Jo Yapp has insisted that the first British and Irish Lions women’s team will have representation from all four constituent unions after being appointed the side’s first head coach.
Former Red Roses captain and Australia head coach Yapp has been installed to oversee the inaugural tour to New Zealand next year after emerging as the outstanding candidate for the role during a “robust” interview process.
The 46-year-old will take up her role on a full-time basis in January, at which point she will have the task of narrowing down an historic selection of the first women’s touring party.
The dominance of the Red Roses has led to fears that the squad will be comprised almost exclusively of England players. John Mitchell’s side have won the last eight Women’s Six Nations titles, and have not lost to any of Ireland, Wales or Scotland in more than a decade.
Yapp believes, though, that there is plenty of talent in the three other nations after admitting that she had already begun sketching out her first ideas of a possible squad.
“Ultimately, we want to pick the best players,” she explained. “As it stands, and having watched a lot of games in the Six Nations, the PWR, Celtic Challenge, you watch all those games and as it stands, there are a lot of very good players across the other unions that will definitely put in their hand up.
“Although it's not a long time [until the tour], there's a lot of games to be played. I’m looking forward to seeing how the games go and how people put their hand up.
“I think as soon as I was part of the process, and obviously the Six Nations was kicking off, you just can't help yourself [picking possible squads]. That'll obviously be a continuous piece of work now over the next 18 months, until post-Six Nations next year. It's exciting when you start writing the names down and the possibilities. There's people coming back from pregnancies, from fitness, from injuries, so it's really important that we keep an open mind.”
Yapp’s installation comes a little over 15 months before the Lions kick off their six-match itinerary with a game on European soil.
After leaving the Wallaroos following last year’s World Cup, the former scrum half is now heading up the women’s pathway with England and has also supported the coaching development of Emily Scarratt.
Yapp is in discussions with Mitchell over how to balance her role over the next 12 months or so, while she has also already spoken to Andy Farrell, who led the Lions’ men to a 2-1 series victory in Australia last summer.
“He was super open, firstly, which was really lovely,” Yapp said of her chat with her fellow coach. “I think one of the things he talked about in terms of making sure when you're pulling together your staff team, that you get the right people there, people that you can trust, that you can work with.”
The Lions’ decision to tour New Zealand came after a feasibility study conducted with Royal London. A three-Test series with the Black Ferns, six-time world champions, will form the centrepiece of the tour, with Lions chief executive Ben Calveley hopeful that those games will be played in front of sold-out stadiums.
Calveley conceded, though, that the organisation was unsure how many fans would travel to form the so-called “Sea of Red” that accompanies the men.
“it's really important to us that we are playing in front of big crowds, ideally in sell-out stadiums,” Calveley said. “The exact nature of the travel element of that, who knows?
“When you look at the people that travelled to Australia, yeah, there were loads that came from the UK and Ireland. There was also an incredible number that came from much closer, that came from in-country. And so we're expecting to see something like that this tour as well.
“I wouldn't want to put a number on how many people do we think will travel. Our job is to build the excitement, to put on travel packages that are right for the people that are able to travel, to make them as accessible as possible because it is a long way and it's a significant commitment both in terms of time and money. We'll be as flexible as possible so we can take as many as we possibly can because we want there to be a sea of red.”
Calveley also confirmed that the Lions will explore alternative touring destinations for the women in the future.
