Wales played the Black Ferns twice in New Zealand last year and will be in a six team competition that is likely to include the world champions in WXV 1 across three match weekends on 21 and 28 October and 4 November.
Wales qualified for the tournament by clinching third place in the TikTok Six Nations. Their best finish since 2009 almost means they will remain in WXV 1 for at least the first two years as there will be no relegation or promotion in that time.
By freezing relegation and promotion for WXV 1, World Rugby has been able to focus on securing broadcast and commercial interest. This will be reviewed after Rugby World Cup 2025.
World Rugby has not only announced the first locations and dates for their new venture, but also a new brand identity. The new international competition is aimed at increasing the competitiveness, reach and impact of elite women’s rugby.
WXV has a clear mission – to raise the profile and competitiveness of women’s 15s by providing a global platform between Rugby World Cups to increase the reach, impact and value of the sport.
It will double the number of annual international fixtures for most competing teams, combining with World Rugby’s ‘Accelerate’ programme to raise standards at Rugby World Cup 2025 and beyond.
Cape Town will play host to the six-team second level WXV 2 ,with matches being played across the same weekends. Both competitions will be played in a cross-pool format and the match schedule and ticketing information will be announced in due course.
With the qualification process gathering pace, so far England, France and Wales have booked their place in WXV 1. Scotland have secured a place in WXV 2, and Ireland are confirmed for WXV 3. Italy will now play-off against Spain to determine the final European representatives in WXV 2 and WXV 3.
The World Rugby Pacific Four Series 2023 will determine the remaining three teams in WXV 1 and one team in WXV 2. Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA will contest the competition featuring the top two teams in Oceania and North America.
The remaining places will be determined via regional qualifiers, starting in May, with competitions in Africa, Asia and Oceania being played in Madagascar, Kazakhstan and Australia respectively. Brazil and Colombia will meet in a two-leg play-off to determine South America’s qualifier for WXV 3.
The third level WXV 3 dates will mirror the same weekends as WXV 2 with the host set to be named once the participating team picture becomes clearer in order to maximise attendance, reach and impact.
WXV is being supported by partners Mastercard, Capgemini and Gallagher, with World Rugby also injecting multi-million-pound investment funding over an initial two-year period in the sprint to an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup 2025 in England.
A full review will be undertaken in 2025 with all participants to ensure that, collectively, WXV continues to support high performance goals as World Rugby looks to define a sustainable global calendar for the international game.
“We made a pledge at a spectacular Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand to accelerate the advancement of the women’s game. Much progress is being made at rapid pace and today we are marking another milestone with confirmation of the dates and venues for the inaugural WXV competition,” said World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont.
“With women and girls leading our strategy to grow the sport on a global basis, this competition will increase the reach and impact of the sport and drive the overall competitiveness of women’s international rugby as we look forward to an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup 2025 in England and subsequent Rugby World Cups in Australia in 2029 and USA in 2033.”
World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby Sally Horrox added: “WXV is the flagship of the competitions pillar of our Accelerating the global development of women in rugby strategy. It is more than a world-class competition, it is a statement of intent, a vehicle to supercharge the reach, competitiveness and value of elite women’s rugby and growing rugby more broadly, projecting the sport to new audiences in new markets.
“We are on a three-year sprint to an expanded Rugby World Cup 2025 in England and WXV will ensure that the world’s top teams will have access to an unprecedented and sustainable level of annual fixtures and a transparent competition pathway for all that will boost performance.
“In addition, our relationship with participating teams is more than simply an event owner. We will be a partner, a supporter and investor, with our ‘Accelerate’ programme helping unions advance the women’s game on and off the field, not just in the short term at Rugby World Cup 2025, but as a long-term commitment through to a transformative Rugby World Cup in 2033.”
WXV 1
WXV 1 will consist of six teams and be played in a cross-pool format. Participating teams will include the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (Europe) and the top three teams from the World Rugby Pacific Four Series (Rugby Americas North/Oceania). Each team will play three matches. There will be no relegation or promotion for the first two years.
WXV 2
The WXV 2 competition will consist of six teams, playing in a cross-pool format. Participating teams for 2023 will include two teams from Europe, the fourth-placed team from the Pacific Four Series, alongside one team from Oceania, Asia and Africa. The sixth-placed regional position in the WXV 2 competition at the end of each season will be relegated to WXV 3.
WXV 3
WXV 3 will also be played as a cross-pool format, made up of six teams: two from Europe and one from Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America. The regional position of the winner of WXV 3 will be promoted to WXV 2 and the bottom team will play off against the next best ranked side, according to the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini on the Monday after the final match of WXV that year.
COMPETITIVENESS
World Rugby’s ambition is to enhance the competitiveness of the women’s game globally and a new international calendar that provides quality competition and opportunities for all, developing and established nations, is an important part of this. The formation of a unified international global calendar will provide teams with more quality and appropriate international playing experience in order to continue to develop women’s high-performance programmes and further competitiveness in the women’s game. This is an ambitious, long-term commitment to make the game more competitive and therefore elevate the expanded Rugby World Cup in 2025.
Through consultation and partnership, World Rugby will work with unions to support the development of high-performance pathways as they continue to invest and develop their women’s programmes, while supporting the overarching ambition of global growth.
We want the women’s game to reach its maximum potential in all respects and as a first step we have initiated a piece of work to look at what a pathway to professionalism for the women’s game could look like. This piece of work is not about making any assumptions or dictating timelines but an opportunity to understand where the elite women’s game stands today, at a global level.
As part of this important piece of work we have consulted with 25 unions worldwide as part of a fact gathering mission and studied best practice outside rugby, looking at what other codes worldwide are doing.
PROFESSIONALISM
Out of the pathway to professionalism piece of work we intend to develop a framework for unions, which they can choose to implement, as they move towards professionalism, in a way that works for unions and players. It’s also important to define professionalism; it’s ensuring the entire game is professionalised, starting with high-performance and coaching programmes and that players are not ‘paying to play’. When unions look to begin their pathway to professionalism it needs to be sustainable and in the interests of the long-term development of the women’s game.
FUNDING
World Rugby is committed to investing in the development of women in rugby as it represents the single greatest opportunity for our sport to grow in the next decade. World Rugby is set to inject multi-million pound investment funding into the WXV competition. This includes investing in quality competition to build high performance and showcase the game to an even wider audience, as well as providing financial assistance to developing nations.
We believe women’s rugby has huge commercial potential and are working to develop a sustainable commercial model. Alongside our own commercial strategy, which has seen strong interest from a number of potential long-term partners, we are in discussions with unions and potential hosts about the commercial model for the new competitions.
There are currently no plans for participation fees for teams competing in WXV. World Rugby is making significant investment into the establishment of the WXV competition with associated costs to participate covered by World Rugby, along with considerably increased investment in high performance.
