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Wellington Pride's Alice Soper calls out NZ for silence on women's game

Wellington Pride. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)

Wellington rugby player Alice Soper has called out New Zealand Rugby over a lack of clarity around the resumption of the women’s domestic competition.

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NZ Rugby announced details of next month’s Super Rugby season this week along with plans for the Mitre 10 Cup in September, but has yet to place a timeframe on women’s rugby, in particular, the Farah Palmer Cup.

In a video monologue on Twitter, Soper spoke out against NZ Rugby (and the media) for leaving women rugby players like herself in the dark over their futures.

“I’m not happy that we’re so used to, as a women’s competition, not even having the dignity of a question being asked about what’s going on for us,” Soper said in an impassioned plea on Twitter.

“So what is going on? Because right now, the silence is deafening.

“New Zealand Rugby, what is going on? What is your plan? What are we supposed to be doing right now?

“Am I supposed to wait? Am I supposed to sit on my hands and be quiet?

“You guys will hype our s*** and clip our ticket when we succeed, but right now, we’re in the middle of another challenge and we’re invisible, as per usual.

“A challenge for NZR, what’s going on? But a challenge for the sports media, ask the question.”

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Soper says she’s speaking out not only for herself, but on behalf of all of her “sisters” in women’s rugby.

“I was asked if I felt like I was on my own in calling this out.

“No. Just like when we on the field, my sisters have my back. Even those who play in different jerseys have reached out. That’s who I was speaking on behalf of. My voice is their voice.”

Soper followed her initial tweet with another video a day later about her frustrations that she still hadn’t heard anything from NZ Rugby.

In a statement to the Herald, NZ Rugby head of women’s rugby Cate Sexton said work was being done around women’s competitions.

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“Women’s rugby is at the fore of all our planning,” Sexton said.

“We still have lots of work to do during these uncertain times, but preparation for RWC 2021 remains our priority and the Farah Palmer Cup is a key part of that. We will provide updates on all our competitions as soon as we have confirmation.”

Sports administrators have called on the Government for specific funding into women’s sport, which they say is in danger, and are hoping for funding in tomorrow’s budget.

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Tom 55 minutes ago
England player ratings vs South Africa | 2024 Autumn Nations Series

I'm not sure about the Earl incident. I recall him missing an important tackle but he's certainly a quick flanker. SB has him cover centre when doing 6-2, fortunately we've never had to see how that would play out.


I'm not getting on board I'm afraid. The fact that England are scoring tries and being competitive despite being so amazingly disorganised and managing to lose every match is even more frustrating. The players front up and make a good account of themselves physically but the defence since Felix Jones is so much less organised. Players are flying out the line all over the place, there is no cohesion at all... And the attack... Literally it's just Marcus Smith.. and a bit of Feyi Waboso. Almost every player in the backline has done nothing offensively because the structure just isn't there for it, there's nothing creative or innovative to challenge the defense. The last 20 mins against the Boks it was just runners on crash ball off the 9, over and over getting smashed behind the gainline and turned over. These players are capable of doing much better.


We did score tries under Eddie but the backs didn't create anything. It worked well for a while but when we no longer had a big pack with the likes of Haskell and the Vunipolas playing well, it stopped working very rapidly. Once we started losing the gainline and couldn't exert so much pressure through bullying, they suddenly all looked clueless and we finished 5th in consecutive six nations.


I'd love to be on board, I've watched every game for the last 15 years and what I see is just super frustrating. It's groundhog day. The same mistakes over and over and no sign of progress. They've pushed some good sides close in this series but there is no acknowledgement of the issues, they keep saying how close they are and they're a growing team etc... he's been in charge for 2 years and has hundreds of caps in the side. This will end poorly, he's not the right guy, but thank you for trying.

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