User:Norcandy/Sandbox1
Current season or competition: 2023 Women's Rugby World Cup | |
.png){kind=logo} Logo of the IRFB, branded as Kylaris Rugby | |
| Sport | Rugby union |
|---|---|
| Instituted | 1995; 29 years ago |
| Number of teams | 20 (finals) |
| Holders | Template:Country data Estmere (2019) |
| Most titles |  Caldia (3 titles) |
| Website | wrwc |
The Women's Rugby World Cup is a women's rugby union tournament hosted every four years and contested by the top 20 internationally qualifying teams. The tournament began in 1995, hosted in the four year gap between the men's Rugby World Cup - two years following the previous world cup, and two years prior to the following the world cup. Since the first tournament, hosted by Caldia, seven tournaments have been held, of which three have been won by Caldia (1995, 2007 and 2015), two by Estmere (1999 and 2019) and once each by Rizealand (2003) and Satavia (2011). The latest edition, hosted by Estmere, will be held in 2023.
Format
The tournamet consists of twenty teams. Of these, twelve qualify automatically (by virtue of finishing in the top three of their pool at the previous Women's Rugby World Cup) whilst the remaining eight teams qualify through regional tournaments. The tournament sees teams compete over a six week period, first in a round-robin pool-stage, which sees three teams eliminated from each pool, before the remaining two teams in each pool play in the quarter-finals in an elimination tournament. This means eight teams enter the knockout stages. The quarter-finals are followed by the semi-finals, where the winners of each semi-final face each other in the final. Meanwhile, the two semi-final losers face off in the bronze final to determine third and fourth place.
In the knockout stages, matches cannot end in a tie. In the event of a draw after a full, eighty-minute match, a period of extra time begins. Two ten minute halves are played. If the game remains a tie, one ten minute half is played under the rules of sudden-death. If no winner has emerged, the rules state a kicking competition will decide the match. Kicking competitions are played out where five players, usually backs, take turns to score a goal using a kicking tea, from in front of the posts. If all five players succesfully kick their goals, the kicking competition will continue until one team fails to score a goal. In practice, no Women's Rugby World Cup game has extended past the 100-minute mark.
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