WXV explained

World Rugby has today unveiled the match schedule for WXV, the new 15s competition designed to increase the competitiveness, reach and impact of the elite women’s game.

The three-level tournament, which begins this October, will see 27 fixtures played across three host countries.

The entire competition is set to take place over four weekends between Friday, 13 October until Saturday, 4 November in Dubai, South Africa and New Zealand.

In all three levels, matches will take place on Fridays and Saturdays, with a combination of standalone and double header fixtures, with the intention of maximising fan attendance.

Because the launch of WXV was delayed by a year due to COVID, it will take place during the men’s Rugby World Cup though World Rugby say that match times will “complement” the men’s tournament.

Format

Each of the three tournaments will be run using a “cross pool”. The six teams will be divided into two pools of three, who will not play each other, but instead will play the three teams in theotherpool, with end of tournament rankings based on results in the three games.

Rankings will be decided on the usual tournament points (four points for a win, plus the usual bonuses). If teams are tied (which, given the format, is quite likely) precedence will based on (in order):

* The winner of any match between the two teams* Points difference* Tries difference* Most points in all matches* Most tries* Fewest red cards* Fewest yellow cards.

A cross-pool format ensures that every team in an odd-numbered pool has a game in every round, and is fine in theory if the teams in the two pools are balanced, in terms of ability.

However, if one team is significantly weaker than the rest, or the rankings are otherwise incorrect, things can go wrong – as happened the last time this format was used for a major competition.

In 2013,a final World Cup Qualifier in Spainsaw Samoa qualify for the 2014 World Cup ahead of Italy and Scotland, despite losing 22-65 against the Italians, because the unbalanced pools saw Samoa have to play Netherlands and Sweden in their other two games, while Italy were pitted against Scotland and Spain.

WXV1

The premier tournament, including the top three finishers in from the Six Nations 2023 and Pacific Fours, will take place New Zealand

The opening weekend kicks off on Friday, 20 October at Sky Stadium in Wellington with England up against Australia. This will be followed on Saturday with Canada facing Wales and Pacific Four Series and world champions, New Zealand up against France.

Round two moves to Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr Stadium and the tournament.18 will come to a close at the Go Media Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland where Australia will be in action against Wales on Friday, 3rdNovember followed by the final double-header that will see France take on Canada in a repeat of the last World Cup final England will face New Zealand.

The two pools are:

* England (ranked 1), France (3) and Wales (6). Total ranking points: 261.17* New Zealand (2), Canada (4), and Australia (5). Total ranking points: 257

Overall, the two pools appear well-balanced (there is only just over a 1% difference between their overall rankings), although the Six Nations teams are slightly favoured as the Pacific Nations teams – on paper - will be facing marginally higher ranked opposition.

WXV 2

The six teams in WXV2 will head to Cape Town and Stellenbosch in South Africa, kicking off a week before WXV1.

The first fixtures will take place Friday, 13 October at Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch with an double-header that sees Italy take on Japan before Scotland face hosts South Africa. USA will then tackle Samoa in the standalone match on Saturday, 14 October.

The tournament moves to Cape Town with the Athlone Stadium hosting the second and third rounds. The competition ends on 27-28 October with three games across the two days with Scotland up against Japan and South Africa versus Samoa on the Friday and USA facing on the Saturday.

The two pools are:

* Italy (ranked 8), Scotland (9), and Samoa (16). Total ranking points: 204.86* USA (7), Japan (11), and South Africa (12). Total ranking points: 211.12

The two pools appear reasonably well-balanced, although difference between them is over 3%, and favours the USA/Japan/South Africa trio, mainly because Samoa is ranked well behind the other five teams.

With no promotion from WXV2, all eyes will be on whoever finishes last as they (or the continent they represent) will lose a place in WXV2 to the continent whose team ends top of WXV3.

WXV 3

Dubai’s The Sevens Stadium was – slightly controversially - confirmed as the venue for WXV3 a few weeks ago, mainly because none of the participants appear to have bid to host the event. There are suggestions that Hong Kong had been pencilled in but – even if that was accurate – it failed to come about when Kazakhstan knocked them out of contention.

WXV3 also kicks off on Friday, 13 October with Fiji taking on Colombia and Ireland up against Kazakhstan. The next day sees European champions Spain pitted against Kenya.

The final weekend will be on Friday, 27 October with Kazakhstan against Fiji and Kenya versus Colombia, and the final WXV 3 match sees Ireland tackle Spain the next day.

The two pools are:

* Ireland (ranked 10), Fiji (19), and Kenya (23). Total ranking points: 175.8* Spain (13), Kazakhstan (18), and Colombia (25). Total ranking points: 168.4

It is interesting that World Rugby have seeded this so WXV3 will be the only tournament where two teams from the same continent will meet each other. But, given that Ireland and Spain are both significantly higher ranked than any of the other four teams, they had little choice.

Nonetheless, there is still difference of over 4% in the relative strength of the two pools, with the Ireland/Fiji/Kenya pool being favoured.

In many ways this will be the most fascinating of all of the three tournaments.

Not only does it see teams who never normally feature in the same competition (outside a World Cup) pitted against each other, but it will feature “promotion” and “relegation”. The continent represented by the top team will win a place in WXV2, while the team that finished bottom will have to playoff against the best ranked team outside WXV (as on November 6th). At present that is Netherlands.

“New era for women’s rugby”

World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby, Sally Horrox said: “WXV represents the start of a new era for women’s rugby with the three-level tournament model providing opportunities for the best athletes around the world to show their skills on the international stage. We’ve seen the rapid development of the women’s game in recent years and WXV will push it to another level again.

“We’re really proud of the exciting array of fixtures on offer and I’ve no doubt we are in for a thrilling competition with some exhilarating matchups on the pitch set to follow.

“A big thank you to all our hosts. We can’t wait to visit your countries and see the world’s best players compete in these fantastic venues and a huge congratulations to all the teams that have qualified. The stage is now set and we look forward to many memorable moments ahead across October and November.”

WXV is being supported by partners Mastercard, Capgemini and Gallagher, with World Rugby also injecting multi-million-pound investment funding over an initial two-year period in the sprint to an expanded 16-team Rugby World Cup 2025 in England.

WXV 2023 Full Match Schedule

Match weekend 1

DATE

FIXTURE

WXV

LOCAL TIME

UK TIME

LOCATION

Friday 13 October

Italy v Japan

WXV 2

14:00

13:00

Stellenbosch

Friday 13 October

Fiji v Colombia

WXV 3

17:00

14:00

Dubai

Friday 13 October

Scotland v South Africa

WXV 2

16:30

15:30

Stellenbosch

Friday 13 October

Ireland v Kazakhstan

WXV 3

19:30

16:30

Dubai

Saturday 14 October

USA v Samoa

WXV 2

14:00

13:00

Stellenbosch

Saturday 14 October

Spain v Kenya

WXV 3

17:00

14:00

Dubai

Match weekend 2

DATE

FIXTURE

WXV

LOCAL TIME

UK TIME

LOCATION

Friday 20 October

England v Australia

WXV 1

19:00

07:00

Wellington

Friday 20 October

USA v Scotland

WXV 2

14:00

13:00

Cape Town

Friday 20 October

Kazakhstan v Kenya

WXV 3

17:00

14:00

Dubai

Friday 20 October

Italy v South Africa

WXV 2

16:30

15:30

Cape Town

Friday 20 October

Spain v Fiji

WXV 3

19:30

16:30

Dubai

Saturday 21 October

Canada v Wales

WXV 1

16:00

04:00

Wellington

Saturday 21 October

Japan v Samoa

WXV 2

16:00

15:00

Cape Town

Saturday 21 October

New Zealand v France

WXV 1

19:00

07:00

Wellington

Saturday 21 October

Ireland v Colombia

WXV 3

17:00

14:00

Dubai

Match weekend 3

DATE

FIXTURE

WXV

LOCAL TIME

UK TIME

LOCATION

Friday 27 October

England v Canada

WXV 1

19:00

07:00

Dunedin

Friday 27 October

Scotland v Japan

WXV 2

14:00

13:00

Cape Town

Friday 27 October

Kazakhstan v Fiji

WXV 3

17:00

14:00

Dubai

Friday 27 October

South Africa v Samoa

WXV 2

16:30

15:30

Cape Town

Friday 27 October

Kenya v Colombia

WXV 3

19:30

16:30

Dubai

Saturday 28 October

New Zealand v Wales

WXV 1

16:00

04:00

Dunedin

Saturday 28 October

France v Australia

WXV 1

19:00

07:00

Dunedin

Saturday 28 October

Ireland v Spain

WXV 3

17:00

14:00

Dubai

Saturday 28 October

USA v Italy

WXV 2

17:00

16:00

Cape Town

Match weekend 4

DATE

FIXTURE

WXV

LOCAL TIME

UK TIME

LOCATION

Friday 3 November

Australia v Wales

WXV 1

19:00

06:00

Auckland

Saturday 4 November

France v Canada

WXV 1

16:00

03:00

Auckland

Saturday 4 November

England v New Zealand

WXV 1

19:00

06:00

Auckland