Thursday 3 August 2017 20:25, UK
Former women’s captain Catherine Spencer would like to see both the England XVs and Sevens players on full-time professional contracts.
The Rugby Football Union confirmed on Monday that central contracts for the reigning Women's Six Nations and world champions will not be renewed after they attempt to defend the World Cup in Ireland next month.
Instead, the funding - which has been in place since 2014 - will be redirected to the rugby Sevens team with a view to reinstating full-time contracts for XVs players during the next World Cup cycle.
The news drew widespread criticism, with 2014 World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi describing the move as "very disappointing" via her Twitter account.
Spencer told Tuesday's Sportswomen show on Sky Sports News: "It's not long ago that the media were talking about such great steps, saying 'isn't it fantastic that we have got professional [women's] rugby players?'
"For me, it is slightly disappointing that the focus now goes back to Sevens. I understand why they are doing that, because of the global competitions, but why can't we run both why can't have professional XVs and Sevens players?"
England's rugby Sevens play in the World Cup in San Francisco next year before taking part in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
RFU director of professional rugby Nigel Melville said he has been in dialogue with England's players about the situation since April, insisting there is a record level of investment being ploughed into the women's game.
He told Sky Sports News: "We work in cycles and in this the final year of the World Cup cycle we've put added resources into the game to enable us to take the players away, play more games, go to the Southern Hemisphere and really prepare properly - and prepare like they have never prepared before for this tournament which starts next month.
"The strategy always was once we get through the World Cup to then focus for the next year on the Rugby Sevens. We'll then aim to grow the squad as we move into the next World Cup.
"I think it's a bit of a misunderstanding in some ways - they don't understand the investment that's going into the game in the next year.
"We're developing a new 10-team regionally-based competition coming out of the World Cup. Below that we have centres of excellence in place. Women's and girls stuff is fantastic for the next four years and we'll double their level of participation in the game in that time.
"We have a lot of things going in that space. We have a small pool of players and we need to make sure at the top end we can make a bigger pool going forward. This is a way to do it - investing more than we have ever done before in the women's game with the hope of growing it on every front and moving of forward."
