Women’s rugby has been growing at a phenomenal rate over the last ten years, and the international game is now set to reach exciting new heights.
The emergence of women's rugby has been nothing short of remarkable, with an increasing number of people getting involved with both playing and watching the sport, enabling it to significantly grow in popularity. The women’s game has a number of world-class tournaments at both national and international level, including the Gallagher Premiership, TikTok Women’s Six Nations, Women’s Internationals and Women’s Rugby World Cup. And to add to this, a new tournament that epitomizes its growth is the ground-breaking WXV Women's Rugby Tournament.
The name “WXV” signifies “Women’s XV”, XV being fifteen – the number of players on a rugby team - in Roman numerals.
WXV is a monumental milestone in the sport that will allow nations to have regular cross-hemisphere encounters (similar to the Autumn Nations Series) with their rivals to support their development outside of the Rugby World Cup years.
WXV signifies a bright new era for women’s rugby as the game grows in popularity with a then-record crowd for a women’s match of 58,498 turning out to see the Red Roses beat France Women in their first-ever headline appearance at Twickenham Stadium during the 2023 TikTok Women’s Six Nations.
How is the WXV Women’s Rugby tournament structured?
This new elite-level women’s international tournament is made up of 18 national teams split across 3 divisions (WXV 1, WXV2, and WXV 3) with two pools in each division.
Each team will then play three teams from the other pool in their division. From 2026, the bottom-ranked side in each division will be relegated to the division below, with the best-performing team from the division below being promoted.
Who is playing in the WXV Women’s Rugby Tournament?
The world’s leading women’s rugby nations and players will be competing in WXV.
WXV 1: Australia, England, Canada, France, New Zealand and Wales
WXV 2: Italy, Japan, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa and USA
WXV 3: Colombia, Ireland, Fiji, Kazakhstan, Kenya and Spain
Watch out for Red Roses’ Zoe Harrison, The Black Fearns’ Portia Woodman, powerful Canadian No.8 Sophie de Goede, Welsh speedster Jas Joyce, and 2022 World Rugby Women’s 15 Player of the Year Ruahei Dermant (New Zealand), and many more who will light up the tournament and inspire the next generation of players.
Where is the WXV Women’s Rugby Tournament being held?
For 2023, each division is being hosted in a different country. New Zealand will be hosting the WXV 1 matches, nations in WXV 2 will be playing against each other in South Africa, and the UAE will host all matches in WXV 3.
WXV will kick off on Friday 13 October 2023 with the final game taking place on Saturday 4 November 2023. To view the full schedule, click here.
When can I next watch women’s rugby?
The Red Roses will be hosting Ireland Women in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations on Saturday 20 April 2024 at Twickenham Stadium. We have some exceptional hospitality experiences for the match, so you can make your day watching the Red Roses even more special. To find out more, please click here.
