Americas Rugby News Rugby news from across the Americas!
World Rugby has unveiled a new qualification process for the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. The new format sees more than half of the 12 spots already filled as seven countries have been awarded automatic spots based on their performance at WRWC 2017. Included are the two top teams from the Americas – Canada and the USA.
The new pathway will incorporate regional tournaments to assign four further spots, with the final participant to be determined in a new Repechage tournament similar to the Men’s World Cup. Winners from regional competitions in Oceania, Europe, Asia, and Africa will qualify directly for WRWC 2021.
South America will award a regional champion but unlike the other regions will not have an automatic spot. The winner will instead have a play-off with the second-placed team from Africa to fill one of the four Repechage spots. The other three will be second-place finishers from Oceania, Europe, and Asia.
The 2021 WRWC will be hosted by New Zealand. Despite widespread calls for 16 teams to be included, the tournament will maintain its previous participation number but its length will be increased from 23 to 35 days to accommodate the addition of a quarter final knockout stage. Squad sizes will also be increased from 28 to 30 players.
A schedule of the regional qualifiers will be released later this year.
