Mini thread on why we feel excited to see women's rugby players, especially those who play at the highest level, speaking out about equality, diversity and inclusion this week on the back of the issue around playing kits.

We've been writing, at one level or another, about women's rugby for about 20 + years & can count on one hand the number of times players at the top of the sport have felt confident enough to speak out about the massive barriers the game presents women

Misogyny, belittling, homophobia, being treated as 'less-than' - you name it - in a sport rooted in physicality, women's rugby players have had to put up with a LOT in the relatively short history of our sport.

We've come a long way & attitudes have changed but along the way while we tried to write about the deep inequalities in rugby, it was hard to find anyone of influence playing the game to raise their head above the parapet & say - you know what - this just isn't acceptable anymore

No criticism of anyone here btw - the environment just did not support players to do that. A few brave players who raised issues of unfairness in one test team quite recently, were dropped - so I get it.

But things are changing in society - female athletes are role models & in rugby we have some of the very best ambassadors. Seriously they are amazing & there is a recognition now that unified, women's players have a voice and it is powerful.

Models advertising playing kit instead of women's players? A drop in the ocean when it comes to some of the inequalities women's players face. Playing on the 'back pitches', being assigned the most inexperienced refs, being barely represented in positions of power- it all adds up

But this week it felt that finally the players WERE willing to say - this isn't acceptable any more. And that to us feels like real progress.