there is a real opportunity for the men's game to follow the lead that we are seeing with greater accessibility and more personality creating more stars.

"This tournament has demonstrated that being on social media, being yourself, having an opinion, taking time for the fans and the media doesn't need to be viewed as a performance inhibitor, indeed it can be an enabler."

Gilpin is confident that the unique character of the women's game will survive, even as it grows, its stars' profiles increase and professionalism spreads.

"Three years ago in New Zealand [at the last World Cup] when we had had this great engagement with fans, we were asked then if we feared that we would see less of that and we are not. We are seeing more of it," he said.

"That is because we have brilliant characters in the women's game who are not going to have a lid put on those personalities, that is a genie you can't put back in the bottle very easily."

World Rugby also revealed that kicking, both for goal and from hand, has improved in the first two rounds of matches, compared to the last tournament in 2022.

Conversion success is up to 64%, a 14% increase, while an average of 3.3 kicks are regained per match, up from two per game in 2022.

There have previously been discussions about moving conversions infield in the women's game to compensate for the smaller amount of power they can generally generate off the tee.

Red Roses on how the game has changed and might change

England attack coach Lou Meadows: "The game is naturally going to evolve, especially when you take it professional, so the girls can commit to their skills and execution.

"We have been making kicking a key skill for us. The way it can be used as a pressure point against the opposition, equally the way we can score more points through it as we convert our tries.

"Having a specialist kicking coach (Andy Holloway) in to support that skill is a really important resource to us.

"Usually you would only see one or two players use kicking but now it's a key skill needed across the back line, whether you are a fly-half or a winger.

"We want a triple skill-set threat. It is something we deliberately go after in our programme."

Fly-half Zoe Harrison on the different cultures in men's and women's game:

"If the men want to do it [more social media], crack on, but I don't know if that is fitting for their audience or what they want to do.

"At Saracens [men] they want to keep their heads down and go about their business, that is absolutely fine.

"Us girls like to see a dance, that's just how girls are so it is fitting for who we are and who our audience is."

Flanker Sadia Kabeya: "One of the best things about the women's game is how personable the teams are.

"You don't only know the player on the pitch, but the player off the pitch. We love our fans and we love being able to interact with them after the game. It is something really special.

"I think the men's game will benefit loads from that. And I think it will draw in a whole new kind of demographic of people who will want to come and watch rugby in general."