Women's Rugby World Cup
| Women's Rugby World Cup | |
|---|---|
Current season or competition:: 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup
|
|
| Sport | Rugby union |
| Instituted | 1991 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Regions | Worldwide (World Rugby) |
| Holders |
 England (2 Titles)
|
| Most titles |
 New Zealand (4 titles)
|
| Website | www.rwcwomens.com |
The Women's Rugby World Cup is the premier international competition in rugby union for women. The tournament is organised by the sport's governing body, World Rugby. The championships are currently held every four years; the event was most recently held in France in August 2014. World Rugby has chosen to reset the tournament on a new four-year cycle to avoid conflict with the Olympics and Women's World Cup Sevens; the next World Cup will thus be held in Dublin, Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland in 2017 and then every four years thereafter.
The first Women's Rugby World Cup was held in 1991 and won by the United States. The 1991 and 1994 competitions were not officially sanctioned by World Rugby, then known as the International Rugby Football Board, at the time - they later received retrospective endorsement in 2009 when the governing body included the 1991 and 1994 champions in its list of previous winners. It was not until the 1998 tournament held in the Netherlands that the tournament received official IRB backing. The most successful team, with four titles, is New Zealand.
Prior to the first Women's Rugby World Cup officially sanctioned by the International Rugby Board there had been three previous tournaments of a similar nature. The first of these was an event held in August 1990 in New Zealand. Though not considered a world cup, the tournament was referred to as the World Rugby Festival for Women. The competition included teams representing the United States, the Netherlands, Russia, and the hosts, New Zealand – who emerged as winners after defeating the United States in the final.
...
Wikipedia