By: Naomi Mallam
As the Rugby World Cup 2021 (played in 2022) is just around the corner, here is everything you need to know about the tournament’s history, the teams participating and who you should expect to win the delayed competition.
The Rugby World Cup (RWC) was started in 1987 however, the first Women’s Rugby World Cup (now just called the Rugby World Cup too), took place in 1991 in Wales where the USA (Eagles) emerged victorious in the final over England (Red Roses) and France took the bronze. This tournament was the first of what is soon to be 9 World Cups with many more to come. It was 1994 when the second World Cup was played in Scotland with a move to a 4 year cycle where England emerged victorious over the USA. However, 5 of the following 6 tournaments were won by the New Zealand (Black Ferns) who have the best Rugby World Cup record of any side, both men and women’s, with an impressive 5 wins and 1 third place finish. Their most recent win was in 2017 when World Rugby changed it so there was a World Cup planned to be played every other year.
The RWC 2021 consists of 12 teams who qualified through a mix of regional qualifiers, success in the 2017 tournament and the final qualification tournament. Seven teams automatically qualified based on their 2017 performance and those were:
The Black Ferns (best finish: champions: 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017)
The Red Roses (best finish: champions: 1994, 2014)
Australia (Wallaroos) (best finish: third place: 2010)
The Eagles (best finish: champions: 1991)
Wales (best finish: fourth place: 1994)
France (beat finish: third place: 1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2017)
Canada (The Maple Leafs) (best finish: runners-up: 2014)
Alongside these 7, a further 5 teams qualified for the World Cup with 4 coming through regional qualifiers and 1 coming through the final qualification tournament:
Africa qualifier: South Africa (Springboks) (best finish: tenth place (2010, 2014)
Asia qualifier: Japan (Cherry Blossoms) (best finish: eighth place: 1994)
Europe qualifier: Italy (Le Azzurre) (best finish: top 8: 1991)
Oceania qualifier: Fiji (best finish: N/A)
Final qualification tournament: Scotland (best finish: fifth place: 1994)
The RWC 2021 is split into 3 pools, each consisting of 4 teams where the top 2 from each pool advance to the knockout rounds alongside the 2 best third place teams before an eight team single elimination bracket. At this stage, there is a grand final and a match for third place. Throughout the most recent World Cup Cycle (the time between world cups), there has been an extremely impactful shift towards professionalism in the women’s game with England leading the way with the Allianz Premier 15s. This is heavily endorsed by many professional sides in the men’s game and a large financial investment by the RFU who continue to better the structure of women’s top flight rugby alongside a vast majority of players being at least semi-professionals. This has allowed the Red Roses to establish dominance in women’s test rugby and remain undefeated since July 14th 2019 leading them to be heavy favourites to not only win the World Cup, but do so dominantly. However, the 5 time champions, The Black Ferns, are expected to fall far short of their prior achievements. This is due to the allegedly toxic environment in their training camps and having fallen in their biggest defeats against the Red Roses last November in one of their 16 total defeats (of which another 9 came at the hands of England). In addition to this, their former head coach, Glenn Moore, resigned in April which is believed to be in relation to the allegations against him in the Black Ferns camps. Another powerhouse in women’s test rugby is just across the channel as France look to push the Red Roses once more following 3 successive top 2 placings in the women’s 6 Nations and many close games with the rank 1 Red Roses.
So, what should you expect in the RWC this year? You should expect some of the highest quality rugby in the world played by some of the best players in the world and a very likely England victory all aired live on ITV beginning the 8th of October 2022.
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