Women's Rugby World Cup Team guide We look at the contenders for the 2014 Women' World Cup which kicks of on Friday in France.
However the likes of England, France and Canada will be hoping that they can break the Black Fern's impressive run as all eyes turn to France.
England have made the most finals in the history of the competition – five in all but have only won once when they beat France in 1994. They have lost the last three finals to New Zealand but coach Gary Street has left no stone unturned for the 2014 competition. Sevens took precedent for a lot of their key players in 2013 and their 15-man game suffered – they lost a three test series in New Zealand 3-o and were runners up to France in the 2014 Six Nations. However they possess a quality squad with plenty of experience and will be aiming to go one better than they di in the last three tournaments.
On paper Canada are England’s strongest competitors for Pool A top honours. Expectations are high for the 2014 tournament after a disappointing sixth place in 2010 and they have had a good build-up by berating fierce rivals USA and showed promise in their two match loss to New Zealand in June.
Spain have a pretty young side and will be looking to Captain Ana Maria Aigneren for inspiration. This will be the 36-year-old’s third World Cup and they will be looking for damage control against England and Canada whilst looking for a win against Samoa.
Samoa have not had the best build-up to France as they were annihilated 90-12 by New Zealand recently. They will be targeting Spain for a win but could find themselves overpowered by the more experienced sides like England and Canada.
The Black Ferns are favourites to win their fifth consecutive World Cup. Worryingly for their rivals, they come into the 2014 tournament better prepared than they have ever been. As expected from a New Zealand rugby team, they play a highly skilled game at pace and possess a strong pack to launch an attack from anywhere.
Surprised everyone with their first Grand Slam Six Nations title in 2013 and have shown great improvement. May not have the strength in depth as some of the other contenders but if they can keep their first-choice players fit, they will be very completive.
Always strong and competitive, many feel that it will be a tough tussle with Ireland to get out of this pool as runners-up. However the USA will be gunning for a shock win over the Black ferns too. Have plenty of pace to attack from deep.
Known as the Nomads, rugby has a strong tradition in the defence force where both male and females take part. Ranked No.1 in Asia, the Nomads have not had as much preparation as their rivals and could find the going tough in a very good pool.
The host nation is confident this time around having won a Grand Slam in the 2014 Six Nations. They have had a good warm-up – beating South Africa 46-8 in early July. The possess a very combative forward unit who can cause some damage. They should top their pool and will be looking to break the England v New Zeland stranglehold on the final.
Passion and tradition runs deep in Wales but they have a young squad that may not be ready for this tournament. They were disappointing in the Six Nations where they beat Scotland 25-0. They were well beaten by Ireland and narrowly lost to USA in their war-up games. They played and lost to both Australia and South Africa in the 2010 competition but will be hoping to turn that result around in at least one of their games.
Have lost to both New Zealand and Canada in their warm-up games and could find this tournament a bit heavy going. They have barely played the 15-man game since 2010 decising instead to concentrate on 7’s. They have plenty of pace out in the backs with a plethora of Sevens stars on show but may lack the grunt to lay the platform for those backs to perform.
Coached by former Springbok prop Lawrence Sephaka, the boks are looking to have a real impact on the 2014 competition. They have a relatively young and inexperienced squad who could find the pace tough going.A record crowd is expected at Headingley for the opening match of the Women’s Rugby League World Cup. The first tournament, in 2000, was very different
The buildup, hype and buzz England’s women have experienced as they prepare for their tilt at the Rugby League World Cup could not be in greater contrast to the experiences of Jackie Sheldon and her squad of trailblazers 22 years ago.
It may be a little over two decades but the journey women’s rugby league has been on during that time feels much longer, a point that will be emphasised when Emily Rudge and her teammates kick off against Brazil on Tuesday at Headingley in front of a northern hemisphere record crowd for a women’s rugby league match. It will be markedly different to what the players experienced on a series of low-key, easily overlooked nights in November 2000.
Few will look on with as much pride as Sheldon, not least because without her endeavours to stage that inaugural women’s World Cup we may not have even reached this moment. “Women’s rugby league had never had an international competition of any note before 2000, ” says Sheldon, who coached Great Britain in the tournament.
She had been part of the coaching staff when the Great Britain Lionesses toured Australia for the first time in 1996. She then led them on a tour to New Zealand two years later. “There was really only three nations playing at that time, so when I was asked to help set up a women’s World Cup, it was only ever going to be three teams.”
Australia and New Zealand accepted the invitations from Sheldon but the hard work was only just beginning. Devoid of any significant funding, Sheldon – who also assumed the role of tournament organiser – began to beg, steal and borrow.
“In the towns where we wanted to host games, I had to go to the local authorities and plead with them to sponsor the matches and in return, I’d give the local girls in the town some coaching sessions, ” she says, before laughing. “I suppose it was a bit like horse trading. That was just to get the money to put the tournament on.”
Contrast that with the millions of pounds of investment that has gone into this year’s tournament and near-professional camps the eight teams will experience. In 2000, there were games scheduled in Castleford and Dewsbury, and expectations that crowds would not get beyond a few hundred, given the lack of any serious women’s domestic league in England, came to fruition. For this sixth World Cup, games are being held at major rugby league grounds with the final at Old Trafford as part of a double-header with the men.
Sheldon had something else to juggle: getting her squad not only match-ready to face Australia and New Zealand, but available to play. “We ran a camp, but it cost money, ” she says. “We did everything – bucket collections, sponsorship for the kits, but we also asked any girl who was called up to bring £1, 000 to help pay for it all. They all took unpaid leave from their jobs, so the sacrifices were immense.”
Even with all that fundraising, Sheldon needed more money, so she hatched an incredible plan. “I had a call from Cilla Black’s people, ” she says, smiling. “She was hosting a gameshow around that time called The Moment of Truth and they asked if we’d be interested in doing a team challenge to win £5, 000.
“They wanted to know what we’d use the money for and I thought that would be perfect for the team suits. So we set the girls to work: not training for the tournament, but training to be on Cilla Black’s gameshow.
England’s Emily Rudge (centre) and Brazil’s Maria Graf (right) will lead out their teams for the opening match at Headingley. Photograph: Ashley Allen/Getty Images for RLWC2021
“Five of them had to juggle a diabolo from one end of a stick to another, pass it on to the next one and reach the end of the line. They didn’t manage to do it in rehearsals once. But before they went on stage, live in front of the nation, I told them to forget about the suits and just enjoy the experience. They went out and did it for the first and only time, winning the £5, 000.
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“Without that money, I don’t know how we’d have coped. It was aired on TV
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