I’m going to be honest with you team, it’s been a shit of a time recently. I was sat in the stands of weekend one of WXV1 booking flights to Auckland because my Dad is really sick. So I spent most of this week sat by his bed, reading him Potiki by Patricia Grace. Will have to ask him later on if he remembers any of it but what I can say is Patricia is an excellent author to choose to read aloud.
He has turned a corner now and appears to be on the mend. Which is why I now find myself amongst the cheese grater lampshades of my cousins house, with chickens named for after my grandmother Doreen, scratching about outside. Kerry’s place has joy infused on every surface. A peek into her beautifully creative mind. It could not have been a more welcome reset after the sterile hospital of this week. You can rent it out actually on Air Bnb. So if you are ever in Dunedin, I highly recommend.
So I’m chasing my tail a bit in terms of coverage. Would have loved to give you a preview of all tiers but being forced to prioritise I will give you an overview of what’s at stake in this last round of WXV2 & 3.
Let’s begin.
Making this flow chart just about broke my brain. And the good news is I’m probably going to have to replicate a similar spiderweb of eventualities for WXV1’s winner next week. It is good news cause what this picture paints is a competitive tournament. Sure, in a way it’s Italy’s to lose but the fact that there is still a pathway for 4 of the 6 teams to lift the trophy is fantastic.
Italy, after being the first team from their nation to make a Rugby World Cup quarterfinal last year, have continued their run of good form. The investment in their contracts paying off. For years, I could probably only have named you one Italian player, the always immaculate Sara Barattin. There are now many - Beatrice Rigoni is in full swagger at this tournament and Alyssa D’Inca is in roaring form. Alongside them Silvia Turani and Alissa Ranuccini have also been industrious for the Italians.
Right on their heels is Scotland. Guilty at times of clutching defeat from the jaws of victory in recent years, they seem to have well and truly have got the monkey off their back. There is a real sense of belief in this team now. They will be drawing on this to set themselves up for a chance at leapfrogging Italy to lift the WXV2 trophy.
A reminder that lifting silverware is all that the winner of WXV2 will get to do. They do not have a chance at promotion as WXV1 is a fortress - no one gets in or pushed out - until after the next World Cup.
Teams may be unable to be promoted from WXV2 but they can be relegated. Samoa and South Africa are fighting for their chance to stick around when they play each other this weekend.
These two played each other in the warm up and it was a draw. If this is the case this weekend, Samoa have a better chance at holding on due to their extra bonus point picked up in the other matches.
It’s tough to know who you want to root for. My heart says Samoa because as I’ve said so many times, it was Samoan women who taught me how to play rugby here in Wellington. After their men appear to be shut out of the men’s version of WXV announced this week, it would be a great middle finger to the decision makers that be to see the women’s team thrive.
The equation is SO much simpler for the promotion of a team from WXV3. All Ireland has to do is not lose. Simple right? Except the last time they stumbled against the Spanish, it lost them a chance to play at the Rugby World Cup. The first time Ireland hadn’t featured.
So this is a redemptive arc which sets up a magic moment for the Irish. If you think I have frustrations with New Zealand Rugby, times them by 50 and that’s the lot of Irish women in the game struggling agains their unions inadequacy. It would please me to no end to see their women’s team, the only one going home to Ireland with a world trophy this season.
But Spain too are due their recognition. They are emblematic of the problem with geoblocking rife in international rugby. They are a big fish in a small European pond and will be desperate to swim further upstream.
Many of sports problems start at the grassroots and grow up from there. So it’s not surprising that not unlike my local club scene, the pool of emerging teams is the biggest. Sadly for them, they are split between playing the establish and developing few. So it’s big scores or big loses and hard to get good games in between.
This one will be a cracker though, so make sure to tune in!
At the bottom of WXV3, Kenya and Colombia are playing for the right to continue in WXV all together. Kenya are in the same position as Ireland, they just have to not lose to stick around.
I don’t actually know what happens should you fall out of this tier all together but we will soon find out. As I’ve said before though, the promise of WXV is not in year one or two but really in year three and beyond. It’s the guaranteed games in your calendar which can be such a struggle to pin down, particularly if you’re a developing rugby nation like these two.
If things were less political, you surely would make a case that the tier that needed to be locked for two seasons wasn’t WXV1 but WXV3. They are the sides that have the most to gain from ongoing participation in this competition.
We’ve only just got a chance to meet them, it seems a shame to be saying goodbye.
So be sure to check out these matches. I’m not going to tell you to get up in the middle of the night when it’s just as easy to watch replays on Rugby Pass.
With you,
Alice
PS. If you see me at any of the WXV1 matches this weekend, be sure to say hi!
PPS. And if you only have energy for one game this weekend, it should be England vs Canada. England are putting a team out there tonight which we are more likely to see face the Black Ferns next week.