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Tuipulotu and McGhie: ‘For young players it's amazing that we can now get that opportunity’

Scotland’s Francesca McGhie and Wales’ Sisilia Tuipulotu cut their teeth on the senior international scene with standout performances for their respective countries duly frequenting highlights reels and statistics tables. Given that both are still only 20 years old, lengthy careers of spellbinding international and club performances surely lie ahead for the prolific try-scoring starlets.

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The announcement of a women’s British and Irish Lions tour in 2027 has given their generation a new height to strive for, and one which many male players who have represented the prestigious touring side have described as the pinnacle of their careers.

For Tuipulotu, representing the Lions has been a long-term ambition. She said: “It’s actually one of my goals. If I ever have an interview and they’ve asked me what do you see yourself doing in five years and stuff I’ve always said one of my goals was to play in a Lions tour if there ever was one. It would be a dream come true. It’s so good. It will help attract more people to watch the women’s game. It will just build.

“I’d always wondered why there wasn’t a women’s Lions tour but I’m glad that there will finally be one. I think it is very exciting for it to happen. I know it’s in three years but I think the women’s game will grow in those three years and then by the time it comes around it will probably be at the best it’s ever been. It’s pretty exciting.”

McGhie’s personal desire to represent the Lions has been a more recent realisation since she started playing rugby, but the impact of pulling on the red jersey would still be a weighty milestone for the winger.

“My family is a big rugby family, we always watched all of the Scotland games and Lions games when I was growing up. I wasn’t interested really in rugby until I was about 14, so that was never really on my cards in terms of aspiring to play for the Lions. Now that I do play rugby, it’s an opportunity that hopefully I’ll get,” the Leicester Tigers flyer said.

“It would be an incredible experience for sure. As we all know for the men, that is sort of the peak of rugby within the home nations and everybody dreams about pulling on a red jersey. For the women, for that to be the next sort of inspiration for us and the next step for us, that’s really exciting. For young players coming through it’s amazing that we can now get that opportunity as well.

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“The general reaction from my teammates was wow, we can now be involved in something like this, something so big and prestigious. The Lions always do so well and bring in so many different crowds always lots of support, the fact that we can have that for women is just going to help us massively. The main thing was excitement and that this is something that we can all be involved in and get behind,” she added.

Further motivation for Tuipulotu to put her hand up for selection has come from the noise surrounding the 2027 Lions team potentially being dominated by English players. “To hear that, whenever I hear something like that it just drives me to be better,” the Welsh prop said.

“It doesn’t put me down, I tend to ignore it and just try to perform the way that I do and try to be better than most people in my position. It drives us to be that much better. I know that England have been professional for years and years now, the rest are slowly getting there.

“Right now Premiership Women’s Rugby isn’t professional, there are still girls that have to work in the day and then train in the evenings. To see it become more professional in those three years would be amazing, it would really help the Lions.”

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In addition to the opportunity for the personal achievement of being included women’s Lions tour, McGhie hopes that the tour itself will have a wider impact on women’s sport.

“This is a massive step for women’s rugby, and actually women’s sport in general that we have the same opportunities that the men in the home nations have, the opportunity to pull on that red jersey too. It’s going to rapidly help to grow the sport.

“For young players coming through, and even current players, the fact that we’ve got another aspiration that we can reach towards is going to push us all and for the home nations, it’s going to be a great way to build fans and get some other people to come and watch,” she said.

Both believe that current World Champions and world number two ranked side New Zealand are the right opposition for the first women’s British and Irish Lions tour.

McGhie said: “I think New Zealand is the right place to have the first tour. They are the current World Cup winners, they brought in a massive crowd to the World Cup, the response was phenomenal. For the first women’s Lions tour to be anywhere else wouldn’t have such a great impact that this one is going to have.

“Going to play New Zealand with a different squad will be fantastic for, everybody, but even for the English players who have played the Black Ferns frequently. With a different squad, under different circumstances, this is a great deal for both New Zealand and the countries involved in the Lions team.”

Tuipulotu, who won the Premiership with Gloucester-Hartpury last season, added: “I think it’s a great first choice. The Lions are made up of the four countries in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and the WXV that just went, the Black Ferns lost to England. It will be good competition and we’ll see how it goes.”

Royal London is a proud founding partner of the Women’s Lions.

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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