The Ireland Women’s Rugby team play England this weekend buoyed by last week’s victory over Wales in the Guinness Six Nations. Depending on results elsewhere they could be playing Scotland in Belfast next Saturday for a third place finish in the Championship and automatic qualification for the Rugby World Cup in England in 2025.

There was another boost for the Women’s game this week when the British and Irish Lions announced a new £3 million ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ Pathways Funding grant from the Women’s Lions partner Royal London.

The aim of the funding is to help develop more players and coaches ahead of the inaugural Howden Lions Women’s Tour to New Zealand in 2027.

The series will include three Tests against the Black Ferns, the current world champions, alongside pre-Test fixtures.

The IRFU has elected to use the funds to host additional women’s U18 and U20 camps and training matches to accelerate player development.

It will also develop a ‘Coach Accelerator Scholarship Program’. The programme will accelerate coach capability and long-term career progression with a specific emphasis on removing gender related career barriers.

Coaches will be supported by high-performance mentors throughout the scholarship program. The IRFU will also work with universities to identify future talent and unearth potential high-performance players.

The Rugby Football Union in England will use the grant to further develop its ‘Player Development Groups’, boosting the overall player experience journey and increasing the targeted skill development of players coming through the pathway.

Scottish Rugby will recruit two Performance Pipeline coaches and will deliver additional U18 and U20 camps and training matches to accelerate development within the teams. SR will also host residential camps for a national academy which brings together the best pipeline players in Scotland.

The Welsh Rugby Union will strengthen their women’s pathway coaching staff with five new members; a Performance Pathway Coach, Physical Development Lead, Performance Pathway Scientist, a Set-piece Coach and a specialist Skills Coach. It will also invest in talent identification programmes and transfer programmes across the country, and initiatives to engage Welsh qualified talent based outside of Wales.

Royal London has commissioned a bespoke shirt to showcase what this investment will mean for women in rugby. Matthias Hamzaoui, an established artist and calligrapher, has designed the shirt that uses his iconic grayscale portraiture surrounded with typography quoting players, coaches and staff from across the four national women’s programmes on what the bursary means for them.

“Supporting the growth of the women’s game is a key strategic priority for The British & Irish Lions as it is for each of our constituent Unions,” said Ben Calveley, CEO of the Lions.

“Royal London’s ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ grant represents a significant investment into the women’s game in the four Unions and will make a positive impact on women’s rugby. Royal London are an outstanding partner to The British & Irish Lions and a consistent advocate both for the Lions Women’s Tour and for the women’s game. We look forward to working closely with them over the coming years as we build towards this historic Tour in 2027.”

“Our aim as the Founding Partner of the Women’s Lions Team is to play an integral part in levelling the playing field for women’s rugby,” added Susie Logan, Group Chief Marketing Officer at Royal London.

“The ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ grants we are announcing today further demonstrate our commitment to breaking down barriers and ensuring we’re able to support the development of women’s rugby at all levels.”

“It’s been incredibly important to us that all Unions are actively involved and empowered to develop their own plans ensuring optimal use of the funding across each nation. We’re looking forward to continuing our work in partnership with the Unions to ensure it makes a difference for this and future generations.”

 

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