English rugby has its share of thorny issues at present but there is one fast-emerging success story out there. If a distinctly chilly Sunday afternoon in west London exuded little obvious glamour, the inaugural Tyrrells Premier 15s final represented the latest major positive stride for the domestic women’s game, a potentially significant staging post along the long, winding road to oval‑shaped equality.
It may be a while yet before rugby’s sisterhood are contesting a sold-out Twickenham final but then again few envisaged professional men’s club rugby back in the 1980s when Saracens were playing on a public park in Southgate. In years to come those in charge of championing the women’s club game may just recall this as the moment which propelled their heroines out of the shadows and into the light of public consciousness.
Ultimately it was Saracens’ day on the field at Ealing, by a breathlessly narrow 24-20 margin against Harlequins in front of 2,000, but it was arguably an even greater triumph for everyone who has believed in 15-a-side women’s rugby as more than entertaining enough to be judged on its own merits. For sheer edge-of-the-seat tension the final moments were as taut as any neutral could possibly wish to experience.
England run rampant against Wales in Women’s Six Nations
To watch players as compellingly good as Marlie Packer, Shaunagh Brown and Jess Breach is also to wonder how long it will be before they are properly rewarded like their male counterparts, as opposed to juggling full-time jobs and training three times a week for the love of it. Nigel Melville, the Rugby Football Union’s director of professional rugby, says he is “absolutely sure” the best women club players will be paid in future, while the Wasps coach, Giselle Mather, argues that current levels of personal sacrifice will be “unsustainable” sooner rather than later.
Mather said on Sunday: “How do you become the best athlete you can be and hold down a full-time job? In 10 years’ time I would suggest we’re looking at the top tier being professional or semi-professional. It is possible we might be at that stage in five years.”
According to Mather “a tipping point has been reached in women’s sport” and only the seriously blinkered would disagree with her analysis. “People are realising that women’s sport is really good to watch. We’re not trying to be the men’s game. If I was a young lass going into sport now, I’d be so excited. There are now five quality female team sports – hockey, netball, football, cricket and rugby – which are all roaringly successful. Team sport for females is cool now and we’re bloody good at it.”
Initially Saracens’ mauling and offloading game had threatened to overrun Harlequins, a lovely pass from Hannah Botterman creating the game’s first try for her fellow prop, Sam Martinez Gion, and the captain, Lottie Clapp, slicing through for the second. When the winger Garnet Mackinder added a third to make it 17-3, a horribly one-sided contest loomed.
Harlequins, though, displayed considerably more cohesion, resolve and stamina than their male counterparts have managed in recent weeks. Holly Myers gave them some hope just before half-time and second-half tries from Breach, on as a replacement, and the flanker Deborah McCormack dragged them right back into contention. Even after the no-nonsense Botterman had rampaged over for Saracens’ fourth try Quins kept coming and a stunning comeback might have been completed but for a rush‑of‑blood quick tap and subsequent knock-on in front of the posts which saved their relieved opponents.
The RFU, which has invested £2.4m in women’s club rugby over three years, will also be hugging itself at how swiftly its newly minted tournament has captured hearts and minds. Let it not be forgotten women’s club rugby has been in this country for four decades – several of the leading pioneers were in Ealing on Sunday – but the scepticism which greeted its rebranding last year has proved mostly misplaced.
“The quality of the games has been phenomenal,” Mather said. “It’s surprised even me. Women’s club rugby has been around for 40 years but never with financial support. The respect is now there.”