Women allowed to play but not stay

A little piece of history will be made this Saturday when the Irish woman's team run out at Twickenham to face their English counterparts. All well and good; but, come full-time, they will have to slink out the back door as no provision has been made for them to stay on for the main event.

The game begins at one o'clock; 40 minutes after the match they will have to leave the ground. The English women must also depart immediately. A post-match function will take place in Rugby House across the road.

"We're hugely disappointed," said the president of the Woman's Rugby Football Union, Gráinne O'Connell, "but at the same time we are realistic. It's an inconvenience, but that's life."

The ticket problem has overshadowed what would have been a wonderful occasion for woman's rugby. The current scenario arose because the decision to move to Twickenham was only confirmed on January 24th, after the initial venue, The Stoop, home of Harlequins - became unavailable.

According to Rosie Williams, the managing director of the English Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW), by that stage their ticket allocation of 60 had been given to sponsors and other supporters.

"Neither the English nor Irish teams will be going to the match," said Williams. "After the initial allocation we did receive some additional 'single' tickets (50, according to the Rugby Football Union), but it was deemed a security risk to have the Irish team sitting in these seats.

"Anyway, they had booked their flight to leave early, so they would have had to leave around half-time. But the teams are included in the men's programme and some of it will be televised over here."

But the Irish management and O'Connell rejected the claim they would have had to leave for home early. Out of the 110 tickets the RFUW received, the Irish received two from their English counterparts.

"At the end of the day, we believe we have done the right thing. Our players are not going to see the game either," added Williams.

Indeed, though unlikely, the women's game may yet change venue, as there will be an inspection at the ground today and if it is deemed to be too soft they will not be permitted to use Twickenham.

The women's Six Nations began in 1996, and Ireland recorded their first win against Spain (who replace Italy in the woman's version) in Madrid last year. They have made Thomond Park their home ground and were narrowly beaten by Wales (14-13) a fortnight ago.

The semi-professional England side are a different proposition. They won 46-3 in the 2003 meeting and rank second only to New Zealand in the world game.

"We've been steadily improving," said Irish manager Mark Andrews, "we let Wales off the hook. Saturday's match will be a tall order, but if we can produce our best performance we can really give England a rattle."

Several milestones are to be reached on Saturday. The first brother and sister international pairing to lineout on the same day, in the same ground, will occur as Anthony Foley's sister, Rosie, wins her 21st cap in the second row. Their father, Brendan, played in Ireland's famous 13-12 victory in 1976.

Flanker Fiona Steed will win her 60th cap for Ireland, a national record. Remarkably, she has played in every international woman's match, bar the first against Scotland in 1993. After 11 years of international rugby she finally steps into a premier arena, only to be denied the respect she and her teammates deserve.

Although still a great occasion for woman's rugby, it has been tainted by a patent lack of consideration.

IRELAND: S Belton (UL Bohemians); N Ní Chadhain (Galwegians), S Fleming (capt, Cooke), P Kelly, L Cantwell (both UL Bohemians); J O'Sullivan (Nottingham), L Beamish (UL Bohemians); F Coghlan (UL Bohemians), J Lonergan (Shannon), G McAllister (Cooke); R Foley (Shannon), A McAllister (Shannon); R Boyd (Cooke), F Steed (Shannon), J Neville (Shannon). Replacements: M Dolo (Nantes University), M McCarthy (Blackrock), J Leacy (Blackrock), E O'Sullivan (Clonakilty), T Rosser (Blackrock), N Milne (Worcester), A Greensmith (Shannon).