The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the

women's Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is the women's rugby union world championship which is organised by World Rugby. The first Rugby World Cup for women was held in 1991, but it was not until the 1998 tournament that the tournament received official backing ...

, as organised by

World Rugby World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

and

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. It is part of the Whangārei District, a local body created in 1989 from the former Whangārei City, Whangārei County and Hikurangi Town coun ...

, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but was postponed by one year 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 identi ...

. It was the first women's Rugby World Cup to be hosted by New Zealand, and by a country in the Southern Hemisphere.

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 ...

were also the defending champions. The tournament introduced changes such as replacement of classification play-offs in the knockout stage with quarter-finals, and a longer scheduling window with at least five days between matches. It was also the first to not be marketed by World Rugby as the "Women's Rugby World Cup", due to a decision to market both the men's and women's tournaments under the "Rugby World Cup" title with no disambiguation beginning in 2021.

Host selection

On 14 November 2018, World Rugby announced that New Zealand would host the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup, beating out a competing bid by Australia—the only other country to officially submit a bid for the tournament. It was the first Women's Rugby World Cup to be hosted by a country in the Southern Hemisphere. In November 2019, World Rugby announced that in an effort to create greater parity between the men's and women's Rugby World Cup, the Women's Rugby World Cup would be marketed as the "Rugby World Cup" with no gender designation beginning with the 2021 tournament. The tournament was originally scheduled to be held from 18 September to 16 October 2021. On 2 March 2021, World Rugby announced that the tournament would be postponed to 2022 due to the

, as "it has become clear in recent discussions with key partners including New Zealand Rugby, the New Zealand government and participating unions, that, given the scale of the event and the COVID-19 related uncertainties, it is just not possible to deliver the environment for all teams to be the best that they can be on the sport's greatest stage."

Zero-COVID Zero-COVID, also known as COVID-Zero and "Find, Test, Trace, Isolate, and Support" (FTTIS), is a public health policy that has been implemented by some countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.Anna Llupià, Rodríguez-Giralt, Anna Fité, Lola Ála ...

policy at the time also meant that teams would have been subject to strict quarantine arrangements in order to enter the country, whose international borders were closed. On 12 May 2021, it was announced that the tournament had been rescheduled to 8 October through 12 November 2022; the window of the tournament was also extended and realigned to allow for at least five days rest between matches, as with the men's Rugby World Cup. All matches were scheduled on weekends. The tournament remained branded as the "2021 Rugby World Cup", but with a "Playing in 2022" subtitle.

Venues

The three venues are in the Auckland and Northland regions of

Te Ika-a-Māui The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

, the North Island. Three opening games were hosted at New Zealand's national stadium Eden Park. Eden Park also hosted the semi-finals, third place play-off and final. Other pool games and the quarter-finals were held at the Northland Events Centre and Waitakere Stadium.

Qualifying

New Zealand, the host nation, had already qualified automatically winning the

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

tournament before being announced as hosts. A further six teams (England, France, United States, Canada, Australia and Wales) qualified automatically as top seven finishers at the 2017 tournament. Scotland was announced as the winner of the repechage tournament on 25 February 2022.

Qualified teams

Match officials

On 26 May 2022,

announced the team of 18 officials from 11 unions for the World Cup, including an "all-female team of referees." English official

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

served in her fourth World Cup, while South African official

Aimee Barrett-Theron Aimee Patricia Barrett-Theron (born 27 June 1987) is a South African rugby union former player, and currently a referee on South Africa's Premier Panel. Playing career She could play as a fullback, centre or fly-half and played in various fo ...

and Irish official

Joy Neville Joy Neville (born on 24 July 1983) is a former Ireland women's rugby union international and a current rugby union referee. As a player, Neville represented Ireland at both the 2006 and 2010 Women's Rugby World Cups. In 2009 Neville captaine ...

adjudicates in their second World Cups. On 21 September 2022, World Rugby released the list of appointments for the pool phase—New Zealander Maggie Cogger-Orr was selected to oversee the opening match of the tournament. On 8 November 2022, World Rugby announced that Scottish referee

Hollie Davidson Hollie Davidson is a professional rugby union referee who is contracted with the Scottish Rugby Union. Playing career Davidson began playing competitive rugby when she was 14. She played at scrum-half for Murrayfield Wanderers, one of the mo ...

would adjudicate the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Referees (9) *

* Maggie Cogger-Orr *

Aurélie Groizeleau Aurélie Groizeleau (born 27 February 1989) is a French rugby union referee and former player, who has officiated at international level since 2018. As a player, she made five appearances for the France women's national rugby union team and fiv ...

* Lauren Jenner * Amber McLachlan * Clara Munarini *

Assistants (5) * Maria Beatrice Benvenuti * Doriane Domenjo * Tyler Miller * Kat Roche *

Julianne Zussman Julianne Zussman (born January 23, 1987) is a Canadian rugby union player and referee. She represented at three World Cups. She was named as fullback on the dream team of the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup. In 2016, she was the recipient of the G ...

Television Match Officials (4) * Chris Assmus * Lee Jeffrey * Ian Tempest *

Ben Whitehouse Ben Whitehouse (born 9 August 1990) is a Welsh rugby union referee. He is currently one of five professional referees at the Welsh Rugby Union, alongside Craig Evans and Adam Jones. Career Whitehouse started refereeing at the age of 19, during ...

Draw

Seedings for the pools of the 2021 World Cup were based on the teams'

World Rugby Rankings The World Rugby Rankings (formerly the IRB Rankings) is a ranking system for national teams in rugby union, managed by World Rugby, the sport's governing body. There are separate men's and women's rankings. The teams of World Rugby's member nation ...

. The draw, hosted by sports pundit and former

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

international

Ugo Monye Ugochukwu Chiedozie Monye (born 13 April 1983) is an English sports pundit and former rugby union player, Monye played 14 times for , 241 times for his only club Harlequins and played twice for the British & Irish Lions on their 2009 tour to ...

and sports journalist and presenter Elma Smit, was conducted on 20 November 2020 in the SkyCity Theatre in

, and used the World Rankings as of 1 January 2020, before the global outbreak of the

. This is the first case in which the Women's World Cup was drawn based on World Rankings instead of classification from the previous World Cup. The automatic qualifiers from 2017 were allocated to their respective bands based on their rankings – and the remaining 5 qualifying places were allocated to Bands 3 and 4 based on previous World Cup playing strength: * Band 1, made up of the top 3 automatic qualifiers, (1–3) * Band 2, made up of the next 3 automatic qualifiers, (4–6) * Band 3, made up of the 7th automatic qualifier, Europe 1 and Africa 1 * Band 4, made up of Asia 1, Oceania 1 and Repechage winner This meant the 12 teams, qualified and qualifiers, were seeded thus: The pools were respectively drawn by New Zealand Prime Minister,

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

, former

Black Ferns The New Zealand women's rugby union team, called the Black Ferns, represents New Zealand in women's international rugby union, which is regarded as the country's national sport. The team has won six out of nine Women's Rugby World Cup tourname ...

internationals,

Melodie Robinson Melodie Robinson (born 25 May 1973) is a New Zealand sports journalist and presenter, and former international rugby union player for the New Zealand women's national rugby union team. She played 18 tests for the New Zealand women's team, the Bla ...

and

Farah Palmer Dame Farah Rangikoepa Palmer (born 27 November 1972) is a professor at Massey University and a former captain of New Zealand's women's rugby union team, the Black Ferns. Youth and early career Palmer was born in Te Kuiti, New Zealand and raise ...

and former

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

international,

Dan Carter Daniel William Carter (born 5 March 1982) is a retired New Zealand rugby union player. Carter played for Crusaders (Super Rugby) in New Zealand and played for New Zealand's national team, the All Blacks. He is the highest point scorer in ...

Squads

Each team submitted a squad of 32 players for the tournament.

Pool stage

Each pool was a single round-robin of six games, in which each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same pool. Teams were awarded four points for a win, two points for a draw. A team that scored four or more tries earned a bonus point, as did a team that lost by fewer than eight points. The tournament comprised twelve teams divided into three pools of four teams. The top two teams in each pool, as well as the best two third-placed teams progressed to the quarter-finals. Fixtures were announced on 28 January 2021. ; Tie-breaking criteria If two or more teams are tied on match points, the following tiebreakers applied; # The winner of the match between the two teams # Difference between points scored for and points scored against in all pool matches # Difference between tries scored for and tries scored against in all pool matches # Points scored in all pool matches # Most tries scored in all pool matches Pld = Number of games played; W = Number of games won; D = Number of games drawn; L = Number of games lost; TF = Number of tries scored (tries for); PF = Total number of points scored by the team (points for); PA = Total number of points scored against the team (points against); +/− = Points difference, PF−PA; BP = Bonus pool points; Pts = Total number of pool points

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Ranking of qualified teams

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third-place play-off

Final

Statistics

Last updated: 12 November 2022

Points scorers

Try scorers

Broadcasting

Spark Sport Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications company providing fixed-line telephone services, a mobile phone network, internet access services, and (through its Spark Digital division) ICT services to businesses. It was know ...

will be the host broadcaster for the Rugby World Cup, broadcasting all matches live and on demand through its online streaming platform.

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

will broadcast a selection of games free-to-air on New Zealand television. * :

Stan Sport Stan (stylized as Stan.) is an Australian over-the-top streaming service. It was launched on 26 January 2015. Stan originally was founded as StreamCo Media, a 50/50 joint venture between Nine Entertainment Co. and Fairfax Media. In August 2014, ...

and Nine Network * : TSN and RDS * : TF1 * :

Eir Sport Eir Sport (stylised as eir Sport; formerly Setanta Sports) was a group of Irish television sports channels operated by Eircom Sport Limited, a subsidiary of Eir. In December 2015, Eir purchased original Setanta Sports operations in the Republi ...

and RTÉ * :

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

and Sky Sport * :

and

* : SuperSport * : Movistar Plus+ * :

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

* : NBC Sports and

TUDN TUDN (pronounced tu-de-ene; formerly called Univision Deportes Network (abbr. UDN) is an American Spanish language sports channel. Owned by TelevisaUnivision, it is an extension of the company's sports division of the same name. It launched on Ap ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

2022 rugby union tournaments for national teams 2022 in women's rugby union

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb E ...

International women's rugby union competitions hosted by New Zealand

Rugby union events postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

2022 in Australian rugby union 2022–23 in Welsh rugby union 2022–23 in Scottish rugby union 2022 in Canadian rugby union 2022 in American rugby union 2022–23 in Italian rugby union 2022–23 in Japanese rugby union 2022–23 in English rugby union 2022–23 in French rugby union 2022 in South African rugby union 2022 in Fijian rugby union