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Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 kicks off on Friday and event organisers are confident that the global showcase tournament will elevate the Women's Game to new levels, capturing the hearts and minds of new audiences both in the UK and around the world via an unprecedented broadcast platform.
The 17-day tournament features the world's best women players following a first ever global qualification process. Six teams qualified automatically, three-time defending champions New Zealand, 2006 runners-up England, France, Canada, USA and South Africa. Kazakhstan, Australia, Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Sweden join them having successfully negotiated the extensive qualification process.
The Twickenham Stoop will host the semi finals and final on Wednesday, September 1 and Sunday, September 5 respectively with the pool matches and play-off games staged at the multi-million pound high performance centre, Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.
"Women's Rugby World Cup has redefined the boundaries of Women's Rugby over the years, producing memorable encounters, outstanding Rugby and positioning the Women's Game in front of global audiences. Through an irresistible platform of record TV coverage, highly-competitive matches, unprecedented media interest and strong public support," said IRB Vice Chairman Bill Beaumont at the official launch in City Hall, London today.
"I am sure that Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 will take the Women's Game to new levels, attracting new audiences in the UK and around the world
"I would like to thank the many people at the RFUW and RFU who have worked tirelessly to ensure that Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 is the biggest and most successful tournament to date. With all the teams here we can look forward to a wonderful festival of world-class Rugby played in impressive venues in front of large enthusiastic audiences. It promises to be an event not to be missed."
Beaumont was joined at the launch by Hugh Robertson MP, UK Government Minister for Sport, and RFUW President Gill Burns, underlining the high level of support for a tournament that will usher in a decade of world class sporting events in the UK, including Rugby World Cup 2015.
"I am delighted that England is hosting the Women's Rugby World Cup. This will showcase the sport at the highest level and I hope encourage many more young women and girls' to get involved in the game. I wish the IRB and the RFU the best of luck in putting on a successful tournament," said Robertson.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson added: "City Hall is immensely proud to be marking the start of the Women's Rugby World Cup, hosted in England for the first time, and I am delighted that the finals will take place at the Twickenham Stoop. Women's Rugby is rapidly growing and we have a truly world class England team. This is a fantastic opportunity to watch them play on home soil and cheer them on to victory. I hope it will inspire other young people to get into sport."
England captain Catherine Spencer said: "It's really exciting that we are now just days away from the games getting underway. We have been training really hard for this moment and know that we are ready for this. We are chomping at the bit for our first game against Ireland on Friday. To play in a World Cup is a massive honour. To play in a World Cup on home soil and lead your country is extra special and I just can't wait."
Women's and girls' Rugby is growing strongly around the world, with 200,000 women and girls now playing the game regularly. In England there are 15,000 women and girls playing the game, 8,000 of whom are youth players, which highlights the massive growth in the sport.
An extensive legacy programme, which provides an integral component of all IRB tournaments, has been built around Women's Rugby World Cup 2010. Twelve Legacy Project Officers tasked with the delivery of 30 projects nationwide has been an exciting development aimed at increasing awareness and participation in Women's Rugby and maximising the opportunities for girls and women to be involved in the Game at all levels.
The Legacy Project Officers had a goal to engage 200 new participants in each of the 12 regions, then to encourage 10 percent of these participants to move into local rugby clubs, and at the same time to significantly increase the number of volunteers in the game. So far, 30 programmes have taken place up and down the country and nearly 5,000 women and girls have taken part with the tournament itself attracting more than 300 volunteers in various placements from hospitality to match reporting and team liaison officers.
Rosie Williams, Managing Director of the RFUW, added: "The Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 is a marvellous opportunity to raise the profile of the women's game in England. Women's Rugby is a rapidly growing sport but to have the showcase event on English soil will undoubtedly help raise the profile of the sport and get more people into the game, and we have a range of legacy programmes designed to achieve just that."
iRB
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
Foxsports 2 are showing Australia vs Wales at 5am this Saturday morning and Australia vs NZ on Wednesday morning (25th). This looks like the only coverage of the pool games (other than highlights on total rugby or Eurosports). Better than nothing but still sucks when you look at how many old re-runs of cricket test matches and GAYFL replays. Link below for all fixtures & news:
http://www.rwcwomens.com/
My daughter is 7 and really wants to play juniors next year like her brother so hopefully this will raise the profile and attract more girls.
PS- Really funny moment watching a junior game last year (under 9s) where one team had two very quick girls playing for them out wide & the dads/ coaches from the other team on the sidelines screaming "don't let the girls get the ball!!" A try every time- brilliant![]()
[Beer & crisps......the pre-season diet of choice
Important to note we're in the Pool of Death
Wales
New Zealand
Sth africa
Know they can do it !!!!!!!
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
Oddly enough Ireland is a shoe in with their Group - but with the Wallaroos it's definitely Australia all the way - this is a new game
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
Maybe after England's amazing run of results of recent world cup victories in sport (1966, 2003) it's possibly a ploy to add 2010 to those enviable statistics by putting all the good teams in D. Amazing effort when you consider there are only 56 million of them. Truly![]()
[Beer & crisps......the pre-season diet of choice
It's a sad day for our sport when there's a womens world cup, chicks should stick to more origional female sports like Foxy Boxing, Pillow fighting and mud wrestling...
when they keep glancing over at me i know they think iam cute and are checking me out -Kalafan 10/3/10
i have difficulty in my life. alot of girls like me but i cannot ask them out. i think they like me cause i am good looking and have a nice smile.- kalafan 3/7/10
FREE LINDSAY
Born TROLLIN
Or lingerie football, 5.30 today on fuel tv. they also had honey wrestling on for a while- same as mud wrestling but with honey & g-strings. apparently....
[Beer & crisps......the pre-season diet of choice
Pardon me for bringing a few facts into it, but there isn't a Pool D. Pool A is the one with Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Wales.
I've tried looking on the IRB site for the women's world rankings, but I couldn't find them. Maybe the pool selection is based on the results of the 2006 WRWC where NZ won, Australia were 7th, South Africa 12th and Wales didn't qualify. Just because the men of a country can play rugby, doesn't mean the women can. (In 2006, Canada came 4th and USA 5th!)
So Pool A has the 2006 winners, 7th, 12th and DNQ.
Pool B has the 2006 2nd (England), 5th (USA), 8th (Ireland) and 11th (Kazakhstan).
Pool C has the 2006 3rd (France), 4th (Canada), 6th (Scotland) and DNQ (Sweden).
In order to get into the semi-finals you need to either win your group or be the best placed 2nd place team. Considering Australia's pool has the worst team at 2006 and a team which didn't qualify, still think Pool A is difficult? It's the easiest route!
Some pictures lifted from the BBC website:
American fans
England fans
And tokenism in the South African team
![]()
I find it odd that the South African women only came in 12th. The only thing scarier than a big 115kg South African man is his wife.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
The final round of pool matches yesterday, and there were few surprises in the results.
Pool A: New Zealand (15), Australia (10), South Africa (4), Wales (1)
Pool B: England (15), Ireland (10), USA (5), Kazakhstan (1)
Pool C: France (13), Canada (10), Scotland (5), Sweden (1)
Based on points differentials, the seedings are:
1. England
2. New Zealand
3. France
4. Australia
5. Canada
6. Ireland
7. USA
8. Scotland
9. South Africa
10. Wales
11. Sweden
12. Kazakhstan
Australia make it to the semis to play England while New Zealand play France.
The 5th place semis are Canada - Scotland and Ireland - USA.
The 9th place semis are South Africa - Kazakhstan and Wales - Sweden.
Semis to be played Wednesday.
Wallaroos win through to World Cup semi-finals
August 29, 2010 - 4:52am
Story by: ARU
Wallaroos centre Sharni Williams leaps free of South African defence on her way to scoring the try which booked Australia's first WRWC semi-finals appearance
The Wallaroos have booked their first ever finals appearance at a Women’s Rugby World Cup following an emphatic 62-0 victory over South Africa at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
Australia secured their necessary four-try bonus point within 30 minutes and piled on nine tries to give themselves the best chance of qualifying for the semi-finals as the best performing runner-up across the tournament’s three pools.
Centre Sharni Williams’s second try of the match - scored deep into injury time during the final play of the game - lifted the Wallaroos past the 56 points required to knock Canada out of the race to the last four on a superior for-and-against record.
Coach John Manenti and his squad then had a nervous wait on the outcome of the match between hosts England and the USA to ensure they would finish as the fourth seed and book a place in the WRWC semi-finals.
The Wallaroos will now play England on Wednesday night (Thursday AEST) at Twickenham Stoop.
Manenti said he’s pleased the Wallaroos continue to improve with every game.
“The important thing is that we learnt from our loss to New Zealand and we were able to make adjustments to our game,” Manenti said.
“We finished seventh at the last World Cup and it’s been a big goal of ours to lift Australia’s world ranking and we’re well on our way to achieving that.”
Winger Kristy Giteau gave Australia the best possible start when she swooped on a great ball from skipper Cheryl Soon to touch down in the corner in the fifth minute.
The ever-reliable Nicole Beck made no mistake when she slotted over the conversion from the sideline and the winger went on to amass a personal tally of 17 points in a match where every point inched Australia closer to the Cup semi-finals.
Prop Lindsay Morgan scored either side of the break to record a double, fullback Tricia Brown and star No.8 Debby Hodgkinson also found the tryline and centre Cobie-Jane Morgan pierced the South African defence late in the second half to add another five points to the Wallaroos tally.
Australia 62 (Kristy Giteau, Tricia Brown, Debby Hodgkinson, Lindsay Morgan 2, Sharni Williams 2, Cobie-Jane Morgan tries; Nicole Beck 7 cons, 1 pen) bt South Africa 0 at Surrey Sports Park, Guilford.
http://www.rugby.com.au/news/wallaro.../section/21893