A potential historic women’s British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand is on the cards according to New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson in a massive boost for the women’s game in New Zealand and for the home nations in the UK.
Making the announcement to media at the Black Ferns captain’s run ahead of the World Cup semi-final on Saturday, Robinson said there was still plenty to be worked on across all the national bodies, but early indications are the tournament could include three Test matches with additional midweek games.
“The inaugural women’s Lions Tour is now being considered very seriously by the Home Nations and they are talking to a number of nations about making that possibility real,” Robinson told media on Friday. “Obviously that will come with a huge amount of work with partners and stakeholders across the game, but you know, we’re signaling very strongly that we would love to be the host for that tour.
“There’s a possibility of three Test matches and from sort of three to four midweek games as well right around the country. Those midweek games, we haven’t really turned our mind for thinking about what sort of opposition we might provide, whether that’s Super Rugby Aupiki, whether that’s provincial selection teams, we’re just not sure yet.
“It’d be great to do another pinnacle event like this [World Cup] here quite soon, right around the country and get more and more people engaged with our amazing Black Ferns and rugby at that level with full stadia, hopefully across the country.”
With much still to be done around stakeholders and the international calendar, no date has been put forth yet, with NZR wanting the tour to take place ahead of the men’s Lions tour in 2029, with the governing body hoping to have more concrete plans in coming months.
“There’s a lot of feasibility work going on from the Lions at the moment,” Robinson said. “They’ve been in contact in recent weeks, as they have been with a couple of other nations, to express the current thinking about what they think a model could look like and what might have to be true for that model to take place.
“We’re obviously preparing work on that basis and talking to key stakeholders we have. We’d like to be in a position by maybe early next year to have a little bit more detail and be presenting information back to the Lions to show what we can do as a country.
“In terms of timing, there’s not a lot of specific detail quite yet, but it seems like it’ll be sometime between now and maybe the 2029 Lions tour for men, so sometime over the next few years. But as I say, we’ll have more updates and information on that over the next few months.
“I think it just goes to show how quickly and rapidly the women’s game’s growing and to think of ourselves as obviously a major contributor to Lions history well over 100 years now, I think 1888 the first tour here, and to think that that now it will grow and develop with the women’s game is massively exciting.”
While there’s huge excitement across all the national bodies to get the idea off the ground, all key nations are determined to make sure the tournament is done right the first time and make sure nothing is rushed through the process.
“It’s something we’ve talked on and off about with the home nations and the Lions for a little while now. Absolutely, it is something that they are committed to and very, very passionate about. They’re obviously taking the time to do the work they need to do to make sure that it’s viable.
“You want the inaugural event obviously to be hugely successful and something that everyone can look forward to, and then at the end of it, much like this tournament [the World Cup], really look back on and be proud of what we’ve done. So I just think that it will need a little bit more time.”
The news could also mean big things for women’s rugby across the ditch with Rugby Australia no doubt keenly following NZR’s plan to produce the inaugural women’s tournament as RA look to further develop the Wallaroos program ahead of a home World Cup in 2029.
With a bigger Super Rugby Aupiki planned for 2023 after the inaugural season was stunted by COVID, Robinson is also keen to investigate broadening the competition across the ditch with Australia’s Super W competition as well as Fiji and Japan.
“We’re absolutely committed to it [Super Rugby Aupiki] for next year,” Robinson said. “There’s a slight increase in the footprint of the tournament for next year, which is great.
“As it relates to Australia, absolutely, we’d love to be in a space where we could talk more about what a trans-Tasman competition looks like in the future. That is part of the work we’re doing at the moment around the joint venture without landing exactly on when that timing might be but we think it could be hugely exciting.
“When you look at Fiji and how they are performing in the in the game as well, a consideration of the Pacific and how they could fit into the into the tournament that’s also very real. Japan as well, we’ve had the conversations with them recently and they’re open to that in the future.
“Again, timing and the development of national high-performance pathways and the ability to invest and this sort of thing, they’re all factors that we have to consider before really being able to nail down the timeline.”