England, hosts of the 2025 Rugby World Cup, will play a key role in the next phase of the sport’s development, according to the head of Women’s World Rugby.
Sally Horrocks joined the organization as women’s rugby manager in May and will be among what is expected to be a record crowd of more than 40,000 on Saturday, watching champions New Zealand face England in this year’s World Cup title match, starting at the age of six. : 30 am in the UK.
While Red Roses captain Sarah Hunter admitted there was “nothing on the agenda except on a Saturday” at camp, Horrocks already looks good in England’s role to welcome the world in three years’ time.
“It seems that something really special is happening here in New Zealand right now,” she told the Palestinian News Agency. “There’s an awakening for women’s rugby, a passion for it. The characters connect, the audience expands.
“That energy and enthusiasm translates into this, I know it’s a cliché, but I think it’s a starting point. I think that will catalyze this next period of growth as we come out of the World Cup end.
“The tournaments are great, but it is really important that we keep the momentum on the other side of the competition and go to England in 2025. It is more than just a sport on the pitch. That’s what we will do next.”
One of the main criticisms against women’s football is that it is dominated by a handful of countries, chiefly England. The Red Roses are one of the only fully professional teams, a condition that is also reflected in their world number one ranking.
If they win the World Cup, Simon Middleton’s side, unbeaten since 2019, will extend their unbeaten Test run to 31 matches. His 25th victory in August set a new record for the men’s and women’s competitions.
But rather than discourage the dominance of the finalists, Horrocks sees the Red Roses and England as examples of what she hopes will happen elsewhere.
She said, “It’s always great to have a leader. Good practices, something to aspire to in any area of business or sport. We absolutely want our leading nations to break records, break barriers, lead us, and have something to aspire to and learn from. What What we want is to share that knowledge, and for others, to board all boats together.”
In 2019, England became the first women’s team to go professional.
Meanwhile, the Allianz Premier League 15, where all the current Red Roses play, continues to set the standard for domestic competition. In June, the Russian Football Association announced plans to invest £220m in women’s play over the next 10 years, with the Prem15 aiming “to become the first professional women’s rugby league in all aspects of the game”.
The last stage of bidding is underway for clubs wishing to be part of the next first division cycle. They will be subject to rigorous scrutiny to ensure they can meet increased standards for a “significant investment”, including improvements to the coaching staff, marketing and delivery of the 2023/24 season journey.
England’s success was also the result of an enviable full schedule of international testing, which included winning the 18th Six Nations title this year.
Horrocks is confident of launching a new global competition next October, in which the 16-team, three-tier WXV will showcase the world’s best talent and will be an essential part of the 2025 World Cup qualification process, as well as giving crucial time to the game’s development of teams against a balanced opposition.
Horrocks said detailed plans and competition hosts, backed by an initial investment of £6.4m in the Rugby World Championships, would be announced “in the coming weeks so everyone has a clean path”.
“This will, very importantly, provide each association with six high-level test matches. It will probably be one of our biggest areas of investment over the next two years.”
