Hannah O'Connor
speaker
770 appearances
5 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 20 May
Hannah O'Connor’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 5 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 3.
Appearances
I think we'll go both intriguing topics for various reasons.
I think the size of the ball first.
I heard this and my eyes really got stuck at the top of my head from an eye roll in terms of I think it's absolutely ridiculous.
I know Zoe Harrison from England came out and said it was possibly the worst decision anybody has ever made and I'm not too far behind her in thinking that.
Obviously, having kicked a bit in my time and enjoying that side of the game when allowed...
The size of the ball and even from a kicking point of view for the kickers, the size of the ball and how much it's inflated and the weight of it and the feel of it, even the difference between the brands that you would play against or play with in a club level, whether it's a Gilbert or whether it's a Rhino ball, the difference is ridiculous of how you can feel it with your foot.
So to change the size of the ball down from a five to a four and a half, the mind just boggles as to the purpose of it and the benefit.
You would swear that you're watching women's matches where we're hemorrhaging with knock-ons because the women can't catch the ball because the size of their little hands.
I think this decision is bizarre.
I think the timing of it, considering the growth of the women's game, that they've decided that now's the time that we'll throw this spanner in, that we're going to shrink the ball down to help the women.
I just think it's silly.
I just think that you see New Zealand and you see Ireland even at times, and England, the offloading game is well and truly alive and well.
I think Aoife Wafer's offload to Baben Parsons for her try shows that there's no issue with the handling when things are going well.
Like every team, you have days when it doesn't, but I don't think shrinking the size of the ball is dramatically going to make the women's game a better place.
So it's a big fat no from me.
Yeah, poorly timed.
As you said, I could like a couple of years ago, similar to what Sam was saying, and you've said there, yes, like a few years ago when the growth of the game was a bit stagnant and we were wondering what's happening with it and where it's going.
But it's just shut off and it's just someone, someone somewhere has to say, OK, maybe not the timing of this for even if it's a trial, just the timing of a trial of this nature is so irrelevant, I think, to where the game is at the moment.
It's not something that we're crying out for.
It's not something that people watching the game would ever comment on besides the ball affecting the quality of it.
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