The 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup was the seventh edition of the

Women's Rugby World Cup The Women's 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 b ...

, and the sixth held in Europe. The World Cup Final took place on 17 August. All of the pool games for the World Cup took place at the Centre National du Rugby (CNR) in

Marcoussis Marcoussis () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Marcoussis is the location of the CNR (National Centre of Rugby) where the France national rugby u ...

and Marcoussis Rugby Club with the French union adopting the concept of restricting the tournament to one or two locations as in the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Marcoussis is about 20 miles south of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. The

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

s of the tournament also saw matches played at the CNR in Marcoussis, with the semi-finals, Bronze Final and Final taking place at Stade Jean-Bouin in the French capital – home of

Stade Français Stade Français Paris (known commonly as Stade Français, ) is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French ...

. The matches took place on 1, 5, 9, and 13 August with the final played on 17 August. The tournament format was the same as in 2010, with 12 teams split into three pools of four. The pool allocation draw took place once all 12 teams were confirmed.

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

won the final 21–9 against Canada on 17 August. With the inclusion of Rugby 7s at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, this was the last Women's Rugby World Cup to be held in an even-numbered non-leap year. All Women's Rugby World Cup matches are currently held in the odd-numbered years alternating with the men's counterpart, starting with the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup in Ireland.

Bidding process

On 27 August 2009 the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the 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 competit ...

(IRB; now known as World Rugby) announced that it was inviting bids to host the 2014 event. Unions had until 30 October 2009 to express an interest with the chosen host being announced on 12 May 2010. The announcement was an important development in the history of women's rugby as the IRB had never previously announced a competition to host a Women's World Cup with such publicity, nor so far ahead of the event. The chosen hosts for 2014 would also have had four years to prepare – twice as long as any previous host. The announcement was also significant because, for the first time, the IRB included the "unofficial"

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

World Cups in their official list of previous tournaments. On 21 December 2009, the IRB announced the four nations that formally applied to host the 2014 Women's Rugby World Cup: *

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

(bid subsequently withdrawn, in favour of Samoa) *

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

However, after delaying the announcement until September 2010, the IRB eventually announced that, due to problems with the existing bids, they were reopening applications. On 30 June 2011, the IRB announced that the tournament would be held in France.

Qualifying

France, as the host nation, qualified automatically. The top three teams from the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

tournament, New Zealand, England, and Australia, also qualified automatically. Canada and the United States qualified due to there being no interest from other North or South American unions.

Qualified teams

Match officials

In April 2014 the IRB announced a panel of 14 match officials for the tournament, including eight referees and six assistant.

provided two of the referees in the form of Jess Beard and Nicky Inwood, while there will be one each from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

provided two assistant referees with the others coming from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Nicky Inwood, Sherry Trumbull and Clare Daniels were selected for 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup, which took place in

. Indeed, Inwood and Daniels also refereed at the 2006 edition in

. In August 2014, it was announced that

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

referee Amy Perrett would adjudicate the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. ;Referees (8) * Jess Beard * Leah Berard * Claire Hodnett * Nicky Inwood * Marlize Jordaan * Helen O'Reilly * Amy Perrett * Sherry Trumbull ;Assistant referees (6) * Beatrice Benvenuti *

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer ( born 13 December 1974), better known as Sara Cox, is an English broadcaster and author. A presenter on BBC Radio 2, she has been hosting the station's drivetime show since January 2019. She previously presented BBC Radio 1's ...

* Clare Daniels * Marie Lematte * Alhambra Nievas * Alex Pratt

Squads

Pool stage

The pool draw took place on 30 October 2013 at Hotel de Ville, Paris. The twelve qualified teams were organised into four bands: Band 1: New Zealand, England, Australia
Band 2: Canada, USA, France
Band 3: Ireland, Wales, Spain
Band 4: Kazakhstan, Samoa, South Africa 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 and none for a defeat of more than seven points. A team scoring four or more tries in one match earned a bonus point, as did teams that lost by seven points or fewer.

Pool A

Pool B

Pool C

Finals

Knockout rankings

At the completion of the pool stage, teams were ranked first according to their position within their pool and then by competition points. The top four teams progressed to the tournament semi-finals, teams ranked 5–8 progressed to the 5th to 8th play-offs, and the teams ranked 9–12 progressed to the 9th to 12th play-offs.

Tie Breakers

Ties on competition points were broken in the following order:
1. Winner of the match between the two teams (does not apply to teams in different pools);
2. Difference between points scored and points conceded;
3. Difference between tries scored and tries conceded;
4. Most points scored;
5. Most tries scored;
6. Coin toss.

Rankings Play-offs 9 to 12

Semi-finals 11th Place Playoff 9th Place Playoff

Rankings Play-offs 5 to 8

Semi-finals 7th Place Playoff 5th Place Playoff

Semi-finals and final

Semi-finals 3rd Place Playoff Final

Statistics

Points scorers

Try scorers

Discipline

1 red card * Soteria Pulumu (5-match suspension) Suspension following citing * Rebecca de Filippo (2-week suspension) in match against New Zealand * Mandisa Williams (16-week suspension) in match against Australia 2 yellow cards * Celeste Adonis * Oxana Shadrina * Rachel Taylor * Shona-Leah Weston 1 yellow card * Chloe Buttler * Helen Collins * Jenny Davies * Olivia DeMerchant * Linda Itunu * Natalya Kamendrovskaya * Mary Jane Kirby * Caroline Ladagnous * Rita Lilii * Michelle Milward * Taliilagi Mefi * Claire Molloy * Marlie Packer * Shannon Parry * Rebecca Smyth * Shaina Turley * Sarah Walsh * Brittany Waters

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:World Cup

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2014 rugby union tournaments for national teams International women's rugby union competitions hosted by France 2014–15 in French rugby union 2014 in French women's sport 2014 in women's rugby union August 2014 sports events in Europe Women's Rugby World Cup records and statistics