'Lions Women can learn from darts and 1997'

A year to go until the inaugural Lions Women's tour and two of the biggest names in the game are having their first ever face-to-face meeting in a hotel in Shepperton.

Lions Women's head coach Jo Yapp and New Zealand Women's head coach Whitney Hansen will become the first female coaches to lead two of the best sides in the professional era.

"One of my hopes is that everyone in the rugby world remembers where they were when it took place" explains Hansen.

"It's Spiderman isn't it – with great power comes great responsibility."

Yapp agrees.

"It's such a big opportunity for the women's game," she says. "And to have two females [as head coaches], it hasn't happened before."

In a Rugby Union Weekly special podcast, it's a conversation that takes many turns, covering their backgrounds, realities of the tour and, randomly, what women's sport can learn from darts.

Tickets for the tour have gone on sale and hopes are that New Zealand will rise to the occasion as inaugural Lions Women's hosts.

It's a fair question to raise with Hansen. New Zealand won the Rugby World Cup on home soil in 2022 but some feel New Zealand Rugby didn't capitalise on that moment to push women's rugby on.

"We probably didn't nail it off the back of the World Cup," Hansen agrees.

"But you need to take the learnings from that and think about how that can keep getting better. I am excited for what we will showcase having them [the Lions] over here."

There had been arguments that a Lions women's tour could break new ground from the men's triangular strongholds, and perhaps explore France or North America, but Yapp is steadfast that New Zealand is the best host.

"It is the most incredible place to tour," she said.

"I am fortunate enough to have done it as a player and coach. Playing New Zealand in New Zealand, it doesn't get much bigger than that in the women's game."

Both women come from rugby families. Hansen is the daughter of Sir Steve Hansen who led the All Blacks to victory in 2015 and was also an assistant in 2011.

The Black Ferns' head coach jokes about the ongoing coaching movement of the "salt and pepper shakers" at the family dining table and it's clear the Hansen calm head and dry wit haven't fallen far from the tree.

As the innovative women's athletics event Athlos is discussed, Hansen shares her big visions of what the women's game could look like in the future.

"There are traditions in our game and keeping the purity of rugby is important, but I also think we are putting on a spectacle – it's entertainment," she says.

"I went to the darts a few years ago in London. Ultimately, from a sporting perspective it's just someone standing there throwing in a polo [shirt] and that fills stadiums and it's an awesome event.

"I think our game is really exciting to watch and we get that right, but what are the other things we are putting around that?

"I have lots of crazy ideas and I think the entertainment and experience is so important, and how we think about that differently for the women's game is hugely exciting.

"There are not as many barriers or people sat there saying, 'oh that's not what our game does' because the reality is we're still writing that. We should always be thinking outside the box."

Whilst both women reject the concept of a coaches 'walk-on' or halftime 'dance-off' (which is fair) Yapp is open to letting the cameras inside the Lions Women's camp for a documentary.

Such coverage has been a staple of the men's tours since a landmark film covered the 1997 trip to South Africa.

"I'm definitely open to the cameras coming in, and that's part of it showing the first tour and the journey," she says.

"I think is really important to showcase that. My first real memory of the Lions is '97 and watching that and it was the first time you felt you really got behind the scenes so definitely open to that."

As the players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales play their hearts out for a plane ticket next autumn, Hansen explains she has explained to the wider New Zealand playing group that this opportunity might not come round again: "This could be your only time, not just the first time."

Selling the tickets, shirts and sponsorship might not come under the head coaches job description, but both Yapp and Hansen are fully aware of their roles in making this tour feel bigger than a Test series.

The men's tours have had more than a century to build its methodology, the women get their first chance next year to set the standards for future tours.

There is ultimately no blueprint for a Lions Women's tour yet, let's hope the first one exceeds expectations.