Australia and New Zealand announce historic Under 21 women’s fixture

Rugby Australia and New Zealand Rugby have announced a historic NexGen Under-21s women’s fixture to be played in October, as part of a double-header with the Black Ferns and France WXV Global Series Test.

It’ll be the first time Australia and New Zealand field national women’s age-grade teams in a match between the neighbouring nations. The match will be held at Christchurch’s One New Zealand Stadium on October 31.

Classic Wallaroos Iliseva Batibasaga, Alapeta Ngauamo and Shannon Parry will be the three coaches in charge. 26-Test Wallaroo and two-time Rugby World Cup representative Batibasaga will be the head coach, with a particular focus on attack.

Former Wallaroos captain Parry will be in charge of defence as an assistant coach, while four-Test Wallaroo Ngauamo will focus on set-piece. Red Roses representative Fran Matthews will oversee high-performance strength and conditioning.

“We are pleased to share the next step in our NextGen program, a fantastic opportunity to play against a New Zealand Under 21 team as part of the Black Ferns and France double header,” General Manager of Women’s Rugby Jilly Collins said.

“The Australian squad will feature some of our most promising young talent and future stars of the game.

“Crucially, the program also supports the development of our up-and-coming female coaches. Having a coaching group with top-level playing experience will offer invaluable guidance as these players take the next step in their rugby journeys.”

Director of Women’s High Performance Tim Walsh added: “The NextGen XVs pathway is integral to the future success of the Wallaroos and not only for our elite players but for our elite coaches as well.

“Exposing our rising talent to more international rugby will make their transition into the Wallaroos program seamless and allow for greater development.

“The vision is to have our best of the best talent playing high-quality matches more often and enabling a continuous opportunity to test and develop skills in preparation for a winning future with the Wallaroos.”

Rugby Australia has previously announced the inaugural NextGen XVs program for Under-16 and Under-19 players, which gets underway in September. The NextGen XVs program, and this fixture, are possible thanks to the support of the Australian Rugby Foundation.