Rugby World Cup (women's)

Rugby World Cup

Upcoming tournament 2021 Rugby World Cup
Rugby World Cup logo
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	6 April 1991; 30 years ago (1991-04-06)
Number of teams	12
Regions	Worldwide (WR)
Holders	New Zealand (5th title)
Most titles	New Zealand (5 titles)
Website	http://www.rwcwomens.com/

The Rugby World Cup for women, historically known as the Women's Rugby World Cup, is the premier international competition in rugby union for women. The tournament is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby. The championships are currently held every four years; the event was most recently held in Ireland in 2017.^[1] World Rugby has reset the tournament on a new four-year cycle to avoid conflict with the Commonwealth Games and Women's World Cup Sevens; World Cups will thus be held every four years after 2017.^[2]

On 21 August 2019, World Rugby announced that gender designations would be removed from the titles of the men's and women's World Cups. Accordingly, all future World Cups for men and women will officially bear the "Rugby World Cup" name. The first tournament to be affected by the new policy will be the next women's tournament to be held in New Zealand in 2021, which will officially be titled as "Rugby World Cup 2021".^[3]

The first Women's Rugby World Cup was held in 1991 and won by the United States. The 1991 and 1994 competitions were not officially sanctioned by World Rugby, then known as the International Rugby Football Board, at the time - they later received retrospective endorsement in 2009 when the governing body, which by that time had changed its name to the International Rugby Board, included the 1991 and 1994 champions in its list of previous winners.^[4] It was not until the 1998 tournament held in the Netherlands that the tournament received official IRB backing, and the IRB retroactively recognised the preceding tournaments.^[5] The most successful team, with five titles, is New Zealand.

History[]

1990s[]

Prior to the first Women's Rugby World Cup officially sanctioned by the International Rugby Board there had been three previous tournaments of a similar nature. The first of these was an event held in August 1990 in New Zealand. Though not considered a world cup, the tournament was referred to as the World Rugby Festival for Women. The competition included teams representing the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, and the hosts, New Zealand – who emerged as winners after defeating the United States in the final.

The first tournament referred to as the Women's Rugby World Cup was held in 1991 and hosted by Wales. Twelve countries were divided into four groups of three. The United States, against expectations, took the first championship with a 19–6 victory over England.^[6] In the Plate competition Canada prevailed over Spain 18–4. Following the first tournament it was decided to move the tournament schedule to the year prior to the next men's world cup therefore reducing the quadrennial cycle to just three years.

The next event was originally scheduled to take place in Amsterdam but ended up being moved to Scotland. Eleven countries competed in the tournament with the English meeting the United States in the final for the second time however, in this instance England emerged as winners.^[7]

The 1998 tournament became the first women's world cup officially sanctioned by the International Rugby Board. Amsterdam, who were originally scheduled to host the previous world cup, hosted the largest ever tournament with all matches played at the new National Rugby Centre in the city's west end.^[8] The tournament also saw a record sixteen teams compete. New Zealand, who withdrew from the previous tournament, also competed. The final saw New Zealand defeat the United States and claim their first world cup title.

2000–present[]

The next event was taken to Spain in 2002. New Zealand won the title for the second time by defeating England 19–9 in the final.

The 2006 World Cup took place in Edmonton, Canada, and was the first major international rugby union tournament and women's world cup held in North America. New Zealand defeated England in the final to win their third successive world cup title.^[9]

Logo prior to 2019

A record four countries expressed interest in hosting the 2010 World Cup. After considering bids from England, Germany, Kazakhstan and South Africa, the IRB announced that the 2010 event would take place in England.^[10] The tournament was staged in London, with the final played at the Twickenham Stoop.^[11]

The 2017 World Cup was hosted by the Irish Rugby Football Union, which governs the sport on an All-Ireland basis. Games were held in Dublin in the Republic of Ireland and in Belfast in Northern Ireland.^[12][13]

New Zealand will host the next Rugby World Cup for women in 2021.^[14] From 2025 the competition finals will be expanded to 16 teams, from the 12 competing in 2021.^[15]

Results[]

Tournaments[]

Year	Host		Final				Third place match				Teams
			Winner	Score	Runner-up		3rd place	Score	4th place
1991	Wales		United States	19 – 6	England		France	Shared[16] third	New Zealand		12
1994	Scotland		England	38 – 23	United States		France	27 – 0	Wales		12
1998	Netherlands		New Zealand	44 – 12	United States		England	31 – 15	Canada		16
2002	Spain		New Zealand	19 – 9	England		France	41 – 7	Canada		16
2006	Canada		New Zealand	25 – 17	England		France	17 – 8	Canada		12
2010	England		New Zealand	13 – 10	England		Australia	22 – 8	France		12
2014	France		England	21 – 9	Canada		France	25 – 18	Ireland		12
2017	Ireland		New Zealand	41 – 32	England		France	31 – 23	United States		12
2021	New Zealand										12

Team records[]

Team	Champions	Runners-up	Third	Fourth	Appearances in top 4
New Zealand	5 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017)	–	1 (1991)	–	6
England	2 (1994, 2014)	5 (1991, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017)	1 (1998)	–	8
United States	1 (1991)	2 (1994, 1998)	–	1 (2017)	4
France	–	–	6 (1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2017)	1 (2010)	7
Australia	–	–	1 (2010)	–	1
Canada	–	1 (2014)	–	3 (1998, 2002, 2006)	4
Wales	–	–	–	1 (1994)	1
Ireland	–	–	–	1 (2014)	1

Participating nations[]

Team	1991	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	2017	2021
0
Australia	–	–	5th	7th	7th	3rd	7th	6th	Q
Canada	5th	6th	4th	4th	4th	6th	2nd	5th	Q
England	2nd	1st	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	1st	2nd	Q
Fiji	–	–	–	–	–	w	–	e	Q
France	3rd	3rd	8th	3rd	3rd	4th	3rd	3rd	Q
Germany	–	w	14th	16th	–	e	–	–
Hong Kong	–	–	–	e	e	e	e	12th
Ireland	–	7th	10th	14th	8th	7th	4th	8th
Italy	8th	w	12th	12th	–	e	e	9th
Japan	11th	8th	–	13th	e	e	e	11th
Kazakhstan	–	9th	9th	11th	11th	11th	12th	–
Netherlands	7th	w	13th	15th	–	e	e	e
New Zealand	3rd	w	1st	1st	1st	1st	5th	1st	Q
Russia	11th[a]	11th	16th	–	–	e	e	e
Samoa	–	–	–	9th	10th	e	11th	–
Scotland	–	5th	6th	6th	6th	8th	e	e
South Africa	–	–	–	–	12th	10th	10th		Q
Spain	6th	w[b]	7th	8th	9th	e	9th	10th
Sweden	10th	10th	15th	–	–	12th	e	–
United States	1st	2nd	2nd	5th	5th	5th	6th	4th	Q
Wales	9th	4th	11th	10th	–	9th	8th	7th	Q

Q = nation qualified for Final Tournament not yet played
w = nation withdrew from (final) Tournament
e = nation eliminated in qualifying stage and did not reach Final Tournament
– = nation did not enter competition.

The following nations have participated in qualifying stages, but have never reached the Final Tournament:

Team	1991	1994	1998	2002	2006	2010	2014	2017	2021
0
Belgium	–	–	–	–	–	e	–	e	–
Brazil	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	e
China	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	e
Colombia	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	p
Czech Republic	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–
Finland	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–	–
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	e
Kenya	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–	p
Laos	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–	–
	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	e
Papua New Guinea	–	–	–	–	–	w	–	e	e
Philippines	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–	e
Singapore	–	–	–	–	–	e	e	–	e
Switzerland	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–
Thailand	–	–	–	–	e	–	e	–	–
Tonga	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	w
Uganda	–	–	–	–	–	–	e	–	e

e = nation eliminated in qualifying stage and did not reach Final Tournament
w = nation withdrew from qualifying stage
p = nation possibly eliminated in qualifying stage and will need to be successful in Repechage in order to reach Final Tournament
– = nation did not enter qualifying stage competition.

Apart from the African region, the nations involved in the continental qualifying stages have not been announced as at 20 October 2019.

Format[]

The format for the 2006 tournament split the 12 participating nations into four pools of three teams. Each nation played three games, after the completion of which a re-seeding process took place. Nations were moved into divisions dictated by their respective overall tournament ranking with the top teams proceeding to the knockout stages.

The 2010 event maintained the number of teams participating at twelve, with regional qualifying tournaments.^[17] In previous tournaments teams were selected by the IRB based on international performances as opposed to qualification via regional tournaments.

Media coverage[]

The tournament has grown considerably in the past fifteen years although television audiences and event attendance still remain relatively low, especially in comparison to other women's world cup events. The final of the 2006 event in Canada was broadcast in a number of countries and streamed live via the internet.

Sky Sports broadcast 13 live matches from the 2010 World Cup, including the semi-finals, the third and fourth place play-off match and the final. The pool matches shown included all of England's matches, while each of the home nations' featured live too. There were also highlights shown from all other matches during the pool stages.^[18]

In Ireland the Women's Rugby World Cup was broadcast by TG4 in 2014, the Irish language channel received praise for airing the tournament. TG4 provided coverage to all of the Irish matches as well as the final and semi-final.^[19]

Certain matches in the 2017 WRWC knockout phases drew strong TV viewership in England and France, and were broadcast live in the United States.^[20]

See also[]

• Rugby World Cup (men)
• Women's rugby union
• Women's international rugby
• Women's Rugby League World Cup

References[]

External links[]

• The official WRWC website
• Women's Rugby World Cup from therugbyworldcup.co.uk
• Results for the previous tournaments at rugbyfootballhistory.com