The Rugby Football Union "staunchly" defended its decision not to renew the contracts of the England women’s 15-a-side squad after its forthcoming Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign despite the shadow sports minister saying that she was "deeply disappointed" by the news, according to Kate Rowan of the London TELEGRAPH. Labour Party MP Rosena Allin-Kahn wrote to RFU CEO Ian Ritchie to say that the governing body's move in switching funding next year to the sevens game showed it was "far less than fully committed" to women players than their male counterparts. However, the RFU "stood by its decision." RFU Dir of Professional Rugby Nigel Melville, who was with the England women in Aldershot as they continued their World Cup training, said, "The problem is the people outside don’t know the women and girls strategy top to bottom. You’ve got to look at the whole of the game and we’ve always said we wanted this team to prepare better than the last World Cup team." As the only nation going into the World Cup with professionally contracted XVs, England has been "considered trailblazers in terms of support for the women’s game." Melville was "keen to stress that the RFU employs a number of players already," including captain Sarah Hunter who worked as a development officer before her full-time contract, but that the players and union staff are "working together regarding their future employment" (TELEGRAPH, 7/25).
