Women's international rugby union

Women's international rugby union has a history going back to the late 19th century, but it was not until 1982 that the first international fixture (or "test match") involving women's rugby union took place. The match was organised in connection with the Dutch Rugby Union's 50th anniversary: as part of the celebrations, on June 13, 1982, the French national women's team played the Dutch in Utrecht, Netherlands, with France winning 4–0[1] in a game that has since been recognised as the first ever women's international[2] rugby union 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 (WR) for many years. Partly as a result, no internationally agreed list of rugby internationals exists; even in the men's game, WR does not decide which matches are "full internationals" (or "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).[3]

International rugby initially grew slowly.[4] Sweden joined France and the Netherlands in 1984, followed by Italy in 1985. It was not until 1987 with a U.S. v. Canada matchup that the first international took place outside Europe, and not until 1990, with New Zealand hosting a match, that the first match was played by a Southern Hemisphere team or played in the Southern Hemisphere. However, since 2003 the game has expanded rapidly, and now over 50 nations have played at least one "test match".

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 a number of "non-traditional" nations who have also been successful, such as the United States and Canada.

  1. ^ A try was only worth four points in 1982, the five point try not being introduced until 1992.
  2. ^ This article, with its accompanying match list and associated data, as well as Women's international rugby union results summary, only includes matches that most independent observers appear to treat as "full internationals" (or "test matches"). These may be defined as:
    • Tournament games between national representative XVs from tournaments for full international teams;
    • Friendly fixtures which it appears were generally promoted prior to the game as being between full-strength national XVs
    • Other fixtures which most independent authorities (as opposed to individual unions) appear to treat as full internationals (such as games involving "World XVs").
    As a result, the list may conflict with the official records published by some national unions who may not include all of these games in their official records (most often because the Union concerned fielded a below-strength team in a tournament for full international XVs), or may include games which fail to meet the above definitions (most often because they fielded a full-strength team in a friendly against an unofficial or "A" team).
  3. ^ "Statistics: Scoring & Player Numbers Explanation". Scrum.com. Retrieved 17 May 2010.
  4. ^ Internationals in each calendar year:
    • 1982 1
    • 1983 1
    • 1984 2
    • 1985 3
    • 1986 5
    • 1987 6
    • 1988 11
    • 1989 5
    • 1990 11
    • 1991 17 (World Cup year)
    • 1992 5
    • 1993 12
    • 1994 34 (World Cup year)
    • 1995 12
    • 1996 23
    • 1997 32
    • 1998 52 (World Cup year)
    • 1999 28
    • 2000 37
    • 2001 46
    • 2002 53 (World Cup year)
    • 2003 32
    • 2004 47
    • 2005 44
    • 2006 79 (World Cup year)
    • 2007 58
    • 2008 66
    • 2009 54