Vancouver set to host top rugby tourney
WXV1 leads into 2025 World Cup
British Columbia will host the 2024 edition of WXV 1, the elite division of a three-tiered women's 15s rugby competition that debuted last year.
WXV 1 features the top three teams from the 2024 Pacific Four Series and the top three from the 2024 Guinness Women's Six Nations.
The Canadian women, ranked fourth in the world, finished second in the inaugural 2023 competition won by top-ranked England in New Zealand.
The 2024 tournament will be contested across three consecutive weekends in September and October, with “select games” at B.C. Place Stadium.
Games will be played Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 4-6 and 11-13 with a detailed schedule to be released later. Rugby Canada says while all the matches will take place in the Lower Mainland, not all will be at B.C. Place.
Ottawa hosted the 2023 Pacific Four Series last July, with Ottawa's TD Place drawing a record-setting crowd for a Canadian women's home match of 10,092 to watch Canada's 52-21 loss to No. 2 New Zealand.
“This edition of WXV is an especially important one as it leads into a Rugby World Cup year in 2025,” Rugby Canada CEO Nathan Bombrys said in a statement. “We are honoured and excited to be welcoming the best teams in the world this fall to North America's rugby city for this pinnacle event, and believe that hosting this tournament on home soil will contribute to the growth of rugby across the country.”
“The tournament ... provides more opportunities for players, showcases the game to more fans and inspires more girls to play,” said Sally Horrox, World Rugby's chief of women's rugby.
Wednesday's announcement came one day after Rugby Canada revealed the Canadian men will play two games in Ottawa and one in Vancouver this summer.