Wallaroos coach Dwayne Nestor believes the advent of Super W is the first step in bridging the gap between Australia and the top women's rugby nations.
Australia's first national 15-a-side women's competition got off to a mixed start across the weekend with two one-sided affairs.
The first, NSW's 18-0 win over Queensland, was played in rainy conditions and descended into an ugly slugfest.
The second, the Western Force's 85-13 thrashing of the Melbourne Rebels, was a massive blowout.
But for Nestor, who took over as Wallaroos coach last month, it has already proved a valuable talent identification tool with a number of bolters now on his radar.
"Not that it didn't have credibility prior, but the Super W gives the women's 15s game in Australia so much more credibility," Nestor told AAP.
"Anyone who watched those games on the weekend would have seen the potential for the quality of rugby the women can produce and the individual brilliance that we're going to see from some players."
The Wallaroos have never made a World Cup final and finished sixth at the last one.
Nestor admitted Rugby Australia had to be "clever" with their planning given the sport is still essentially amateur: Super W players are not paid, and Wallaroos representatives only receive a $1000 match payment.
Nestor will name a 'players of national interest' squad at the end of Super W, who will undertake training programs at their respective states before coming into camp ahead of their August showdown with New Zealand.
It is the only Test match the Wallaroos have locked in for 2018, and their isolation from other major women's nations like Canada and England presents another challenge in organising regular international fixtures.
But it's hoped winning the hosting rights to the next World Cup in 2021 will encourage other nations to travel to Australia for lead-up matches.
"There's a woman in England who's played in excess of 150 Test matches. The Wallaroos are only going to play their 50th Test match this year," Nestor said.
"That puts it in relative terms."
Nestor was confident Super W would find a niche audience.
"I thought the first weekend stood up pretty well," he said.
"If that sort of rugby continues to be seen, rugby people will watch it without a doubt and people with a general interest in sport will see it and go, you know what, this is actually pretty entertaining."
Share
