Women's Rugby World Cup

Women's Rugby World Cup
Current season or competition: 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup
Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	1991
Number of teams	12
Regions	Worldwide (World Rugby)
Holders	England (2 Titles)
Most titles	New Zealand (4 titles)
Website	www.rwcwomens.com

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 France in August 2014.^[1] World Rugby has chosen to reset the tournament on a new four-year cycle to avoid conflict with the Olympics and Women's World Cup Sevens; the next World Cup will thus be held in Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2017 and then every four years thereafter.^[2]

The first Women's Rugby World Cup was held in 1991, and won by the United States, though it and the subsequent 1994 competition 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, renamed the International Rugby Board (IRB) in 1997, included the 1991 and 1994 champions in its list of previous winners.^[3] It was not until the 1998 tournament held in the Netherlands that the tournament received official IRB backing.^[4] The most successful team, with four titles, is New Zealand.

History

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.^[5] 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.^[6]

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.^[7] 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.

The next event was taken to Spain in 2002, where New Zealand, won the title for the second time. 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.^[8]

In 2008 a record four countries expressed interest in hosting the 2010 world cup. After considering bids from the Rugby Football Union, the German Rugby Federation, the Kazakhstan Rugby Union and South African Rugby Union the IRB announced that the 2010 event would take place in England.^[9] The Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) then announced that the tournament was to be staged in west London, with the final to be played at the Twickenham Stoop.^[10]

It was announced in May 2015 that the 2017 tournament will be held jointly in Ireland and Northern Ireland with games to be played in both Dublin and Belfast.^[11][12]

Results

Tournaments

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

Performance of nations

Team	Champion	Runner-up	Third	Fourth
New Zealand	4 (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010)	–	1 (1991)	–
England	2 (1994, 2014)	4 (1991, 2002, 2006, 2010)	1 (1998)	–
United States	1 (1991)	2 (1994, 1998)	–	–
Canada	–	1 (2014)	–	3 (1998, 2002, 2006)
France	–	–	5 (1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014)	1 (2010)
Australia	–	–	1 (2010)	–
Ireland	–	–	–	1 (2014)
Wales	–	–	–	1 (1994)

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.^[14] 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.

On 29 July 2010, Sky Sports confirmed that they would be broadcasting 13 live matches from the 2010 event, including the semi-finals, the third and fourth place play-off match and the final. The pool matches shown would include all of England's matches while each of the home nations' would feature live too. There would also be highlights shown from all other matches during the pool stages.^[15]

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. ^[16]

See also

• 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