Changes afoot in Australia

Castle's appointment has been widely covered, partly on the lead that she is the first female CEO but for the women's game in Australia, it is fascinating that her background includes significant roles in Rugby League and Netball - sports with strong records for women in terms of player earning and media power.Perhaps more important for the women's game in Australia is the announcement of the Super W -a new women's national XVs competition with five teams - WA, NSW, Queensland, ACT and Victoria - running over six weeks, from the beginning of March, with regular rounds and a final to conclude in April.The competition is comparative to the previous nationals event but this time it will not be held over one weekend.Shannon Parry, Sevens Olympic gold medallist as well as a champion for XVs, said there was enough talent to create a quality competition.

“There's enough players running around,” she said.

“We've obviously had the National Championships that have been played previously across the three days and I think the challenge with that is being able to back it up.

“You play a game, you've got to then play the next day, so having this tournament, it's a lot more realistic to club rugby in terms of you have a game each weekend, you can play 80 minutes state against state and those competitions are brutal, QLD vs NSW, if you can get that at Suncorp, here at Allianz before the men's game it'd be a huge spectacle for women's rugby.

“Those games are what we need to get ourselves better equipped to play on that international stage, it's a missing link we're missing at the moment.”

Australia has also signalled its intent to secure the hosting rights for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup and 2027 Rugby World Cup (Men's).Rugby Australia Chairman, Cameron Clyne said: