It was not meant to end like this. For the first time since the IRB officially sanctioned a Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1998, Ireland will not be taking part in the Finals when the 12 best teams in the world gather in New Zealand next year.

Italy had beaten Spain in the first game of Saturday’s Double Header meaning our hopes of going straight to the finals with a bonus-point win over Scotland were still alive.

Trailing at halftime it looked more likely that we would be heading for the Final qualification tournament but even that still needed a draw and a win and when Scotland touched down for a try as the clock ticked down, that all hinged on Sarah Laws conversion.

With the last kick of the game, she sent it clean between the posts and Irish hopes and expectations were ended.

What makes this even harder to bear is the progression that has been evident in Women’s Rugby here since becoming the first Irish team to beat the All Blacks in 2014 and going on to a Semi-Final that year.

In 2017 the IRFU stepped up hosting a wonderful Women’s World Cup Finals between Dublin and Belfast that gave extra momentum to the promotion of the sport and produced one of the best games of rugby that year in the final between England and New Zealand, held at Kingspan Stadium and refereed by Joy Neville.

The one cloud though was the Irish performance which failed to match the highs of the previous tournament and left us in search of qualification.

The was the seed of what led to this weekend and which will now hang like a shadow over the sport.

But we have to be positive. The Finals of 2025 will expand to 16 teams, meaning we should never be in this position of failing to qualify again.

A number of the senior players from this team though will not be around and the search for young talent like Beibhinn Parsons has to continue and be redoubled.

This will be a critical period for the IRFU to confirm its commitment to the Womeen’s game and to be seen to do so.

As a unifying campaign, #NothingLikeIt has the capacity to be a real positive. But a lot of effort will be required.

 

“A powerful and influential network of information and collaboration”

 

Download our latest membership brochure here.

Sport for Business Partners