2021 Rugby World Cup

2021 Rugby World Cup
Tournament details
Host nation New Zealand
Dates8 October – 12 November 2022
No. of nations12
Final positions
Champions  New Zealand
Runner-up  England
Third place  France
Tournament statistics
Matches played26
Top scorer(s)England Emily Scarratt (44)
Most triesNew Zealand Portia Woodman (7)
2017
2025

The 2021 Rugby World Cup was the ninth staging of the women's Rugby World Cup, as organised by World Rugby. It was held from 8 October to 12 November 2022 in Auckland and Whangārei, New Zealand. It was originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but was postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It was the first women's Rugby World Cup to be hosted by New Zealand, and by a country in the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand were also the defending champions.

The tournament introduced changes such as replacement of classification play-offs in the knockout stage with quarter-finals,[1][2] and a longer scheduling window with at least five days between matches.[3] It was also the first to not be marketed by World Rugby as the "Women's Rugby World Cup", due to a decision to market both the men's and women's tournaments under the "Rugby World Cup" title with no disambiguation beginning in 2021.

  1. ^ "Women's Rugby World Cup: Format changes announced for 2021 tournament". BBC Sport. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  2. ^ Orchard, Sara (2018). "Women's Rugby World Cup: Format changes announced for 2021 tournament". BBC. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  3. ^ "New 2022 dates for postponed Rugby World Cup 2021 offer five-day rests". Insidethegames.biz. 12 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2022.