World Rugby smaller ball trial frustrates England players — SkimNews
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- World Rugby is trialling a size 4.5 ball (about 3% smaller than the men's size five but the same weight) during September and October's WXV Global Series, arguing it suits women's physiology and improves skillset.
- Helena Rowland, England's fly-half, said the smaller ball creates a "massive" margin for error in kicking and that passes are "dying" — falling to the floor earlier than they would with a size five — and that she has not "necessarily seen any positives."
- May Campbell, England hooker, said the ball goes "a bit skew-whiff" on lineout throws and that players "don't know how it's going to change the game, and kind of the reason behind it changing and the data behind it."
- Wales wing Lisa Neumann is a fan, saying the smaller ball "changed the game" for her passing because of improved grip, showing player reaction is not unanimous.
- Players feel like "guinea pigs on the global stage" and will return to club rugby where the size five ball is still used, creating an in-season switch between two different ball sizes.
- BBC Sport documented inconsistency in ball shape between training weeks, with Campbell noting balls were "fatter" previously and "definitely smaller" more recently, and Rowland saying the difference between batches was "massive."
Why it matters: World Rugby is rolling out the smaller ball at the top international level with no public data, while England's players say it has actively worsened the core skills — kicking, passing, lineout throwing — they spent 13-plus years training. With no published evidence until early 2027 and a club-vs-international ball-size split forcing players to master two balls in one season, the trial's burden falls on athletes who say they were given no say in the change.
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