Women's international rugby union has a history dating back to the late 19th century. It was not until 1982 that the first international fixture ( test match) took place. The match was organised in connection with the

Dutch Rugby Union The Dutch Rugby Union () is the governing body for rugby union in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1932 and became affiliated to the International Rugby Football Board, in 1988 known as the International Rugby Board and now as World Rugby. Nethe ...

's 50th anniversary: as part of the celebrations, on 13 June 1982, the France national women's team played the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, with France winning 4–0. This match has since been recognised as the first-ever women's international test match. Official recognition of women's internationals was not immediate, as almost all women's rugby was originally organised outside of the control of either national unions or

World Rugby 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 ...

for many years. As a result, no internationally agreed list of rugby internationals exists; even in the men's game, World Rugby does not decide which matches are test matches, leaving such decisions up to participating unions. As a result, one country may classify a match as a full international (and award full test caps) while the opposition may not: countries may even award caps for games against an opposition that is not a national team (World XVs, for example). Women's international rugby developed gradually. Sweden joined France and the Netherlands in 1984, followed by Italy in 1985. The first international match outside Europe took place in 1987 between the United States and Canada. In 1990, New Zealand hosted a match, marking the first game played in or involving a team from the Southern Hemisphere. Over 1,000 internationals have now been played. Traditional centres of rugby in New Zealand, England, and France have been the most successful nations, but they have been joined by several "non-traditional" nations who have also been successful, such as the United States and more recently Canada.

Rankings

Women's World Rankings

Unlike men's rugby, there was historically no official ranking of women's teams — before 2016, World Rugby referred to using the placings in the preceding World Cup. However,

Rugby Europe Rugby Europe is the administrative body for rugby union in Europe. It was formed in 1999 to promote, develop, organise, and administer the game of rugby in Europe under the authority of World Rugby (the sport's global governing body). However, it ...

compiled an annual ranking of European teams and rugby statistician Serge Piquet produced an unofficial, but accepted, world ranking list. Another list appears on The Roon Ba website. On 1 February 2016, World Rugby introduced its first official rankings of women's national teams, calculated similarly as the existing rankings for men's national teams.

Notes

References

External links

*
Rugbydata
includes women's internationals (18 March 2010 to 16 March 2014)
Entire list of internationals (13 June 1982 to 28 April 2012) in a Google Documents spreadsheet

The rise and popularity of women's rugby in Canada, by John A O'Hanley (1998)Official women's World Rankings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Women's International Rugby Union

Rankings

Women's World Rankings

See also

Notes

References

External links