Latest news with #LynneCantwell
BBC News
2 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
IRFU 'completely' support Wafer move
Irish Rugby's head of women's strategy Lynne Cantwell believes Aoife Wafer's move to Harlequins can help "drive standards" for the national team but says that ultimately there is a desire for their international stars to be row Wafer, who was named the 2025 Women's Six Nations Player of the Championship, will make the move to Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) after this year's World Cup, which will be held in England between 22 August and 27 22-year-old will join Test team-mates Sam Monaghan, Neve Jones, Edel McMahon and Cliodhna Moloney in England's premier domestic competition which, in contrast to the Ireland men's side, does not preclude them from international selection."I'm delighted for Aoife in a way," said Cantwell, who won 86 caps for Ireland and was part of the side that reached the World Cup semi-finals in 2014."You've got an aspirational player while you still have flexibility within your contracting model, you just have the PWR across the water and you have an opportunity there to play with the best teams in the world after a World Cup year, I am completely in support of her. "What she will bring back is lots of IP [intellectual property] and drive standards nationally."Wafer was one of 37 players confirmed to be on a central Irish contract last year and home-based players currently play in the All-Ireland League for their club sides, in an inter-provincial championship and in the Celtic Challenge where two combined Irish sides take on equivalents from Wales and Scotland. "She'll obviously be missed from the two Celtic Challenge teams, but I understand it's still evolving," added Cantwell, who has been in her role since January after a spell in South Africa. "You want more of those players to be playing in the Celtic Challenge over the coming years." 'There's been too many blowouts in games' The Celtic Challenge has been riddled with one-sided contests since its inception in 2023, raising concerns over its viability as a key piece of the Ireland squad's preparation for the Six Nations. The IRFU's performance director David Humphreys moved to London Irish when the professional men's game was in its infancy before returning to Ulster and winning the European Cup in believes the period when he and other Test regulars plied their trade abroad gave the IRFU time to build a "sustainable, successful player-development pathway and competitive league" and hopes to see similar in the women's game."Our ambition is to have four really strong provinces competing in the Celtic Challenge," he said "When our players look at what's happened in the Celtic Challenge this year, there's been too many blowouts in games."PWR as it currently stands is more competitive. We'll never stand in the way of people who want to go and just get a different experience while we are building the women's game."Cantwell added that the "first step" to the goal of four professional provinces is slated for the 2026-27 season."That's the project that we're working on at the moment," she said."That won't look all bells and whistles. Even if we look to PWR, PWR started in 2017, it's now 2025 and it's still building and it still hasn't got fully contracted players by any stretch, but it has a daily training environment that you have 20 hours a week where players are training, have access to full-time coaches, S&C [strength and conditioning], and competitive games and that's what we're trying to build."We want to do it responsibly and sustainably - that's the two words we're working on."
Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Head of strategy Lynne Cantwell says World Cup 'massive' to maximise potential growth of women's game
Six months into her role as the IRFU's Head of Women's Strategy, Lynne Cantwell understands the complexities facing her to accelerate the development of the women's game in Ireland. Yet, as Ireland's most capped player and Grand Slam winner launches the strategy she was brought home six months ago from a high-profile role as Women's High Performance Manager for the South African Rugby Union to formulate and implement, Cantwell also understands the importance of this year's Women's World Cup in England to maximise the potential for growth here. The IRFU's belated focus on accelerating the women's game in Ireland has reignited the national team from its nadir of successive Six Nations wooden spoons in 2022 and 2023 with head coach Scott Bemand's rejuvenated squad securing qualification with a third place in the 2024 championship. An autumn victory over world champions New Zealand helped secure second place in WXV1 and Bemand's team will head to England and a World Cup pool opener against Japan on August 24 with confidence restored having banished the demons of a failure to qualify four years ago. That is clearly an opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of a generation of girls and parents, potential volunteers, vital to building sustainable growth in the women's game. 'The World Cup is absolutely massive,' Cantwell said. 'It's on your doorstep, it's going to break every record under the sun and Ireland have the potential to feel that bounce. 'What's really great is that there is a long-term plan although it's going to take three years to get to the first phase of the end of this strategy but any long-term plan is two World Cup cycles and you're looking to 2033. 'And although it's great for those (future) players, I presented to the (current Ireland) players a couple of weeks ago and the main reason for presenting to them was just to say, 'look, we really want your feedback on this'. 'If I was a player in 2014 and knew there was a long-term plan, the confidence that you would have putting that in your back pocket would just be wonderful.' Cantwell outlined the way the IRFU hopes to take full advantage of a Women's World Cup on Ireland's doorstep, in the same time zone and with a national team capable of at least reaching the quarter-final stage out of a pool also featuring Spain and the defending-champion Black Ferns. Cantwell at a press briefing at the IRFU High Performance Centre. Picture: Ben Brady/Inpho 'The impact of the World Cup, we have to maximise it. There's lots of visibility plans but a legacy programme fundamentally is about how do we maximise the impact sustainably. "How do we elevate the game profile-wise so that more girls pick up a rugby ball, that they go to their local rugby club and have a positive experience, that there's a game for them and a pathway for them doesn't stop when they're 12 and come back at 16, that there's hygienic facilities and kit that fits them, a competition and a coach that teaches them the game. 'There's a big call-out to increase volunteers and coaches and referees. It's a massive piece but, a legacy programme, if you look to (Australia's national football team) the Matildas, a legacy programme can be four years and the more funding that you have the more of an impact you can have. 'What we're trying to do is position the strategy as part of that legacy so that we can elevate lots of the stuff we're doing in the strategy. 'I'm keen to elevate a lot of the work that Anne-Marie Hughes does as our diversity inclusion lead. She has been doing some incredible work over the past two years around helping make our clubs more inclusive. 'What she will have found and this speaks to boys and men, community sport, if you're a person in a community and you have a rugby club in that community you either don't know it's there or don't feel welcome when you walk in. "Through simple examples like walking tracks through Healthy Ireland funding. Portarlington is a great example. They put a walking track in their club and in the next three years had tripled their minis numbers and significantly increased their volunteers. 'That's what we want to be able to do and that's the point of having these insights and recognising where these clubs are popping up, in more ladies gaelic football communities. Women's rugby is more of that type of sport, yes it has international aspirations. 'So being able to try and use the World Cup to elevate the planning that we're doing, to elevate the profile of what we're doing, there's a huge piece in giving confidence to sponsors to know where the women's game is going. 'What the World Cup has done is they've secured 15 sole sponsors for the World Cup and we hope to get all of that data at the other side to stand in front of sponsors and say there is a massive future here, get on board now. Currently we're at an early stage of that.'
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Irish women's rugby might be at a low ebb, but its strategy chief is targeting growth after World Cup
Lynne Cantwell started her role as the IRFU 's first head of women's strategy at the beginning of the year. Now, with the publishing of the IRFU'S Strategy Document for Women's Rugby , the vision for female rugby in Ireland is clearly set out. The document is extensive and includes everyone involved in the game, from minis starting out, to international players, to potential sponsors. 'We want to articulate where we want to go,' says Cantwell. 'Is that achievable? We don't know yet, but I think it's reasonable to list where we want to go in all of the objectives and try and build it. 'Lots of it will be depending on staffing and funding and alignment and all of that stuff, but I think lots of that is possible. So my general impression is there's been lots of engagement.' READ MORE Some of the numbers in the document make for grim reading. Of the 217 clubs in Ireland, 163 have a women's or girls' team. But of those, just 10 per cent have a full pathway from minis to a senior women's squad. At club level, gender disparity on boards is evident, with a 15 per cent female representation on average. Cantwell says: 'There's no doubt that this is a growth story. Once we have transparency about where the game is at in all of those, I don't mind if it's at ground zero. Once we know it and once we have commitment to be able to build it. 'But it's also really helpful to see that the performance space is in a positive space. There's so much more to go, but it's great to see there's growth there, in particular in the secondary school space, in the university space – there's so much more opportunity.' Which Irish players have impressed for the Lions? Listen | 43:53 That opportunity includes innovative provisions like establishing a women's medical strategy committee to guide data gaps in the women's game. 'We've started a medical group so that we can chip away at the data gap of the female athlete. Eight per cent of all research in the whole world is about female athletes and we largely are guessing.' Irish women's rugby has been around for 33 years, while its male counterpart just celebrated its 150 anniversary. Financing the growth needed will require patience. 'There's probably just a sense of the unknown and a sense of the understanding of how long the return on investment is going to be,' says Cantwell. 'I think there's nearly a 300 per cent increase in [investment] in the last couple of years. Although there's been more significant investment over the last three years, there's so much more to go. 'If we look to women's soccer as our big sister, they're knocking on the door of [almost] 10 years of their return on investment. Then if we look to the (English) RFU for their business planning, it works up until 2030 to be making a return on investment. 'Once we see more of those examples . . . we'd be able to give more confidence to brands and sponsors to come on board. But I also think we are quite young in understanding how to position and to leverage women's sport and women's rugby. 'There's a different fan segment there; men and women that are interested in women's sports because it's brilliant and because of how good it can be. But also because they're connected with the purpose of women's sport and the effect that it has and what it reflects from a society point of view. We're hearing lots of that. 'We will hopefully know more after the World Cup and be able to reach out to sponsors.' The World Cup in England starts in August. Cantwell knows it's a big opportunity. She said: 'It's absolutely massive. It's on your doorstep. It's going to break every record under the sun and Ireland have the potential to feel that bounce.' A lot done, more to do.
