National Womens Championship

[Burgs]

National Womens Championship signals final RWC selection phase

July 04, 2006 - 9:40am
Story by: ARU

Australia's top 200 female Rugby players including the 56-strong Women's National Training Squad assembled in Sydney yesterday, ahead of the 2006 National Women's Championship, which kicks off today at Macquarie University.

Contested over three days, the National Women's Championship (previously the Australian Women's Invitational Tournament) brings together annually Australia's best women's representative Rugby teams.

This year's Championship also marks the final phase of a comprehensive program that began more than 12 months ago to select an Australian Wallaroos squad for the 2006 iRB Women's Rugby World Cup, being held in Edmonton, Canada in August/September.

Following the Championship Final on Friday, 36 players will be selected for an extended Wallaroos' Squad that will spend five days in camp at the Sydney Academy of Sport at Narrabeen, before the final 26 players to represent Australia are named.

Heading up the selection panel is National Women's Coach Steve Hamson, who says he and fellow selectors, Assistant Coach John Manenti and ARU Coach Education Manager Warren Robilliard, are expecting plenty of strong performances at the Championship and have a tough job ahead of them.

"The National Women's Championship is the last step in the process to select a squad for this year's Women's Rugby World Cup and after almost a year of working towards this stage, it's fair to say the players won't be leaving anything on the field," Hamson said.

"Following 12 months of commitment and hard work by the (Women's National Training) Squad, the standard of players we have to select from is high and there's still plenty of competition for various positions."

"As well as being part of the World Cup selection process, the Championship also puts Australia's best women's Rugby players on the park and while we're very pleased with the current (Women's National Training) Squad, I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of new faces stake their claim for a World Cup spot."

The 2006 National Women's Championship gets underway in Sydney at 11:00am today. The public is welcome to attend all matches and entry is FREE.

2006 National Women's Championship
Tuesday 4, Wednesday 5, Friday 7 July 2006
University and Campbell Ovals, Macquarie University, Sydney

Teams & Seedings:

1. Sydney
2. NSW Country
3. Queensland
4. ACT
5. Victoria
6. South Australia
7. Sydney A
8. National Indigenous

No Western Australia Must be needing you to sort them out Jess!
Not sure where this leaves local star Debby Hodgkinson in terms of National Selection though?
Hopefully she has received a special clearance to play for one of the competing teams as she was previously the only WA player in the extended squad.

[Burgs]

Full Results:

04-07-2006-
Sydney - 86 v National Indigenous - 0
ACT & Southern NSW - 5 v Victoria - 7
QLD - 72 v South Australia - 0
NSW Country - 21 v Sydney A - 0

05-07-2006-
National Indigenous - 7 v ACT & Southern NSW - 10
South Australia - 0 v Sydney A - 54
Sydney - 5 v Victoria - 7
QLD - 13 v NSW Country - 7

07-07-2006-
National Indigenous - 12 v South Australia - 10
ACT & Southern NSW - 5 v Sydney A - 20
Sydney - 24 v NSW Country - 14
Victoria - 0 v QLD- 13

[Burgs]

Our female TWF Members and Rugby supporters in general may be interested to read the Training Diaries of National Squad Member Ruan Sims as she builds up for the Nationals and on to the World Cup in Canada.

http://www.rugby.com.au/fixtures_res...10),46462.html

[Jess]

National Womens Championship signals final RWC selection phase

No Western Australia Must be needing you to sort them out Jess!

cheers burg. pressures on now isn't it!
i'll see what i can do. hopefully i'll be able to play next year and hopefully i won't totally suck at it. passion and talent are two totally differen't things unfortunately. but my old man used to coach my brothers team so i'll recruit him to turn me into a rugby player.
watch this space.

[Burgs]

watch this space.

Good on you mate, get stuck in you never know, you might qualify as the first TWF Wallaroo

[Jess]

thanks for your support burgs. If i ever make it or win some award i'll dedicate it to you. "This is for burgs the farmer who believed in me."

[Burgs]

thanks for your support burgs. If i ever make it or win some award i'll dedicate it to you. "This is for burgs the farmer who believed in me."

Awww shucks

[Burgs]

Abridged from ARU, updated results above:

Queensland took out the National Women's Championship Final, ending Victoria's dream run at the tournament to claim the Champions title.

The match was hard-fought by both teams, but Queensland's fitness gave them the edge, seeing them through the final 20 minutes to win the match, 13-0.

National Women's Coach Steve Hamson said the high standard of play at the Championship had certainly made it tough to select the extended Wallaroos squad.

"The standard of play definitely lifted this year and the matches were very competitive and demonstrated a high level of skill right to the end," Hamson said.

"What was particularly pleasing was the level of fitness of the teams, which has improved across the board, most likely as the result of the desire to be selected for the World Cup."