The three-tier WXV competition kicks off on Friday with the world top women’s teams split across three countries.
WXV opens on Friday 27 September and runs through to 13 October with Canada, South Africa and Dubai hosting the best of women’s international rugby. All three levels will play across the same three weekends to enable the six remaining RWC25 qualification spots to be confirmed immediately after the conclusion of the tournament.
- Round 1 – Friday 27-Sunday 29 September
- Round 2 – Friday 4-Sunday 6 October
- Round 3 – Friday 11-Sunday 13 October
Law trials for WXV
In line with World Rugby’s series of closed competition trials that have come out since the Shape of the Game sessions in March, the following laws will be in play for the three WXV competitions.
- Introduction of the 30-second time for lineout setting (aligned with the scrum)
- 60 seconds for conversions [down from 90 seconds] matching the time permitted for penalties.
- Protections of the nine at the base of the scrum, ruck and at the maul – The nine will not be able to be played while the ball is still near a tackle, ruck or maul, and the offside line at the scrum for the non-putting in scrum-half will be the middle of the tunnel.
- Mark the ball inside the 22m line from a kick off or restart kick – promoting attacking options and more contestable restarts.
- One stop maul – the ball must be played away from after the maul has been stopped once, not twice.
- Play on at a lineout if ball not thrown straight but only if lineout is uncontested, aiding the flow of the game and removing a scrum for an non-material offence
- 20min red card replacement plus revised off-field sanctions process including automatic off-field red card sanctions. To be clear, a red carded player cannot return to the field. The off-field review process (aka bunker) will be in play for all matches, as well as TMOs.
WXV details:
WXV 1 (in Vancouver, Canada)
- Teams: Canada, England, France, Ireland, New Zealand & USA (no relegation)
- Referees: Aimee Barrett-Theron (SA), Maggie Cogger-Orr (NZ), Sara Cox (Eng), Aurélie Groizeleau (Fra), Kat Roche (USA) & Julianne Zussman (Can)
- TMOs: Leo Colgan (Ire), Quinton Immelman (SA), Andrew McMenemy (Sco) & Ian Tempest (Eng)
WXV 2 (in Cape Town, South Africa) – bottom team relegated to WXV 3 for 2026
- Teams: Australia, Italy, Japan, Scotland, South Africa & Wales
- Referees: Ella Goldsmith (Aus), Maria Latos (Ger), Amelia Luciano (USA), Clara Munarini (Ita), Zoe Naude (SA) & Precious Pazani (Zim)
- TMOs: Chris Assmus (Can), Matteo Liperini (Ita), Aaron Paterson (NZ), Estelle Whaiapu (NZ)
WXV 3 (Dubai) – winner gets promoted to WXV 2 in 2026
- Teams: Fiji, Hong Kong China, Madagascar, Netherlands, Samoa & Spain.
- Referees: Shanda Assmus (Can), Natarsha Ganley (NZ), Melissa Leboeuf (Fra), Jess Ling (Aus), Tyler Miller (Aus) & Holly Wood (Eng)
- AR: Sunny Lee (HKCR)
- TMOs: Rachel Horton (Aus), Dan Jones (Eng)& Oli Kellet (Aus)
