Jo Yapp, a former England captain who won 70 caps as a scrum-half and led the Red Roses to the 2006 World Cup final, has just made history as the first coach of the British and Irish Lions Women's rugby team. At 46 years old, Yapp will guide the inaugural tour to New Zealand in 2027, a moment that marks a watershed for women's rugby across the four home unions and beyond.
The appointment arrives at a remarkable inflection point for the sport. Women's rugby has grown exponentially in visibility, investment, and competitive depth over the past decade, yet the Lions—that storied institution uniting England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales—has never fielded a women's team until now. Yapp's task is to harvest talent across all four unions and forge a genuinely competitive outfit capable of challenging the New Zealand Black Ferns on their home soil, a formidable proposition that nonetheless excites her profoundly.
Yapp's journey to this role is itself a testament to the sport's expanding opportunities. After three World Cups as a player and stints coaching England Women's Under-20s, Worcester Warriors Women, and the Barbarians, she most recently guided Australia to the final eight of last year's World Cup before returning to England as head of women's pathway. That breadth of experience—mixing domestic, grassroots, and international perspectives—persuaded the Lions leadership to entrust her with the role. "Jo's breadth of experience across the UK club game and the international women's game in the southern hemisphere made her an outstanding candidate," said British and Irish Lions chief executive Ben Calverley.
The Lions Women will begin their tour with a warm-up match against a Black Ferns XV in Whangarei on September 4, followed by three Tests in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. It is a punishing schedule against the world's most storied women's rugby nation, yet Yapp embraces it. "I know from experience how challenging it is to face the Black Ferns on home soil but that challenge is exactly what makes this Tour so exciting," she said. "To lead the first ever British and Irish Lions women's team is an incredible honour and something I'm immensely proud of."
One of the steepest challenges facing Yapp will be navigating the dominance of England's Red Roses, the world champions who have won eight consecutive Grand Slams and continue to monopolize international women's rugby talent. The Lions must feel like a genuine union of four nations, not merely an England squad with fringe players from Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. That requires careful selection, tactical innovation, and a coaching team assembled from across the four unions—though speculation about those assistant coaches is rife and premature.
Yapp will begin the role part-time from July, taking a full sabbatical from the RFU to work full-time from January onwards. In naming her, the Lions signaled something deeper than simply filling a vacancy: they are committing publicly to the growth and visibility of women's rugby, and to the development of female coaches as leaders. "For a moment that represents such a step forward for the game, it was important to us that this appointment serves our desire to grow and support all aspects of the women's game," Calverley added. For a sport still fighting for parity in media coverage and funding, that statement carries real weight. Yapp's charge is to deliver a tour that validates it.