Northampton, England – The question of whether the Women’s World Cup has one-sided score issues is difficult.
Not only did we see record-breaking crowds, packed fanzones and new stars born, we also saw gusts of winds in one-sided scorelines. Questions were raised again shortly after England’s 92-3 victory over Samoa. Which side really does come out of that match?
For the UK, it was a loss. They were expected to win on a cricket score. There are difficulties and investigations to win. In the case of Samoa, they shipped 14 attempts, achieving a predicted landslide score.
So, once the hammer is present, what’s next?
In the case of Redborough, the victory gave the choice headache to welcome John Mitchell’s manager John Mitchell before facing Australia on Saturday, but ahead of the knockout stage where they were expected to be challenged for the first time.
But seeing Samoa roam full-time on the pitch of Franklin’s gardens, immersed in applause, smiling from ear to ear, and shedding tears was to witness a group of players who have already achieved so much by reaching the World Cup in the first place. They were a team of amateur players, some of whom had to take unpaid leave to play in this competition.
There are six mothers in the group, leaving their family behind, and moms take on the best players in the world. I have a property manager, teacher, and traffic controller. And you listened as you saw his team being praised from the bus when their coach Ramsey Tomokino (IT Manager) arrived in Northampton before the match and had to pause at his post-match meeting to gather his emotions.
“Our girls deserve that much,” Tomokino said.
“Yeah, that made me feel a bit emotional because I never had it, and I didn’t have the opportunity to play in front of 13,000 people. It’s contributing to who we are.”
As Coach Ramsey said, Captain Sui Pauaraisa also overcomes the emotions. Try saying that this doesn’t make sense.
The reality is that this World Cup was always scheduled to host many one-sided matches. This week’s Samoa theme was “Mission: Impossible” at the World Cup. There, realistically, there are only trios of teams that can win all teams. England scored 29 in Trot. So, when Samoa is not facing a Tier 1 opponent in the running to the tournament, and prepares to face England with 32 professional players, this is the reality.
As Mitchell said in the week, “(these countries) have to start somewhere.”
But the important question is, what will happen next? Because there’s a zero point to giving Samoa this World Cup flavor and bringing it back to the sea along with other minnows to step on the water until the next global gathering ticks.
So what we need is to really become the launchpad of the game in this World Cup – further investment, more competitive equipment, ongoing access to better coaches, and less self-interest.
“There are neighboring countries that don’t want to help us,” Tomokino said that week.
He added after the match: “We didn’t play enough games before the World Cup. We knew that. I don’t want to take them from the girls. We know the outcome and we know what people are talking about. But as you know, the good thing for the game is that we’re here and we can get better.”
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Therefore, sustained attention is the way forward. The effects of one-sided match are usually short-term. These hammerings are primarily small threads of larger tapestry in the tournament. A match you remember from records rather than legacy.
But on the wrong side of the parties and the scoreboard, these matches mean everything. I saw it after a match in Franklin’s gardens. These concordances are justifications of effort and existence within rugby.
“World Rugby gives us great support, but we need more support and more opportunities,” Tomokino said. “We can’t play lately.”
But for progress, they need more days like this.
Because it was Samoa, I wanted an attempt against the UK. They didn’t get it. However, they scored the first point of the World Cup when Harmony Vatau slotted a second-half penalty. The unselected player next to the press box celebrated widely as well as the pockets of Samoan family and friends in front of us.
They cheered louder afterwards when Emma Singh knocked on the reboot. But they wanted so desperately to escape them. They will meet again in the future and they will try it again.
But you hope that when they meet, we will meet some professional players on the Samoa team. And the margin between teams is smaller.
It becomes legacy and progress.