Wales Women World Cup

The last couple of minutes of the first half summed it up for me, the fly half kicked the ball about 5 yards meaning the lineout was 15 metres out not five. We then got possession and instead of someone straightening up they just passed the ball down the line and the centre ran into defenders then into touch.If that happened in a school game you wouldn’t be happy as a coach. 

A lot of these ladies play at the top of the game in England how do they look so poor when playing for Wales.

Oh and yes most of them are not fit that is clear. 

And before anyone accuses me of being sexist please read my previous posts where I have defended the ladies game. 

I cannot see how we can make two professional sides out of this squad.

I went to stradey to see Wanderers  take on Swansea in pre season friendly.

Could have stayed home and watched the Wales v Scotland game.

Whereas  Wanderers  put up an excellent  showing against semi - pro opponents ( losing  21-31), Wales women were abysmal in the extreme.

Many on Scarletfever know that I am a champion of the women's game, not just because my daughter played until a year last Jan( sadly seriously injured with ACL), but the fact that girls and young women can be inspired  to do somthing with their lives in a situation previously male dominated. 

I have watched the development of the Women's  game, and becoming professional was,  one thought , the " crossing of the Rubicon".

How wrong could we be ? It appears Wales are going   BACKWARDS, not the other way round and making progress.

I have   ( painfully) watched the game on catch up of today's  game and EMBARRASSING is the only word to describe  it.

Whereas Scotland looked for space ,moved the ball with skill and fluidity, Wales looked for contact, playing with such a lack of  imagination, it made Pontypool of the 70's look  like a creative  French  side !  Turgid is the word.

The set piece was inefficient, particularly the line out, and basic skills  were generally lacking. This shouldn't be happening  at this level .

Too many girls  earning professional  contracts are just not good enough.

Lynne  , brought  in on the strengths of his Gloucester  team( stuffed with English girls),  clearly  has little vision and,there are technical deficiencies seen today, which haven't be laid at his door.

What is the answer  .?..Two pro teams? There isn't  the talent to make ONE.

My view is linked to my previous  post above, when I questioned the validity of careers in Sport for young women n playing rugby.

There are often seduced by the bright lights, and have nothing to,fall back on, are left bereft abd disappointed, when the axe falls, whether that is injury or contract  loss.

England are so far ahead ATM, that some contests are totally meaningless. 

Far better if all went back  to amateur status, with a level playing field.

Players could still inspire as before, abd young people could still be enthused  to take  up the game.

The way it is you cannot justify  paying  professionals for what we saw.

The same if course could be argued about the Wales men's team, particularly  after losing by 60 points,  at home to England 

I've seen this argument come up on here and gwlad quite often - not enough talent for the two proposed teams. 

This is classic chicken and the egg. Talent... maybe... there is also not enough talent for 4 men's regions but that doesn't change the fact a lot of people want it. 

Players though, there is enough for two teams - we currently have two in Brython and Gwalia, plus the age groups players below that PLUS the 23 (at least) who play in the English league (didn't all of yesterday's team play in England?).

So, we have enough female players to form the two teams. If we don't even form the teams and support them financially properly we will NEVER have a better women's game. This is the bit that frustrates me with other posters - how do you expect them to get better (and challenge the professional sides like England) if you're not going to put the money, time and infrastructure into them? Two sides is a minimum. Then they need meaningful competition, and they need the pathways to be funded properly. 

If we don't create the teams, what's the point in creating the pathways if they don't get anywhere? If we don't create the pathways how are young girls going to choose to play rugby? 

You can't expect to continue to take an amateur attitude to the women's game and expect results and performances to suddenly become professional. 

And, in an attempt to pre-empt the replies, I know that Wales Women have not had much success since turning professional, and I know that watching them feels like they've even gone backwards. But everyone else has moved on too. If we HADN'T given out professional contracts we would be EVEN WORSE!

I maintain that what we saw yesterday was not what this squad are capable of. Whatever the reasons for that are for Lynn and his team to fix. But longer term the fact of the matter is that when it comes to top-level rugby our players are not getting exposed to it. We have a lot of players in the English league but previous few of them get meaningful minutes over a season.