Ireland were disappointingly blown away by Wales last weekend in the opening round of the Women's Six Nations.
To go in at half-time 26-0 behind, to a team that Ireland traditionally had the beating of, shows the gulf that’s beginning to appear with the progressive professionalism in the game.
France, and England in particular, have been miles ahead of their Celtic counterparts for the last number of years. Maybe Wales are now joining that group of elites and separating themselves from the rest of the pack.
The Welsh union has been a shambles when it comes to the male side of the game, which hit rock bottom throughout this year’s Six Nations tournament. However, the foresight and investment that has gone into their women’s game shows progression. The IRFU have been slower to make the same shift to professionalism.
Irish rugby has been more reactive in terms of contracting non 7s players in the IRFU system, although there is some structure put in place now to catch up. On the outside, those agreements look as though things will progress in the same way that the Welsh team have, but the structures below those weak contracts won’t lend themselves to rapid progression.
A lack of funding in the club game, with the inter-provincials deemed to be a short-term fix, won’t get these players up to the standard of international rugby and the gap between the elite and the non-elite is continuing to grow.
Ireland were blown away by the stronger and heavier Welsh pack
This was seen in the match on Saturday afternoon at Cardiff Arms Park. Ireland went to Wales two years ago and won 45-0 when both teams were fully amateur. Wales then started the process of contracting players and beat Ireland in Dublin last year, although Ireland were two tries
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Jonny Holland