Golden opportunity for female coaches at WXV competition

By Paul Eddison, Sportsbeat

A group of 11 female coaches are set to join an elite coaching programme at WXV 2024 with support from World Rugby and Gallagher.

The Gallagher High Performance Academy has supported 26 female coaches since 2023, with current Ireland assistant backs and attack coach Larissa Muldoon and Japan sevens head coach Yuka Kanematsu among those to have benefited from the experience.

Now, in the second edition of WXV, a group of 11 new coaches will get their opportunity in the fully immersive global development and leadership programme that is dedicated to enhancing the prominence of female coaches.

The academy is looking to develop existing coaching talent and identifying opportunities for new coaches and women in other high-performance roles, with a view to increasing the number of female coaches at the top of the game ahead of the 2025 Rugby World Cup.

Commenting on the announcement, World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby, Sally Horrox said: “We are delighted to welcome the 11 coaches joining us for the next edition of this vital programme. The Gallagher High Performance Academy has been pivotal in advancing the careers of female rugby coaches, and it has been inspiring to follow the progress of the participants so far.

“We know that one of the barriers to growing girls and women’s rugby is the lack of female coaches in the sport. The GHPA plays a critical role in helping us to address this.

“We set ourselves the ambitious goal of achieving 40% female coaches in the coaching teams at the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025. It is encouraging to see that we are on track to meet this target. This initiative reflects both our and Gallagher’s unwavering commitment to fostering diversity and striving for gender equity in rugby.”

Among those included in the latest cohort of coaches are former Ireland internationals Gill Bourke and Maz Reilly, who will be embedded with Australia and Ireland respectively.

Scotland’s Claire Cruikshank will join Bourke in South Africa in WXV 2, while Catrina Nicholas-McLaughlin will return to the programme in 2024.

She has previously spoken about how invaluable the GHPA experience has been in learning from her peers, including how to balance rugby commitments whilst raising a young family.

She hopes to inspire other mothers to choose a career in coaching. She said: “A huge goal of mine was allowing myself and the WRU to show that I can be a mother and a coach at the same time, and can marry those two successfully. Seeing the impact you can have on players, not just on the field but off it too, is the reason I coach.”