Women's rugby continues to grow one year on from Women's Rugby World Cup 2025

Today marks one year to the day since England’s Red Roses beat Canada in the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 final.

In front of a world record crowd of 81,885 at Allianz Stadium, John Mitchell’s side ended their 11-year wait to be world champions again with tries from Ellie Kildunne, Amy Cokayne, Abbie Ward and an Alex Matthews brace.

Now, the world of women’s Test rugby is engulfed by WXV Global Series – which has provided scintillating action for the past weekends – an annual event that will see the world’s top 18 teams play more than 100 international fixtures between 2026 and 2028.

The top 12 nations are competing in a home-and-away touring model, while six more nations compete at the WXV Global Series Challenger.

World Rugby have also reported that through its Rugby Rising Play programme, which has just reached its second anniversary, that 25,162 girls aged between 11 and 18 have benefitted directly from the 10-session programme, which was delivered by 975 trained workforce members. In total, 32 more member unions have joined the initiative in 2026. Now, 63 unions are supported globally.

Since the Women’s Rugby World Cup, 68 unions have committed to growing participation of women’s and girls rugby by 50%, so that there could be 3.4 million women and girls playing the sport by Women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 in Australia.

Earlier this week, the Rugby Football Union in their Impact ’25 report that over four years the number of girls playing age-grade rugby had risen by 49%.

Additionally, World Rugby have continued in their efforts to prioritise women’s player welfare, education and off-pitch opportunity. This has all been done with the intention of sustaining the growth of the game.

This has included the Women’s Health Webinar Services – in which the first two of a three series webinar have attracted 780 attendees – and the 2026 Women in Rugby Careers Programme is currently supporting over 250 women across 91 countries.

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Brett Robinson, World Rugby Chair, said: “Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 was a defining moment for the game, but its lasting impact is enduring. Core commitments in our 2026-31 Strategic Plan provide unions with greater competition certainty, commercial growth, and clear pathways.

“From Rugby Rising Play to our evolved WXV Global Series, we are building a sustainable ecosystem in partnership with our unions as we drive momentum toward Australia 2029.”

World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby, Sally Horrox added: “One year ago, Women’s RWC 2025 set a new benchmark for women’s sport, proving the passion and potential that exists within our game.

“Our focus has been translating that historic tournament into long-term, sustainable growth. From the expansion of the WXV Global Series to record numbers of young girls joining Rugby Rising Play, momentum behind the women’s game has never been stronger as we set a clear course for the next three years.”