IRB Women’s Sevens Rugby: Houston, We Have a Winner

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: February 5, 2013

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The 2013 IRB Women's Sevens tour completed its first ever official stop in North America last weekend, and the message to be taken away from that tournament is clear. 

England has the best women's sevens rugby team on the planet right now. Period.

Fuelled by the intense physicality and raw power of stars like Heather Fisher and Jo Watmore, England ran the increasingly competitive gauntlet presented by their world rugby rivals and emerged as champions of the inaugural Houston Sevens event.

That England are not currently ranked as the number one team in the world is an ironic illusion, created by that nation's fierce desire to be the best at every version of the game.

In early December, when the English sent a young sevens development team to the first leg of the IRB Women's Series in Dubai, it was because the Rugby Football Union (RFU) had decided to prioritize their VX's series in London, against the New Zealand Black Ferns.

That gamble paid off, as Fisher, Watmore and their England teammates sent the defending Women's World Cup champs packing, defeating them in three straight contests.

By contrast, the understrength English women's sevens side suffered heavily in Dubai, as they were left to the mercy of the half-dozen world class nations, such as New Zealand, Canada and South Africa, that had brought their starting rosters to that tournament.

England's managers may well have been surprised by their team's 7th place finish in Dubai, but if so, they made sure that their Sevens program would not lack firepower when the series reconvened in Houston.

 



England head coach Gary Street said the decisions were part of a four-year strategy aimed at prioritizing certain events over others.

What we are trying to do is win the Sevens World Cup. I think the momentum of us winning it would be a huge step for us to kick on.

It is a ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Rugby Union

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