WXV: HOW DOES IT WORK?

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In 2023, World Rugby launched a new three-tier annual global women’s international 15s competition within a restructuring of the test calendar. The tournament returns this September in Canada, Dubai and South Africa.

Revolutionising the women’s international rugby landscape

Following its impactful launch in October 2023, WXV remains central to World Rugby’s ambition to accelerate the growth of the women’s game. WXV provides more competitive matches for unions, greater profile and investment on the road to an expanded 16-team Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2025.

All eyes on WXV 2024

WXV returns in September and October 2024 with Canada, South Africa and Dubai hosting the best of the best in women’s international rugby. With the added excitement of six Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 places up for grabs, the action promises to be compelling.

This year’s tournament will kick-off earlier to support performance planning and best preparation for unions for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025. All three levels will play across the same three weekends to enable the six qualification spots to be confirmed immediately after the conclusion of the tournament.

Round 1 – Friday, 27 - Sunday, 29 September

Round 2 – Friday, 4 - Sunday, 6 October

Round 3 – Friday, 11 - Sunday, 13 October

2024 Qualification Begins

Qualification for WXV got underway March this year with unions from around the world competing to secure one of 18 spots across the relevant levels through their regional competitions.

Competitive and exciting matches in the final round of WXV 2023 determined regional positions across all three levels for 2024 with exception to the final spot in WXV 3 which will be determined by a play-off between Colombia (placed last in WXV 3 2023) and Netherlands (top ranked team from alternative region).

All three level will consist of six teams and be played in a cross-pool format, as a standalone tournament in one location, which will be determined on a year-by-year basis.

WXV 1

Participating teams will include the top three teams from the Women’s Six Nations (Europe) and the top three teams from World Rugby’s Pacific Four Series featuring USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia (Oceania/Rugby Americas North (RAN))

There was no promotion or relegation for the regional positions in WXV 2023.

Qualified teams for WXV 1 so far:

Canada
England
France
Ireland
New Zealand
USA

WXV 2

Participating teams for 2023 will include two teams from Europe, the fourth-placed team from the cross-regional tournament featuring USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia (Oceania/RAN) alongside one team from Oceania, Asia and Africa

The sixth-placed regional position in WXV 2 at the end of each season will be relegated to WXV 3.

Qualified teams for WXV 2 so far:

Australia
Italy
Japan
Scotland
South Africa
Wales

WXV 3

WXV 3 will be made up from Europe, one from Asia, one from Oceania, one from Africa and one from South America. The Group winning regional position heads up to group 2. The fate of the bottom team will be decided by a play-off with the next best side, according to the World Rugby Women’s Rankings at the end of the year.

Qualified teams for WXV 3 so far:

Fiji
Hong Kong China
Madagascar
Netherlands
Samoa
Spain

The road to Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025

Heading into 2024, four teams had already booked their place at Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025, courtesy of reaching the semi-finals of the previous edition, played in New Zealand in 2022. They are world champions New Zealand, Guinness Women’s Six Nations and WXV 1 champions England, Canada and France.

Ireland were the first team to qualify in 2024 after ranking third in the Women's Guinness Six Nations 2024 and South Africa also confirmed their spot after finishing top of the Rugby Africa Women's Cup that was played in Madagascar.

They will be joined at England 2025 by USA, Asia Rugby Women's Championship winners Japan, Oceania Rugby Women's Championship winners Fiji and Brazil, the winner of the Sudamerica play-off.

The final six spots will go to the highest finishing WXV teams who have not yet qualified through RWC 2021 and the regional tournaments outlined above.

WXV will break in 2025 for Women’s Rugby World Cup in England, and a full review of the tournament will be undertaken with participating unions to ensure that, collectively, WXV continues to support high-performance and commercial goals on the road to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 in Australia and beyond.