Super Rugby Women's is an annual

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

women's rugby union club competition organised by

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named the Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It ...

. It is contested by five clubs from Australia and one club from Fiji, who play a single series of round-robin matches to determine the four participants of a

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

. The competition replaced the representative National Women's Championship with five teams owned by the Australian

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

franchises, and began play in the 2018 season as an amateur league known as the Super W. The 2022 season saw the addition of a team from Fiji, and the introduction of salaries for players. The league adopted its current name in the 2024 season. Fijiana Drua are the current champions, while the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

have won the most championships (4).

History

The league commenced in the 2018 season as an amateur league. Buildcorp were named as the league's

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partner, while

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

were named as the official supplier of the league's rugby balls. For the inaugural season, the teams' playing lists were constructed from scratch throughout the later stages of 2018. Clubs were asked to nominate a list of desired players, with the Super W assigning two of these "marquee" players to each club. In addition, clubs were able to sign a number of players with existing connections to the club, or with arrangements for club sponsored work or study. In the 2019 season, the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

were replaced by a team representing RugbyWA. The 2020 season was suspended following the fifth and final round of the regular season, due to lockdowns imposed by various state governments in late March, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia. The planned playoff between the second-placed Reds and third-placed Brumbies, and the subsequent grand final, were cancelled in April; the first-placed Waratahs were declared champions once more. The Waratahs would finish a fourth straight undefeated season in

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, which was played almost entirely at Coffs Harbour International Stadium in a pool format, and featured the temporary addition of a "President's XV" team composed of players from New South Wales and Queensland. The Western Force returned to the league, but withdrew after the first round to avoid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales.

Teams

Six

franchises, including five from Australia and one from Fiji, will field teams in the 2024 season of Super Rugby Women's. Players in the competition are required to be seventeen years of age or older.

Champions

Summary of winners

Broadcasting

During the 2020 season all matches were televised live by affiliate partners

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

. Following Rugby Australia's broadcast deal with

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television ne ...

, all games will be broadcast on streaming service Stan Sport, with one game a round being simulcast on Nine's flagship free to air channel. All matches are streamed live by Stan Sport.

References

Notes Citations

External links

Super Rugby Women's
at

{{Women's rugby union 2018 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2018