'We've helped pave the way. We have a part of that history': Briggs and Snowsill back Lions tour

Former Irish international and current Ireland backs coach Niamh Briggs and former Welsh international Elinor Snowsill shared their delight on Tuesday at the announcement of a women’s Lions tour in 2027.

The tour is set to take place in New Zealand in September 2027 with current back-to-back World Champions the Black Ferns the opponents for the first women’s Lions Tests.

While the announcement has brought anticipation for the future of women’s rugby, any celebrations must balanced with recognition of the sacrifices made by those who have gone before.

“The inside of me is thinking I’d love to be sitting at home as a 19-year-old girl watching this come through on social media today. I’m also very aware that we had to go through all of that in order to open doors for other people,” Briggs said.

“For other girls, I think that’s an evolution of where sport is going, generally, not just rugby. Before me, there was a series of women who played rugby internationally and had to pay for their own jerseys and such. Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s just the evolution of what had to happen. When 2027 happens, I have no doubt that I will sit back and think, ‘We’ve helped pave the way for that’, because that’s going to be really important; we have a part of that history.”

Snowsill candidly added the context of the not-so-distant past of women’s rugby for the four nations that will be involved in the prestigious tour and explained why she believes now is the right time to be welcoming the announcement of a women’s Lions team.

“The most recent [women’s] Rugby World Cup is the only World Cup that was a longer period of time. Before then, we’d squeezed in five games in 21 days because that’s the only amount of time that people could get off work, and that was your whole holiday taken for the year. I know people who had to take loans out to cover their mortgages while they were away.

“Back then, it would not have been feasible to add in another tour away from home. It’s taken the unions to professionalise the game, or start to professionalise the game, to then make this tour feasible. For me, it’s happened at the right time. Yes, for us personally, it would have been incredible to be involved in it but, at the same time, just to be able to witness it and to be able to work with girls on the pathway who could potentially be a part of it is going to be incredible.”

Concerns have been raised over the balance of the four nations within a Lions Women’s team in the near future given the current dominance of the Red Roses in international competitions. It was confirmed at the announcement that there will be no quotas involved, and that selections will be based on merit.

International results aside, you need only look so as far as the Premiership Women’s Rugby league to witness consistently strong performances from representatives of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales alongside the Red Roses.

Snowsill, who played club rugby across the border at Bristol Bears, is well aware of the strength of players from across the British and Irish Isles within the PWR.

“There are Welsh, Scottish, and Irish players performing very well over there [in the PWR]. You look at last year, how many of those girls got player of the matches for their clubs, in which England players are also playing,” she said.

“I feel very passionately that it’s not going to just be a full England side. Just because England as a nation have been funded much sooner than the other nations, that does not mean that there are not absolutely brilliant, world-class players playing in Wales, Scotland, and Ireland.”

The two stalwarts of their international sides were keen to stress that the impact of a successful Lions Women’s tour could span far further than the current crop of players who are in with a chance of pulling on the famous red jersey in 2027.

“It’s going to be hugely exciting and very motivating and inspiring for them [players in pathways]. Not only have they got these goals of wanting to get a senior cap and potentially playing in a World Cup, then after that normally you have to wait another four years to achieve a World Cup. Now you have something in the middle that’s even more exciting almost, to aspire to. It gives you that extra bit of drive when you’re training, and something to strive for,” said Snowsill, who earned 76 caps for Wales.

With the future of women’s rugby at the forefront of discussion, Briggs and Snowsill were keen to highlight the development of young players within national pathways, many of whom could be Lions stars of the future.

“From the pathways point of view, there’s been a lot of investment from our [Irish and Welsh] unions, and the Scottish union, to try and bridge the gap to the top two in teh Six Nations. We’ve [Ireland] appointed coaches within the pathway system, and you’re exposing them [players] to more high-performance behaviours from an earlier age so that by the time they get to 20, 21, 22, it’s a seamless transition into a national senior squad,” Briggs explained.

“I think for me definitely, it’s incredibly rewarding, we have four of those national pathway coaches now in Ireland, we’ll have an Irish u18s this year, an Irish u20s this summer, and we’re seeing actual growth.

“That’s probably why I get very passionate in relation to why this [Lions Women’s] tour is so good, because I can see from an Irish perspective how quickly the game is changing and how much it’s evolving for the better. It needed to happen, we all know that, but in terms of the investment that’s gone in and gone in the right way, we’re now building from the bottom up and we now have a clear foundation so that as over the next five, ten, 15 years, you’d like to be thinking that there’s a steady flow coming through of younger players.

“Things like the Celtic Challenge, all of that pays tribute to the fact that we’re exposing younger players to higher level games, and I think the view in the next two, three, four years is to have four provinces within Ireland that are either semi-professional or professional rugby players that operate out of those four provinces as opposed to just being centralised in Dublin.

“Therefore our resources are then coming out across the country as opposed to just being in one place. That’s probably the most exciting thing about it from an Irish perspective. Also where we could go with it, and go quickly, because once you get investment you see change very quickly and hopefully, that’s going to be the case,” she added.

Briggs, who was a member of the feasibility study steering group for the Lions women’s team, was brimming with excitement on the day of the announcement amid the noise surrounding the news.

She said: “The Lions is synonymous with touring, the stories. As rugby nerds growing up, it was the Lions with those documentaries that used to come out, you’d watch them and you got a real understanding of the camaraderie of the group together. Why wouldn’t we do something like that? Why would we deny an opportunity to go and play the current World Champions the Black Ferns, representing the Lions?

“It’s so unbelievably exciting. I’m wondering why we’re not really jumping up and down about this, I’ve been holding this in for a while and not been able to tell anybody anything, and now that it’s finally out there I just think it’s brilliant – I’m really excited about it.”