How the Women's Rugby World Cup has proven critic David Corkery wrong

The women’s world cup is gathering steam in Ireland right now, and whilst it’s already proving to be a cracking tournament a lot of attention is being paid to former Ireland international David Corkery, who wrote a scathing and nonsensical piece decrying the women’s game as “complicated and arduous”, as well as stating that the physicality of rugby is unsuitable behaviour for women. Now, the sensible thing to do here would be to not give such sexist nonsense the oxygen of publicity, but I’ve spent the last few days watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and playing Horizon Zero Dawn so I’m in the mood to smash the god damn patriarchy.

Here’s why Corkery is talking s***e:

The Competition:
We’re nearing the end of the tournament and all sorts of interesting dynamics have arisen. Defending champions England are looking good heading into the semi-finals. Wales are already out having ended up in the proverbial group of death but host nation Ireland overcame a scare against a determined Japan side to set up a dynamic final round clash with France, which they ultimately lost. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be extremely pleased to see how his side have been performing and New Zealand are of course running riot because this is rugby after all.

This world cup has been a gripping and fierce competition and it’s still anyone’s guess as to who will emerge victorious. Whilst there haven’t been any major shocks or upsets just yet, as the tournament progresses to the knockout rounds expect to see a more level playing field between the sides, adding the all-important air of unpredictability that makes sport so captivating to watch, regardless of gender.

The Quality:
A lot of the derision pointed at women’s sport is based on its supposed lack of quality. Some people will point to Hong Kong’s 121-0 demolition at the hands of New Zealand or Italy’s woeful kicking skills against England and suggest that women just aren’t good enough to play rugby. However, these iffy performances are not based on a biological essentialism, but rather are symptomatic of an underfunded system which means female athletes face major financial barriers in order to remain competitive.

It’s impossible for players to develop their full potential when they’ve got to juggle training with a full-time job, or when their coaching or training facilities are sub-par.

However, those points aside, the quality of the sport has never been better, and with full professionalism slowly coming into the game expect this upward trend to continue. England’s attacking prowess and clinical skills have demonstrated the benefits of giving players full-time contracts, and further fuelled the justified outrage that followed the announcement that those contracts would be coming to an end.

Ireland mixed silky attacking skills with some brutal forward strength to eventually defeat a Japan side whose defence was nothing short of outstanding at times.

Expect the double-figure point deficits to disappear over the next couple of years as more teams’ defensive quality catches up with the attack. With more investment coming in, as well as top-level coaches such as Fiji’s Olympic hero Ben Ryan becoming involved, Women’s Rugby is going from strength to strength on the field. Stick around to watch the later rounds of the tournament and you’ll see performances every bit the equal of any top quality men’s match.

National Pride:
In amongst Corkery’s rambling diatribe was the revelation that he wished the Ireland side well, but still wouldn’t be watching any of the games. He’s missing out. I’ve addressed before how international fixtures create an unparalleled atmosphere of national pride and good-natured hatred of other countries, and this is just as true in the Women’s tournament as the Men’s. Don your shirt adorned with whatever flower/farmyard animal your nationality dictates and belt out the anthems with pride, because the passion on display by players and spectators alike is no less than that of the higher-profile tournament. Plus any excuse to get drunk and cheer your country on tends to go down well.

The Brutality:
Corkery demonstrated some impressive mental gymnastics in his rant by declaring women’s rugby to be simultaneously not as entertaining as the men’s game, whilst also being overly physical and brutal. Apparently, women being “confrontational and aggressive” is “not what god intended”.

Seriously. I don’t know about anyone else, but the aggression and physicality is a huge part of why I love rugby, and some of the hits going in during this year’s tournament have been nothing short of brutal.

Of course there are issues of player safety to consider and there are plenty of people who find the whole thing a little too dangerous for their tastes. But if that’s your opinion then rugby as a whole isn’t for you, regardless of who’s playing it. Corkery should just be thankful Meya Bizer isn’t in the USA squad this year.

Conclusion:
Regardless of my amazingly well-written and objectively hilarious arguments here, there will be plenty of people who probably still agree with Corkery and think that the women’s game isn’t worth their time. There’s probably nothing that can be done to convince these people otherwise, which is a real shame.

But regardless of any sexism or misogyny at play, the main thing to take away from this is the simple fact that they’re missing out on some genuinely good rugby, played by phenomenal athletes in a brilliantly exciting tournament. Why not give it a chance?