Hosts get tough draw for WXV Two

NEWS: Hosts South Africa will face Japan in the opening game of the 2024 edition of WXV Two.

The tournament gets underway on Friday, September 27, in Cape Town.

The other two women’s tournament – WXV One (in Canada) and WXV Three (in Dubai) – will get underway on the same weekend.

South Africa will face Japan, Australia and Italy in the tournament, which will be played at Cape Town Stadium and Athlone Stadium, with Scotland and Wales completing the six-country roster.

World Rugby on Tuesday unveiled the pools and action-packed match schedule for the highly anticipated return of the women’s 15-a-side competition, which promises thrilling encounters across all three levels in Vancouver, Cape Town and Dubai with the final six World Cup 2025 places up for grabs.

Kicking off on Friday, September 27 and scheduled to run across three weekends through to Saturday, October 12, the three-level tournament will see 27 fixtures played across the globe.

Dubai (WXV Three) and South Africa (WXV Two) are returning hosts having each welcomed six teams in 2023 with Canada the new host of WXV One in 2024.

South Africa’s High-Performance Manager Lynne Cantwell said the announcement brings reality to the the players’ ambitions and will be the start of their World Cup 2025 cycle, to be played in England next September.

“We were actively building up our squad depth since the previous World Cup in New Zealand and this tournament will be the start of the cycle towards England next year,” said Cantwell.

“We had some focus on our women’s sevens programme in this time as well, getting them to qualify for the Olympic Games and HSBC SVNS circuit and those players also added to our depth, which is great.

“All the matches in WXV Two will be very competitive and as 12th ranked team, we will face sides ranked 11th, ninth and fifth in the world, so it will be a huge challenge for us.

“This will be a perfect opportunity though to get our squad ready for the World Cup next year and we are super excited about this. Playing at home will also be a huge boost for the players.”

Sally Horrox, World Rugby’s Chief of the Women’s game, said: “We are delighted to reveal the fixtures for what is set to be an incredibly exciting and important second edition of WXV.

“With six Women’s World Cup places up for grabs, teams will be vying to secure qualification by ranking as highly as possible at the end of the tournament. No doubt, there will be some exhilarating matches, some new match ups and star players that will captivate fans around the world.”

* VIEW THE FULL MATCH SCHEDULE HERE