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WXV 3 and the most unusual change of rugby position?

NAPIER, NEW ZEALAND - AUGUST 23: Tori Iosefo of Hawkes Bay in action during the round three Farah Palmer Cup match between Hawke's Bay Tui and Northland Women at McLean Park, on August 23, 2024, in Napier, New Zealand. (Photo by Kerry Marshall/Getty Images)

Everyone laughed when England winger Jonny May once filled in at flanker but imagine the sniggering had he tried his luck at tight-head prop, the anchor of the scrum.

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The hardest positional switch in rugby imaginable will be attempted, however, this Saturday when Manusina take to the field for their WXV 3 clash against Fijiana at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, which can be watched live and exclusive on RugbyPass TV (kick-off 18:00 BST).

After drawing their first game against tournament newcomers the Netherlands 8-8, Manusina have reacted by making a number of changes to their starting XV, including shifting their inside-centre, France Bloomfield, to scrum-half.

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With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.

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‘This Energy Never Stops’ – One year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup

With exactly one year to go until Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 kicks off
in Sunderland, excitement is sweeping across the host nation in anticipation of what
will be the biggest and most accessible celebration of women’s rugby ever.

Register now for the ticket presale

However, the headline-grabbing selection comes in the front row, where Tori Iosefa has been selected to play tight-head.

Whilst built for the rigours of front row play, unlike the aforementioned willowy May, Iosefa had only experienced playing on the wing until converting to tight-head this year.

Indeed, her only previous Manusina cap came in the number 11 jersey in a Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 qualifier against Tonga.

Manusina won the match in Auckland 40-0 and the 125 kilo Iosefo barrelled her way over the line for two tries.

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Fixture
WXV 3
Fiji Womens
17 - 45
Full-time
Samoa Women
All Stats and Data

Fast-forward four years and now she gets her chance to show that she has successfully turned her back on the show pony ways of the wing and turned into a proper workhorse up front.

Iosefo started the unlikeliest of conversions – one that surely must be unprecedented in Test rugby, especially between caps one and two – in Super Rugby Aupiki, with Hurricanes Poua.

The 29-year-old, who stands 1.76m tall, made five appearances in the pro competition before lighting up the Farah Palmer Cup with her performances for her provincial team, Hawke’s Bay Tui.

Iosefo is actually Hawke’s Bay’s Tui’s all-time leading try-scorer with 14 tries from 29 appearances.

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When push comes to shove, she is worth her weight in gold, as Fiji are about to find out.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

Yep, that's exactly what I want.

Glasgow won the URC and Edinburgh finished 16th, but Scotland won the six nations, Edinburgh would qualify for the Champions Cup under your system.

It's 'or'. If Glasgow won the URC or Scotland won the six nations. If one of those happens I believe it will (or should) be because the league is in a strong place, and that if a Scotland side can do that, there next best club team should be allowed to reach for the same and that would better serve the advancement of the game.


Now, of course picking a two team league like Scotland is the extreme case of your argument, but I'm happy for you to make it. First, Edinbourgh are a good mid table team, so they are deserving, as my concept would have predicted, of the opportunity to show can step up. Second, you can't be making a serious case that Gloucester are better based on beating them, surely. You need to read Nicks latest article on SA for a current perspective on road teams in the EPCR. Christ, you can even follow Gloucester and look at the team they put out the following week to know that those games are meaningless.


More importantly, third. Glasgow are in a league/pool with Italy, So the next team to be given a spot in my technically imperfect concept would be Benneton. To be fair to my idea that's still in it's infancy, I haven't given any thought to those 'two team' leagues/countries yet, and I'm not about to 😋

They would be arguably worse if they didn't win the Challenge Cup.

Incorrect. You aren't obviously familiar with knockout football Finn, it's a 'one off' game. But in any case, that's not your argument. You're trying to suggest they're not better than the fourth ranked team in the Challenge Cup that hasn't already qualified in their own league, so that could be including quarter finalists. I have already given you an example of a team that is the first to get knocked out by the champions not getting a fair ranking to a team that loses to one of the worst of the semi final teams (for example).

Sharks are better

There is just so much wrong with your view here. First, the team that you are knocking out for this, are the Stormers, who weren't even in the Challenge Cup. They were the 7th ranked team in the Champions Cup. I've also already said there is good precedent to allow someone outside the league table who was heavily impacted early in the season by injury to get through by winning Challenge Cup. You've also lost the argument that Sharks qualify as the third (their two best are in my league qualification system) South African team (because a SAn team won the CC, it just happened to be them) in my system. I'm doubt that's the last of reasons to be found either.


Your system doesn't account for performance or changes in their domestic leagues models, and rely's heavily on an imperfect and less effective 'winner takes all' model.

Giving more incentives to do well in the Challenge Cup will make people take it more seriously. My system does that and yours doesn't.

No your systems doesn't. Not all the time/circumstances. You literally just quoted me describing how they aren't going to care about Challenge Cup if they are already qualifying through league performance. They are also not going to hinder their chance at high seed in the league and knockout matches, for the pointless prestige of the Challenge Cup.


My idea fixes this by the suggesting that say a South African or Irish side would actually still have some desire to win one of their own sides a qualification spot if they win the Challenge Cup though. I'll admit, its not the strongest incentive, but it is better than your nothing. I repeat though, if your not balance entries, or just my assignment, then obviously winning the Challenge Cup should get you through, but your idea of 4th place getting in a 20 team EPCR? Cant you see the difference lol


Not even going to bother finishing that last paragraph. 8 of 10 is not an equal share.

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