David Nucifora 'not surprised' some players have turned down pro contracts

IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora has said he understands why several senior Irish women’s internationals have not taken up the governing body’s contract offers

Thu, 27 Oct, 2022 - 15:16

Simon Lewis

IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora has said he understands why several senior Irish women’s internationals have not taken up the governing body’s contract offers.

Speaking at Aviva Stadium on Thursday, Nucifora addressed the move to professionalising the elite women’s game in Ireland undertaken by the IRFU in the wake of the national team’s failure to qualify for the World Cup, which is currently being staged in New Zealand.

He said there had been a more than 78 per cent take up of the contracts ranging in salary from €15,000-€30,000 that had already been offered but there were legitimate reasons for those who had decided not to accept.

“We have offered 37 contracts to date. We have had an uptake of 29 of those,” Nucifora said. “We have had eight players turn down contacts, four of those are UK-based players and four based here. The four UK based players are contracted to their (respective clubs) for the amounts of money I mentioned earlier (between £3,000-£10,000 per annum).

“One they have a contractual obligation but also they also made a decision that they would stay and play their rugby there this year. The other four players are players that are not surprising to us. Just the age bracket of players we have we have produced a model that has come on in a very short period of time. Those other women have got jobs, they are committed to their careers which is understandable.

“We fully understand that you have financial obligations that don’t permit you to be able take up those contracts. We could have just not offered contracts to the ones that we thought wouldn’t take it up, but we have given people, a choice, an option.

“When you look at the facts behind it is no surprise to us that those earning significant amounts or have careers have a choice not to train full-time in a professional scenario but what they do have is a model that will cater for them to keep playing the game at the highest level. They will be able to play for the clubs either in England or in Ireland and they will be able to do a training programme that suits their lifestyle at that point in time.

“That was always our intention to come up with a model that works like that.”

Nucifora also revealed that plans were in place to compete in a new Celtic Cup competition with participating teams, initially one each from Ireland, Scotland and Wales in an effort to raise performance standards leading into the TikTok Women’s Six Nations.

“With regards to club competition here, there is a lot of work being done looking at how we try and raise the standard there but that’s not going to happen overnight. That’s going to take time. The work that will go into creating a pipeline in the Women’s NTS (National Training Squad) when that gets up and running, that will benefit and feed the system of women’s rugby in Ireland.

“We also have to keep in mind that World Rugby dictate our competition structure. When the Women’s XVs competition starts next year that will fall in the window when the Women’s AIL runs. You are going to have the best players not available during that period.

"So therefore the season looking forward, internationally, you will have Women’s XV sitting there in September and October, you’ll have a Celtic Cup, growing in size……whether there is an interprovincial competition somewhere, we have to make sure that game gets taken out of participation and into performance. Then it will start to serve a purpose to raise the standard.

“Celtic Cup will lead into a Women’s Six Nations. The AIL’s role will be to house those developing players coming through and give them competition. I can’t see the Women’s AIL being what the English Premiership is, that’s not our model, that is not going to work here.

“We have to do it differently. There is no quick fix other than giving it time, effort and structure that will build it. If you are looking at September through to the end of the Women’s Six Nations there is a significant number of high-end competitions evolving that should be attractive for anyone who wants to play in that for a season.”

Nucifora also addressed his own position as the IRFU’s first Performance Director, appointed in 2014, with talks underway to extend his contract beyond the current end date next November although the Australian suggested discussions will have to begin in earnest to identify his successor.

“My contract’s until the end of the World Cup and then we’re talking about extending that for a little bit further and that will probably involve looking at some type of transition in that period. I think at some point by the middle of 24, I’ll be here 10 years and I think that’s a pretty good stretch but I think what we start to do is look at the future.

“And I’m not saying I’ll definitely depart then but we’ll start thinking about who takes this role on after me because everything’s got to evolve… you’ve got to keep evolving.”