The British & Irish Lions are coming under increasing pressure to create a women’s team after the England head coach, Simon Middleton, and the captain, Sarah Hunter, threw their weight behind the proposal.
The Lions have expressed ambition for a women’s team, but no more than that, and Hunter revealed players remain in the dark as to whether it will materialise. The creation of a women’s Barbarians side – who face England on Sunday at Twickenham – in 2017, however, has given rise to optimism that a Lions team will follow. With the former Rugby Football Union president Jason Leonard now Lions chairman, Hunter is hoping the wheels are set in motion.
She said: “It would be incredible, wouldn’t it? [Jason Leonard] has been a big advocate of women’s rugby; when he was RFU president he was such a supporter of our game. He came out to Salt Lake City when we had a summer tour there. Maybe we need to get into him a bit more.
“As players we haven’t heard anything. Players often talk about it when it comes up, who would you pick from Scotland, who from Ireland, you start picking your squad. It definitely comes up.”
England’s dominance in the Six Nations, particularly over the other home nations, not to mention that they are professional whereas Wales, Ireland and Scotland are not, could lead to an Anglo-centric Lions side but Middleton insists that would not be the case.
“It is a great idea,” he said. “It is becoming more feasible. Even though some of the scores in the Six Nations made it look like there was a clear disparity between England and some of the other nations, Jade Konkel is a fantastic player for Scotland and has been one of the standout players all year. You have got [Ireland’s] Claire Molloy who would get into the side, [Wales’s] Jaz Joyce, so there are lots of individual players across the home nations who could come together in world rugby. It would be amazing; you would like to think it is the next step.”
While existing Lions tours go to New Zealand, Australia and South Africa, Hunter believes France and North America – as well as New Zealand – may be more suitable for the women’s side. “The same teams that the Lions play aren’t necessarily the strongest in the women’s game so how would the format look, who would we play, when would it happen?” she said. “But it would be brilliant if we could get to the stage where there is a British & Irish Lions tour in the women’s global calendar. It would be really exciting and something for players to strive for, to bring the best players across the four nations together would be really exciting.”
