The 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the sixth staging of the

Women's Rugby League World Cup The Women's Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament, contested by the women's national team of the International Rugby League (IRL). The competition has been held since 2000 in Great Britain and since 2008 has been ...

, and was be one of three major tournaments part of the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

. The tournament was held in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

from 1 November to 19 November 2022. Originally planned for 2021, it was delayed a year along with the Men's and Wheelchair tournaments due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The tournament featured eight teams, an increase of two from the previous tournament. For the first time the tournament had parity with the men's and

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

tournaments with all participants being paid the same while all 61 matches across three tournaments will be broadcast live.

Teams

Qualification

The competing teams were selected based on criteria including growth and current infrastructure and were announced on 18 July 2019.

Draw

The teams were drawn into two groups of four. The two seeded teams were (Group A) as hosts and as holders (Group B). The draw was made at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 16 January 2020. Teams from pool 1 were drawn by

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succe ...

, pool 2 was drawn by

Katherine Grainger Dame Katherine Jane Grainger (born 12 November 1975) is a British former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion. She served as Chancell ...

and pool 3 by Jason Robinson. Ahead of the fixture list being announced, the organisers stated that there would be at least four days between a team's games in the interests of player welfare. The fixtures were announced on 21 July 2020. Following the postponement of the tournament from 2021 to 2022, a revised schedule was published on 21 November 2021. All the games in the tournament were played as double-headers with other games from either the women's or men's tournaments.

Squads

Each nation announced 24 player squads to compete in the tournament.

Venues

Stadiums

Five venues were used for the women's tournament. Stadiums are referred to by their official name rather than sponsored name, as is

International Rugby League The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

policy

Team base camp locations

Two locations were used by the eight national team squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament, as follows; *

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

: Brazil, Canada, England and Papua New Guinea *

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

: Australia, Cook Islands, France and New Zealand

Officiating

Match officials

The list of match officials who officiated across both the men's and women's tournaments was published on 5 October 2022. *

Grant Atkins The following is a list of rugby league referees who have appeared in Australian top-level rugby league, i.e. the NRL and its predecessors, the NSWRL, ARL and SL premierships. Referees still currently active are listed in bold. Referees NOT ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

) * Kasey Badger (

) *

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) *

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(

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) *

James Child James Child (born 4 July 1983) is a former English rugby league referee. He was one of the Rugby Football League's Full Time Match Officials. On 19 December 2022, Child announced that he would be stepping down as referee, ahead of the 2023 s ...

(

) * Darian Furner (

) * Adam Gee (

) * Tom Grant (

) * Marcus Griffiths (

) * Robert Hicks (

) *

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(

) *

Chris Kendall Chris Kendall (born 3 June 1992) is an English rugby league referee. He has been a match official at the Rugby League World Cup and took the lead at multiple Super League Grand Finals. Career Kendall played rugby league for the Newsome Panthers a ...

(

) *

Ashley Klein Ashley Klein is an Australian rugby league referee. Klein refereed in England, beginning in the Rugby League Conference. His first professional game was Workington Town v Featherstone Rovers on 8 September 2002. His first Super League game ...

(

) *

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(

) *

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(

) *

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(

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

) * Geoffrey Poumes (

) * Wyatt Raymond (

) *

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(

) *

Belinda Sharpe Belinda Sharpe née Sleeman is an Australian rugby league referee and former journalist, and is the first woman to referee a first-grade match in the National Rugby League. Sharpe was born and grew up in Rockhampton, Queensland, where she work ...

(

) *

Michael Smaill Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

(

) * Jack Smith (

) *

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(

) * Gerard Sutton (

) * Rochelle Tamarua (

) *

Ben Thaler Ben Thaler (born 30 August 1981) is a professional rugby league referee and one of the Rugby Football League's Full Time Match Officials. He officiates in the Super League. Background Thaler was born in Normanton, West Yorkshire, England. C ...

(

) * Warren Turley (

) * James Vella (

)

Warm-up matches

Pre-tournament practice matches took place in the weeks before the first round of group stage matches of the World Cup. ---- ---- ----

Group stage

Group A

----

Group B

All six of the Group B fixtures were played at the

York Community Stadium York Community Stadium (known for sponsorship purposes as the LNER Community Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Huntington, North Yorkshire, Huntington, York, England. It is owned by City of York Council, and is shared by York City F.C., Yo ...

----

Knockout stage

Semi-finals

The semi-finals were played as a double-header at the York Community Stadium, York on 14 November 2022.

----

Final

The final was played at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

, Manchester on 19 November 2022 as a double-header with the final of the men's tournament.

Team of the Tournament

Between the Semi-finals and final the RLWC2021 organisers announced the team of the tournament.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* {{World championships in 2022 Women's Rugby League World Cup

International rugby league competitions hosted by the United Kingdom Women's rugby league in England

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

Womens Rugby League World Cup, 2021 2021 in English rugby league 2021 in English women's sport 2021 in women's rugby league

Teams

Qualification

Draw

Squads

Venues

Stadiums

Team base camp locations

Officiating

Match officials

Warm-up matches

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Knockout stage

Semi-finals

Final

Team of the Tournament

See also

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links