Players welcome 5 day recovery for Women’s World Cup

Future Women’s Rugby World Cups will have a minimum five-day rest period between games for players.

Bringing the tournament into line with the men’s event, the decision will come into force for next year’s tournament in New Zealand, which runs from 8 October to 12 November, 2022. 

The 43 day event will see all games played at the weekends. The original tournament was due to played in 2021, however it was moved due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

International Rugby Players appointee to the RWC board and former Black Fern Melodie Robinson said: “While it’s disappointing that the 2021 tournament had to be postponed, the positive is that we’ve been able to ensure the 2022 event and subsequent Rugby World Cups will have a minimum five-day turnaround for players.

“Just like the men’s tournament, this will hopefully help to level the playing field for all sides and see an increase in competitive matches.”

"This is a great win for the women's game."

A 5 day minimum turn-around will be in place for all future women's @rugbyworldcup tournaments, starting next year in New Zealand.

Read what @anicemelodie & our Head of Women's Rugby @RachaelBurf12 had to say: https://t.co/tgyXixRBAg pic.twitter.com/t71lEmyxT1

— InternationalRugbyPlayers (@IntRugbyPlayers) May 13, 2021

Head of Women’s Rugby at the global players association Rachael Burford, added: “This is a great win for the women’s game.”

“Tight turnarounds only benefit the squads with real depth and the standard of rugby can drop when teams don’t have adequate time to recover from Test matches, do analysis and train properly. This will hopefully give the tournament a real boost and set the standard for this tournament for years to come.”

Burford, who was part of the England team that won the tournament in 2014, joined International Rugby Players earlier this year. 

“The move to weekend games will also benefit the tournament both in terms of crowds and television audience. The commercial side really needs to be developed further and next year’s tournament could be a real springboard for this aspect of the women’s game.”

World Rugby will announce the full match schedule at a later date.