England fly-half Zoe Harrison has strongly criticised the decision to introduce smaller rugby balls for this year\u2019s WXV Global Series, describing it as \u201cthe worst decision someone has ever made.\u201d The tournament, scheduled to take place in September and October, will see the use of size 4.5 balls, which are approximately 3% smaller than the standard size five balls, although they maintain the same weight.<\/p>\n
The change follows a trial conducted by World Rugby during the women\u2019s top-tier Sevens circuit in November. After evaluating the trial, the governing body confirmed last month that the smaller balls would also be implemented in elite women\u2019s 15-a-side competitions, including the upcoming WXV tournament. The move is part of ongoing efforts to adapt equipment for the women\u2019s game, though it has sparked debate among players.<\/p>\n
As part of the WXV Global Series, England\u2019s Red Roses are set to face Canada three times. Canada were the runners-up in last year\u2019s Rugby World Cup final, where England emerged victorious. The series is expected to be a key platform for showcasing the highest level of women\u2019s Test rugby.<\/p>\n
In addition to the WXV fixtures, England will also host Australia and New Zealand during an eight-week international window, providing further high-profile match opportunities ahead of future global competitions.<\/p>\n
While World Rugby believes the introduction of smaller balls could enhance handling and performance, some players, including Harrison, have raised concerns about the impact on gameplay and questioned whether such changes are necessary at the elite level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
England fly-half Zoe Harrison has strongly criticised the decision to introduce smaller rugby balls for this year\u2019s WXV Global Series, describing it as \u201cthe worst decision someone has ever made.\u201d The tournament, scheduled to take place in September and October, will see the use of size 4.5 balls, which are approximately 3% smaller than the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":912,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":913,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911\/revisions\/913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamilmail.lk\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}