In collaboration with Rugby Africa, 24 representatives from six African unions – Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Tunisia and Madagascar – came together at the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport. Delegates took part in a number of workshops aimed at building knowledge and expertise to grow the women and girls’ game in their respective countries.
Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s Chief of Women’s Rugby, Paula Lanco, an Executive Member at Rugby Africa and World Rugby Council Member, and Dame Katherine Grainger, Chair of UK Sport and multiple Olympic medallist, were among the high-profile figures to speak at the conference, which formed part of the Impact Beyond 2025 programme.
World Rugby officially launched it's Impact Beyond 2025 programme last month with the aim of capturing the long-standing positive impact of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025. The plan will allow World Rugby to harness the power of RWC 2025, maximising its positive impact globally. It is built around three core themes of profile and participation, careers and gender equity, and capability and expertise within a whole-game approach with the mission of inspiring more women and girls to get into rugby on and off the field of play.
The opening day included a session for delegates to discuss the opportunities and key learnings in their Unions, including identifying shared experiences with other Unions. Subsequent sessions looked at how to drive gender equity in the sport, as well as the principles behind delivering a successful women’s domestic competition, led by World Rugby’s Director of High Performance Nicky Ponsford.
Day two saw World Rugby’s social impact partner ChildFund Rugby run a session on how to unlock sport for development funding. FNB, sponsors of the Springboks and Springbok Women, delivered a seminar on what makes a successful commercial partnership, before UK Sport led the final session on the value of hosting events.
The delegation also attended the WXV 2 matches at Athlone Stadium which saw Scotland beat Japan and Australia just taking the edge with a thriller against South Africa. Springbok men’s captain and two-time Rugby World Cup winner, Siya Kolisi was also in attendance in full Springbok Women’s kit in a public show of support for the women’s game. As well as attending the fixtures, he took the time to visit the delegates behind the scenes.
During his visit, Kolisi highlighted the importance of reciprocating the support the men’s game has received and the importance of allyship commenting: “Well I think the women have been supporting us for a very long time and I think it is our duty. We all play within our country, and they deserve this, that same support that we get every single weekend.
“It is our duty as men in the game to make sure that we intentionally be there. Not just at games, at training, helping where can because if the women’s game grows, the whole of rugby grows, and we all benefit out of it.”
Following the completion of the summit, Horrox also added: "It has been a real privilege to be here at this Impact Beyond 2025 Summit in Stellenbosch and to hear about the incredible work being done for women and women's rugby in Africa.
“There has been so much fantastic energy and enthusiasm in the room with a focus on growing women's rugby and creating more gender equity across our sport.
“I'm excited to see how everyone builds on these discussions back in their own unions, on the road to Women's Rugby World Cup 2025."
Each union will develop an action plan, building on what they took away from the Summit to continue to drive the growth of the women and girls’ game across Africa.
Find out more about Impact Beyond 2025 and how you can get involved with rugby here.
