{"id":129604,"date":"2025-09-11T09:33:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/129604\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T09:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T09:33:15","slug":"could-england-have-clean-sweep-of-players-in-first-womens-lions-xv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/129604\/","title":{"rendered":"Could England have clean sweep of players in first women\u2019s Lions XV?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How soon is too soon to start talking about the British & Irish Lions again? Not the men\u2019s return in 2029, but the inaugural women\u2019s tour of 2027 to New Zealand. The \u201cglorious anachronism\u201d of four nations travelling to the southern hemisphere, in the spirit of 1888, will reach new levels of commercial modernity when the first women\u2019s group emerges in two years\u2019 time. <\/p>\n

Women\u2019s rugby has learnt that it need not copy the men\u2019s game \u2014 you will hear decision-makers say the women\u2019s game drives growth in the men\u2019s, in terms of new markets and media \u2014 yet sometimes it cannot resist, dragged into the old reflex. The Lions was one sea-of-red cash cow that could not be ignored. <\/p>\n

The creation of Lions Women<\/a> brought options for novelty. A tour to France, perhaps, or even North America? The first, geographically, would be a small leap, into a country whose national side have attracted peak TV audiences of more than three million for pool matches at this Women\u2019s World Cup, with familiar names as potential midweek opposition: Stade Bordelais, Grenoble, Montpellier, Toulon, Toulouse. North America would have been a more significant, strategic, courageous leap: Canada are the No2-ranked side in the world, and the United States have Ilona Maher<\/a> and hosting rights for the 2031 and 2033 World Cups. <\/p>\n

But New Zealand it is, scheduled for September 2027, before the men\u2019s World Cup in Australia, with three Tests against the Black Ferns. <\/p>\n

\"Aoife<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Wafer was the 2025 Six Nations player of the championship, but she has not featured at the World Cup yet because of injury<\/p>\n

RAMSEY CARDY\/SPORTSFILE<\/p>\n

With this tour comes the obvious question: what would the make-up of the side be? Much more so than in the men\u2019s game, fear is high that it would essentially be England in a different jersey. The Red Roses have had two 30-match winning streaks in their past 61 Tests, and have dominated the Six Nations for years because of their early adoption of professionalism. Last year Lions sponsors announced a \u00a33million grant with a view to levelling the playing field across the four nations. <\/p>\n

This Sunday is a Six Nations day of World Cup quarter-finals: France versus Ireland at Sandy Park, followed by England against Scotland at Ashton Gate. Irish and Scottish players have high-profile occasions in which to challenge Europe\u2019s top two. Wales have departed, having lost all three pool matches. <\/p>\n

Scotland have not beaten England since 1999 and it is some time since they have been in the contest, losing 59-7 at Welford Road in this year\u2019s Six Nations. Many of their players came into this tournament not knowing if they would still be professionals once it was over. <\/p>\n

Jotting down a potential 38-player Lions squad, I had at least 22 England players involved, and that was while trying to ensure a decent spread. A more cut-throat selector could be even more one-sided. Someone like Ireland\u2019s Aoife Wafer, the 2025 Six Nations player of the championship, would be in contention, though we have yet to see her in the World Cup because of injury. So too Erin King, the 2024 world breakthrough player of the year; another absent Irish back-row forward. <\/p>\n

\"Francesca<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s McGhie has impressed during the World Cup and could be in the frame for the Lions<\/p>\n

BOB BRADFORD\/CAMERASPORT VIA GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n

Wafer, 22, will join Harlequins this season from Leinster, while Francesca McGhie, impressive on the wing for Scotland, will be playing for Ealing Trailfinders. Having such players in Premiership Women\u2019s Rugby will add to the competitive element of the next 24 months, as Lions selection nears. <\/p>\n

The record of the home nations in New Zealand shows, predictably enough, that England have had the greatest success, winning Tests in Albany in 2001 and Rotorua in 2017, and in Auckland as part of WXV in 2023. A 2013 series, with three Tests in eight days, ended in a 3-0 defeat. Wales and Scotland rarely face the Black Ferns and have never won. Ireland, defeated 40-0 last Sunday, have won two of their four encounters. <\/p>\n

As six-times world champions, the Black Ferns pose a huge challenge on the pitch, but there are worries around how many supporters would travel. Even after the Eden Park sell-out of the 2022 World Cup final \u2014 won by New Zealand against England \u2014 crowd sizes lag behind those in England when it comes to the women\u2019s game. For the players, though, being in the first women\u2019s Lions\u2019 squad will be an honour whatever the size of the audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How soon is too soon to start talking about the British & Irish Lions again? Not the men\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-129604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}