2010 Women's Rugby World Cup
Encyclopedia
The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup
and was being held in England
. The International Rugby Board
Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limited board after considering bids from the Rugby Football Union and the German Rugby Union - it had been England's third successive bid after being rejected in 2002 and 2006. The tournament was again being organised by the International Rugby Board
(IRB) as opposed to the host union, and included five matches for all teams played on 20, 24, 28 August and 1 and 5 September. In May 2009 it was announced that the semi final, 3rd place play off and final would take place at The Stoop
and not Twickenham
as had previously been suggested. Pool games were held at the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford
.
Interest in the tournament was far higher than had been anticipated. It was broadcast to 127 countries and all 2,500 seats at the opening two days of pool games were sold out, as was the third day despite the capacity being raised to 3,200. The semi-finals attracted over 6,000 spectators, while the final drew a crowd of 13,253 - a world record for a women's rugby international - and well as a worldwide TV audience of (according to IRB figures) half a million.
The competition was won by New Zealand who beat England
13-10 in the final.
Three tries from the tournament were shortlisted for the IRB's "Try of the Year" award.
“These two tournaments [the Sevens and XVs World Cups], in conjunction with a global qualification process and existing tournament structures, will guarantee an unprecedented level of elite Women’s competition for around 90 Unions over the next two years. This expanded competition pathway underpinned by the Women’s Strategic Plan point to what promises to be the most competitive Women’s Rugby World Cup ever in 2010”.
However, when details of the qualification process were released in March 2009 it was revealed that most IRB members would not be given an opportunity to compete for a place. Qualification tournaments took place in two regions - Europe and Asia - while in Oceania two nations played off in a single game for one place. Elsewhere the IRB nominated the "qualifying" nation, all other nations in these regions were excluded. Even where qualification tournaments took place the majority of rugby playing countries did not take part.
No official explanation was given by the IRB, but at the time of the Oceania qualifier it was reported that the non-participation of some nations - including Fiji and Papua New Guinea - was due to financial difficulties.
The process was:
or by phone, with an innovative ticketing structure based on some tournament passes and individual match day tickets.
Thirteen matches were broadcast live through a platform provided by host broadcaster Sky Sports
in 127 territories to a potential audience of 227 million homes, smashing the 2006 World Cup benchmark in Canada (75 territories and a potential reach of 97 million homes). The programming hours was increased from 60 in 2006 to 220 in this edition.
The commercial partners of the tournament were Nike
, Heineken, the Coca-Cola Company's sports drink Powerade
, Holiday Inn
, British rugby equipment supplier Rhino Rugby, University of Surrey
and UK National Lottery
.
England's Clare Daniels officiated the opening match between Canada
and Scotland
, while Australian Sarah Corrigan refereed the final between England
and New Zealand.
Sarah Corrigan
Clare Daniels
Gabriel Lee Barbara Guastini Joyce Henry
Debbie Innes Nicky Inwood David Keane Kerstin Ljungdahl Javier Mancuso
Andrew McMenemy Sébastien Minery Dana Teagarden Sherry Trumbull
: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 point for scoring 4 or more tries or for losing by 7 or less than 7 points.
At the end of the pool stage, the teams in a pool were ranked according to their cumulative match points. If two or more teams had been level, the following criteria would have been used in this order until one of the teams could be determined as the higher ranked:
The ranking finals were set as it follows:
Women's Rugby World Cup
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 the International Rugby Board...
and was being held in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. The International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limited board after considering bids from the Rugby Football Union and the German Rugby Union - it had been England's third successive bid after being rejected in 2002 and 2006. The tournament was again being organised by the International Rugby Board
International Rugby Board
The International Rugby Board is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. It was founded in 1886 as the International Rugby Football Board by the unions of Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England refused to join until 1890. The International Rugby Football Board changed its name to the...
(IRB) as opposed to the host union, and included five matches for all teams played on 20, 24, 28 August and 1 and 5 September. In May 2009 it was announced that the semi final, 3rd place play off and final would take place at The Stoop
The Stoop
Twickenham Stoop is a sports stadium located in the western suburbs of London, England. The stadium is home to Harlequins rugby union team, who play in the Aviva Premiership, and tenants London Broncos, who play in the Super League...
and not Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
as had previously been suggested. Pool games were held at the Surrey Sports Park in Guildford
Guildford
Guildford is the county town of Surrey. England, as well as the seat for the borough of Guildford and the administrative headquarters of the South East England region...
.
Interest in the tournament was far higher than had been anticipated. It was broadcast to 127 countries and all 2,500 seats at the opening two days of pool games were sold out, as was the third day despite the capacity being raised to 3,200. The semi-finals attracted over 6,000 spectators, while the final drew a crowd of 13,253 - a world record for a women's rugby international - and well as a worldwide TV audience of (according to IRB figures) half a million.
The competition was won by New Zealand who beat England
England women's national rugby union team
The England women's national rugby union team are a national sporting side of England, representing them at rugby union. The side first played in 1982.-History:Women’s Rugby was first played seriously in Great Britain in the late 1970s...
13-10 in the final.
Three tries from the tournament were shortlisted for the IRB's "Try of the Year" award.
Qualification process
When the winning bid to host the World Cup was announced in September 2008, Bernard Lapasset (Rugby World Cup Limited Board Chairman) promised that:“These two tournaments [the Sevens and XVs World Cups], in conjunction with a global qualification process and existing tournament structures, will guarantee an unprecedented level of elite Women’s competition for around 90 Unions over the next two years. This expanded competition pathway underpinned by the Women’s Strategic Plan point to what promises to be the most competitive Women’s Rugby World Cup ever in 2010”.
However, when details of the qualification process were released in March 2009 it was revealed that most IRB members would not be given an opportunity to compete for a place. Qualification tournaments took place in two regions - Europe and Asia - while in Oceania two nations played off in a single game for one place. Elsewhere the IRB nominated the "qualifying" nation, all other nations in these regions were excluded. Even where qualification tournaments took place the majority of rugby playing countries did not take part.
No official explanation was given by the IRB, but at the time of the Oceania qualifier it was reported that the non-participation of some nations - including Fiji and Papua New Guinea - was due to financial difficulties.
The process was:
Europe: 6 representatives
- England and France qualified directly as runner-up and third place in the WRWC 2006
- Wales and Ireland qualified for the Tournament as second and third in the 2009 RBS 6 Nations2009 Women's RBS 6 Nations ChampionshipThe 2009 Women's Six Nations Championship, also known as the 2009 RBS Women's 6 Nations due to the tournament's sponsorship by the Royal Bank of Scotland, was the eighth series of the rugby union Women's Six Nations Championship....
- Scotland and Sweden, qualify as top two teams from the 2009 FIRA-AER Women’s European Trophy2009 Women's European TrophyThe 2009 FIRA tournament acted as the continent's 2010 World Cup qualifying tournament. The top four nations from the 2009 Six Nations had automatically qualified, but nations finishing fifth and sixth joined Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Germany, and Belgium to decide the final two...
, held in Sweden from 17–23 May 2009. This competition was made up of the 5th and 6th placed six nations teams (Scotland and Italy) as well as Spain, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Germany and Belgium
Asia: 1 representative
- KazakhstanKazakhstan women's national rugby union teamThe Kazakhstan national rugby union team is nicknamed the Nomads. It is controlled by the Kazakhstan Rugby Union and represents Kazakhstan in the sport of Rugby Union.-Results summary:-Results:...
won the ARFU Women’s XV Tournament, defeating Japan in the final, to qualify as the Asia representative
Semi-finals
Third place final
Final
Oceania: 2 representatives
- New Zealand qualified directly as winner of the WRWC 2006
- Australia beat Samoa in a one off match to determine the second FORU representative at the WRWC 2010. A four team tournament had been planned with Fiji as the proposed host, but Fiji declined invitations to host or enter the tournament, citing the size of the entry fee ($A36,000), though the women's association president, Adi Vela Naucukidi, complained that the Fiji RFU had taken the decision without consulting them, or giving them an opportunity to raise the money. Shortly afterwards Papua New Guinea also withdrew for financial reasons
Nations
| Pool A 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup Pool A Pool A of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was composed of 2006 World Cup winners New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Wales.-Australia vs Wales:Touch judges:Joyce Henry Dana Teagarden Fourth official:... |
Pool B 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup Pool B Pool B of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was composed of 2006 World Cup runners-up England, Ireland, United States and Kazakhstan.-Kazakhstan vs United States:Touch judges:Kerstin Ljungdahl Barbara Guastini... |
Pool C 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup Pool C Pool C of the 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was composed of 2006 World Cup semi-finalists France and Canada, Scotland and Sweden.-Canada vs Scotland:Touch judges:David Keane Debbie Innes Fourth official:... |
|---|---|---|
Tickets and sponsorship
Tickets had been available since 22 March 2010 and they could be purchased online at TicketmasterTicketmaster
Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an independent American ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010 it merged with Live Nation to become Live Nation Entertainment...
or by phone, with an innovative ticketing structure based on some tournament passes and individual match day tickets.
Thirteen matches were broadcast live through a platform provided by host broadcaster Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
in 127 territories to a potential audience of 227 million homes, smashing the 2006 World Cup benchmark in Canada (75 territories and a potential reach of 97 million homes). The programming hours was increased from 60 in 2006 to 220 in this edition.
The commercial partners of the tournament were Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
, Heineken, the Coca-Cola Company's sports drink Powerade
Powerade
Powerade is a sports drink manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. First introduced in 1988, its primary competitor is PepsiCo's Gatorade...
, Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
, British rugby equipment supplier Rhino Rugby, University of Surrey
University of Surrey
The University of Surrey is a university located within the county town of Guildford, Surrey in the South East of England. It received its charter on 9 September 1966, and was previously situated near Battersea Park in south-west London. The institution was known as Battersea College of Technology...
and UK National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
.
Match officials
In December 2009, the IRB announced a panel of 14 match officials for the tournament, including seven world's leading female referees and three specialist assistant referees with previous Women's Rugby World Cup experience.England's Clare Daniels officiated the opening match between Canada
Canada women's national rugby union team
The Canadian national rugby union team represent Canada in international rugby union. They are governed by Rugby Canada, and play in red and black.-Team Roster:Squad to 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup .-Results summary:...
and Scotland
Scotland women's national rugby union team
The Scotland national women's rugby union team are the national women's rugby union team of Scotland. The Scots have competed in three of the Women's Rugby World Cups and have an important role in the rugby world stage....
, while Australian Sarah Corrigan refereed the final between England
England women's national rugby union team
The England women's national rugby union team are a national sporting side of England, representing them at rugby union. The side first played in 1982.-History:Women’s Rugby was first played seriously in Great Britain in the late 1970s...
and New Zealand.
Sarah Corrigan
Sarah Corrigan
Sarah Corrigan is an Australian international rugby union referee.While going to Daramalan College in Canberra and playing rugby sevens, she decided to do a referee course, encouraged by her father. After the first appearance in a local under 11’s match in 1998, Corrigan received the B.A.R...
Clare Daniels
Clare Daniels
Clare Daniels is an English international rugby union referee.She has played scrum-half for Tor RFC in Glastonbury for a few years in the late 90's before the team disbanded and Daniels decided to take part in a training course run by the Somerset Rugby Referees’ Society.Her international debut...
Gabriel Lee Barbara Guastini Joyce Henry
Debbie Innes Nicky Inwood David Keane Kerstin Ljungdahl Javier Mancuso
Andrew McMenemy Sébastien Minery Dana Teagarden Sherry Trumbull
Format
The competition was contested over 16 days and 30 matches between 12 nations, divided into three pools of four teams. The tournament began on 20 August at Surrey Sports Park with a match between Canada and Scotland and ended with the final held at Twickenham Stoop on 5 September between England and New Zealand.Pool stage
Defending champions New Zealand, hosts and 2006 runners-up England and 2006 bronze winners France all ranked top seeds in their pool. Teams played each other in each pool on a round robin basis, while match points were awarded according to the international standardsRugby union bonus points system
The Rugby union bonus points system is a method of deciding table points from a rugby union match. It was implemented in order to encourage attacking play throughout a match, to discourage repetitive goal-kicking, and to reward teams for "coming close" in losing efforts...
: 4 points for a win, 2 points for a draw, 1 point for scoring 4 or more tries or for losing by 7 or less than 7 points.
At the end of the pool stage, the teams in a pool were ranked according to their cumulative match points. If two or more teams had been level, the following criteria would have been used in this order until one of the teams could be determined as the higher ranked:
- the winner of the match between the two tied teams;
- the team with the best points difference;
- the team with the best tries difference;
- the team with more scored points;
- the team with more scored tries;
- a toss of coin.
Ranking finals
The teams were seeded based on the position in which they finished in their respective pools and the points scored during the pool stage. The three pool winners and the best runner-up went through to the semi-finals. The other two runners-up and the best two 3rd place finishers went into a sort of a competition for 5th place, whilst the bottom three teams competed for 9th place.The ranking finals were set as it follows:
- 1st seed vs 4th seed;
- 2nd seed vs 3rd seed;
- 5th seed vs 8th seed;
- 6th Seed vs 7th seed;
- 9th seed vs 12th seed;
- 10th seed vs 11th seed.
Finals
If teams had been tied at full time, the winner would have been determined through a 10-minutes extra time (the first team to score any points would have been declared the winner) or eventually a kicking competition (five players from each team would have kicked from three different points on the 22 metre line).Pool Stage
| Qualified for rankings 1-4 semi-finals |
| Qualified for rankings 5-8 semi-finals |
| Qualified for rankings 9-12 semi-finals |
Pool A
| Nation | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 128 | 16 | +112 | 22 | 2 | 3 | 15 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 93 | 44 | +49 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 10 | |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 127 | -109 | 3 | 19 | 0 | 4 | |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 30 | 82 | -52 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 1 |
Pool B
| Nation | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 146 | 10 | +136 | 22 | 2 | 3 | 15 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 59 | 42 | +17 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 10 | |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 73 | 59 | +14 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 5 | |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 170 | -167 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
Pool C
| Nation | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 24 | +31 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 13 | |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 85 | 43 | +42 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 10 | |
| 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 49 | 59 | -10 | 8 | 9 | 1 | 5 | |
| 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 24 | 87 | -63 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 1 |
9th–12th place
5th–8th place
Semi-finals
11th place match
9th place match
7th place match
5th place match
3rd place match
Final
Teams
| Points | Team | Matches | Tries | Conversions | Penalties | Drops |  |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 186 | 5 | 30 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 171 | 5 | 25 | 17 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 146 | 5 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 136 | 5 | 20 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| 115 | 5 | 18 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 94 | 5 | 16 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| 91 | 5 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| 70 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 60 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | |
| 57 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 42 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| 25 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 1 |
Individual leading point scorers
| Points | Name | Team | Position | Appearances | Tries | Conversions | Penalties | Drops |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 48 | Kelly Brazier | Centre/Wing | 5 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
| 46 | Anna Schnell | Fly-half | 5 | 0 | 14 | 6 | 0 | |
| 44 | Christy Ringgenberg | Full back | 5 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 0 | |
| 35 | Carla Hohepa | Wing | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 35 | Heather Moyse | Wing | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 34 | Niamh Briggs | Full back | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | |
| 30 | Nichole Beck | Fly-half | 4 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | |
| 28 | Katy McLean | Fly-half | 4 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | |
| 20 | Charlotte Barras | Centre | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | Huriana Manuel | Centre | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | Mandy Marchak | Centre | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | Lucy Millard | Centre | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | Cobie-Jane Morgan | Centre | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | Joy Neville | No 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 20 | Fiona Pocock | Wing | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 18 | Zandile Nojoko | Full back | 5 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | |
| 17 | Ulrika Anderson-Hall | Fly-half | 4 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |