WXV to help women’s rugby scale heights

Image: World Rugby

The World Rugby unveiled on August 13^th the bumper match schedule for WXV, the new women’s international 15s competition designed to increase the competitiveness, reach and impact of elite women’s rugby.

‘WORLD RUGBY’ stated that the three-level tournament, which begins this October, will see 27 fixtures played across three host countries bringing the best women’s talent around the world.

Dublin (Ireland)-based the World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. The World Rugby organizes the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport’s most recognized and most profitable competition.

‘WORLD RUGBY’ further stated that with the entire competition set to take place over four weekends between October 13^th until November 4^th, fans will have the opportunity to watch the world’s top teams compete in Dubai, South Africa and New Zealand.

Across all levels, matches will take place on Fridays and Saturdays with a combination of standalone and double header fixtures, maximizing fan attendance and helping to create an exciting atmosphere in the Host Cities.

The tournament will take place during the men’s Rugby World Cup 2023 with match times complementing each other, ensuring fans can enjoy what is set to be a thrilling period of elite men’s and women’s rugby.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup will be the 10^th men’s Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for rugby union national teams. It is scheduled to take place in France from September 8^th-October 28^th, 2023 in nine venues across the country, and is the first Rugby World Cup to take place entirely in France.
 
VIEW THE FULL MATCH SCHEDULE HERE
 

WXV 1 Excitement Across New Zealand

The top three finishers in both the TikTok Women’s Six Nations 2023 and World Rugby Pacific Four Series 2023 will head to New Zealand to compete in nine tests across the three match weekends in the hope to be crowned WXV 1 champions.

The 2023 Women’s Six Nations Championship, known as the TikTok Women’s Six Nations for marketing purposes, was the 22^nd series of the Women’s Six Nations Championship, an annual women’s rugby union competition between England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland, and Wales.

The 2023 Pacific Four Series was the third edition of the Pacific Four Series, an international women’s rugby union tournament that served as one of the principal qualification routes for the top two tiers of WXV. The tournament was hosted by Spain, Australia and Canada.

The opening weekend kicks off on October 20^th at the 34,500-capacity Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, with the Women’s Six Nations winners England up against Australia. This will be followed on Saturday with Canada facing Wales and the Pacific Four Series and world champions New Zealand up against France.

After traveling to Dunedin’s (New Zealand) 30,748-capacity Forsyth Barr Stadium for the second round of matches, the tournament will come to a close in an action-packed blockbuster weekend in Auckland at the 25,000-capacity Go Media Mount Smart Stadium. Fans will get to see Australia in action against Wales on November 3^rd followed by the final double-header that will see France take on Canada followed by the much-anticipated repeat of the Rugby World Cup 2021 final with England facing New Zealand.

Individual and weekend package tickets will go on sale at 10:00 (NZST, GMT+11) on August 22^nd and can be purchased at https://www.wxvrugby.com/matches/WXV1.

All nine tests will be shown exclusively on Sky TV New Zealand.
 

WXV 2 Host Venues Revealed

Six teams will head to Cape Town and Stellenbosch in South Africa in October after qualifying for the second level of the inaugural annual women’s 15s tournament.

The first fixtures of WXV 2023 takes place in WXV 2 on October 13^th at the 16,000-capacity Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch with an exciting double-header that sees Italy take on Japan first before Scotland face their hosts South Africa. The USA will then tackle Samoa (country in Oceania) in the standalone match on October 14^th.

The tournament then heads to Cape Town with the 34,000-capacity Athlone Stadium hosting the second and third rounds of WXV 2. The competition ends on October 27^th-28^th with three action-packed fixtures across two days with Scotland up against Japan and South Africa versus Samoa on the Friday and USA facing Italy bringing WXV 2 to a close on the Saturday.
 

Plenty of Action Set for WXV 3 in Dubai

The Dubai’s (UAE) iconic the 44,000-capacity The Sevens Stadium has been confirmed as the venue for WXV 3 with the competition mirroring the matchdays of WXV 2 across October.

It’s a double-header first up in Dubai with Fiji (country in Oceania) set to face Colombia (country in South America) and Ireland up against Kazakhstan (country in Central Asia) on October 13^th. The next day sees European qualifier Spain pitted against Kenya.

The final weekend kicks off on October 27^th with Kazakhstan against Fiji and Kenya versus Colombia’s ‘Las Tucanes’ (Colombia women’s national rugby union team). The final WXV 3 match sees Ireland tackle Spain the next day.
 

New Era for Professional Women’s Rugby

Said Sally Horrox, World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby, “WXV represents the start of a new era for women’s rugby with the three-level tournament model providing opportunities for the best athletes around the world to show their skills on the international stage. We’ve seen the rapid development of the women’s game in recent years and WXV will push it to another level again. We’re really proud of the exciting array of fixtures on offer and I’ve no doubt we are in for a thrilling competition with some exhilarating matchups on the pitch set to follow. A big thank you to all our hosts. We can’t wait to visit your countries and see the world’s best players compete in these fantastic venues and a huge congratulation to all the teams that have qualified. The stage is now set and we look forward to many memorable moments ahead across October and November.”

The WXV is being supported by partners Mastercard (credit card company), Capgemini (information technology services and consulting company) and Gallagher (global insurance firm), with the World Rugby also injecting multimillion-pound investment funding over an initial two-year period in the sprint to an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup 2025 in England (UK).

Further broadcast and ticketing information for WXV1, WXV 2 and WXV 3 will follow. Fans can follow all the action by following @WXVRugby on social platforms and can also register for all the latest updates here.

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