WXV 2024 heads to Canada, South Africa and Dubai as qualification for Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 intensifies

WXV returns in September and October 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.

• Canada, South Africa and Dubai to welcome teams as WXV 2024 hosts
• All three levels of the tournament to be played across three consecutive weekends in September and October
• Six Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 qualification spots up for grabs
• WXV match schedule and ticketing information will be announced shortly

Following its impactful launch in 2023, the tournament 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. 

2023 snapshot

• In WXV 1, England produced a statement performance in the final game to beat world champions New Zealand 33-12 and take the WXV 1 title in its inaugural year.
• Scotland's 38-7 bonus-point victory over Japan in WXV 2 saw them crowned champions, narrowly pipping Italy on points difference despite the Azzurre’s own bonus-point victory over USA.
• WXV 3 saw a nail-biting showdown between Ireland and Spain, with Scott Bemand’s team clinching the win 15-13 to take the trophy home to Ireland.

All eyes on WXV 2024

Canada’s hosting of WXV 1 comes after record crowds at the World Rugby Pacific Four Series in 2023 and with the national team flying high in the top four of the World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini, hosting the pinnacle annual competition in the women’s calendar will ignite excitement further.

Meanwhile, building on the momentum achieved in 2023, WXV 2 will return to South Africa and WXV 3 to Dubai, delivering a world-class high-performance environment for teams.

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 gets underway in March 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).

The road to Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025

Four teams have already booked their place at Women’s Rugby World Cup 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 champions England, Canada and France.

A further six teams will qualify as winners of six regional tournaments in 2024 (Asia Rugby Women’s Championship, Guinness Women’s Six Nations, Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship, Pacific Four Series, Rugby Africa Women’s Cup and 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.

World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby Sally Horrox said: “We are delighted to be working with Rugby Canada, the South African Rugby Union and Dubai to host WXV later this year. The tournament plays a fundamental role in helping us to grow women’s rugby and provides more opportunities for players, showcases the game to more fans and inspires more girls to play. Our hosts all share our ambition to take the tournament to the next level and further strengthen the development of the women’s game.

“It’s crucial that teams get sufficient preparation and game-time ahead of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, and WXV is designed to help to provide this for players and coaches alike. I saw firsthand just how much the competitiveness grew across the tournament last year and I look forward to the same again.”

WXV continues to be supported by Mastercard, Capgemini, Gallagher, Mitsubishi Electric and ChildFund with World Rugby also injecting multi-million-pound investment on the road to RWC 2025.

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.

The WXV match schedule, venues and ticketing information will be announced in the coming weeks.