A year on – personal highlights

My favourite moment of the year was not a particular match, try or tournament. It was a moment that was the culmination of much of what had happened throughout the 2009/2010 season and encapsulated everything that I loved about the World Cup.

A staunch supporter of the mens game for over 20 years I have experienced moments of excitement, trepidation and pure elation, but Im not sure that growing up I ever thought Id be so moved by the womens game. However, my highlight of the year was one of pure emotion; Swing Low Sweet Chariot Vs the Haka.

It was an incredible display of passion and support. After the nonsense of the IRB's ruling preventing teams crossing the 10 metre line during the Haka, it seemed as though the English crowd took it upon themselves to stand up to the challenge on their teams behalf. The buzz that filled The Stoop, as first Swing Low Sweet Chariot filled the stadium and then the Silver Ferns met it with a spirited Haka, was almost indescribable.

The crowd at the womens game is different to that of the mens. Id argue that the atmosphere is more carnival, more fun, more like a 7s tournament, but on this display also more passionate, more committed, more determined to shout, clap, sing their team to victory. What the mens teams wouldnt do for that level of fervent support

This was my highlight because it was a moment of pure drama, excitement and nervousness and can perfectly exemplify so much of what was good about this year; the journey of the big two from Twickenham to World Cup final, the growth in support, the increase in understanding, the creating of a spectacle.

It has been a remarkable year. Covering the glorious World Cup for ScrumQueens - which involved watching and reporting on 14 internationals over the three weeks - was unforgettable, but maybe too easy a choice when it comes to selecting my most memorable event of the year. In fact for me it has to be the uncovering a mystery the mystery of a match that took place over 120 years ago.

It was the passing comment of a journalist writing in The Times over 25 years ago that set things off. Ive been trying to get to the bottom of the largely hidden story of womens rugby for some time. Its a world where even events from the 1960s and 70s are like ancient history - a dark age of myth and legend where things occasional emerge from mist, only to disappear again and now suddenly here was mention of a young girl playing rugby at school in the 19th century, barely a decade after the RFU was formed!

The article itself gave the name of the school, a date (that turned out to be wrong!) but very little more. Surely this was all too vague to be able to find out more?

Apparently not. Remarkably, astonishingly, like dominoes falling one enquiry, starting with the school, resulted in just a little bit more information, which lead to the next step and the next. We learnt her name, we uncovered her father, we tracked down her husband and then her children. And grandchildren. And great-grandchildren.

What more could we find? Surely not a picture of the womens Webb Ellis (as she was fast becoming known)? Yes there is was on the wall of her great-granddaughters house in Norfolk and more or less at the age she played!

Emily is no longer with us (well, she would be 130-odd years old by now!), so maybe that was the end of the line? But no - I think she wrote some memoirs in the 1940s Surely in her 60 year life story she would not have written about her school rugby? But then there it was and not just a mention either. It was glorious, wonderful, atmospheric piece of writing. She cared, she remembered. In five wonderful paragraphs you were right there with young Emily that rainy day in the north of Ireland 123 years ago.

It was unbelievable. I read it, and re-read it. Within days The Times had picked it up, and the game was even re-enacted on television. And now Emilys family have now rediscovered a remarkable ancestor, her portrait is now in the RFU museum, and the womens game has its first hero. Not a bad bit outcome

Read our initial story and

It was inevitable that one of us would choose perhaps the biggest "news" story of the year for the sport - and not just for the women's game - and go with rugby winning a place at the Olympics as a highlight. I have no problem picking up that baton because women's rugby 7s at the Olympics has the potential to change the game forever.

In the build-up to the decision it was clear that the IRB had learned the lessons of past failings and had put together an almost unlosable campaign. They fully embraced the women's element of the bid and recruited names like Australia skipper Cheryl Soon, Russia's captain and Kazakhstan's Anastassiva Khamova to emphasise that the women's game was truly global. Their campaign worked and along with golf, the game got the nod alongside golf.

We've written plenty in the interim about the potential growth of the game on the back of the decision and also too about the threat the 7s game could pose to the 15 aside game. There are many fascinating developments to come. Will the IRB bit the bullet and launch an international women's 7s series to mirror the men's; will the top women's 7s player in some nations become semi or even fully professional and more importantly how will individual unions get their structures up to speed in time for the qualifying tournaments for 2016.

The answers we'll know more about in the years ahead but for sure the decison of the IOC last October was a game changer in terms of the future of the women's game. A long game worth watching.