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Latest News
Rugby World Cup 2021 Draw

RWC 2021

Wed 16 Dec 2020

New Zealand confirm Rugby World Cup 2021 coaching intern

World Rugby and New Zealand Rugby today announced that New Zealand Barbarians assistant coach Whitney Hansen will join the Black Ferns management team as their selected Rugby World Cup 2021 coach intern.
Nicki Nicol

Women in Rugby

Fri 11 Dec 2020

Resilient Nicki Nicol helping New Zealand Rugby rebuild from COVID-19

World Rugby Women’s Executive Leadership Scholarship recipient is playing a key role in the efforts to limit the impact of the pandemic on the game in New Zealand.
Ireland v Australia - Women's Rugby World Cup 2017

RWC 2021

Thu 10 Dec 2020

Sophie Spence keen to learn and improve through RWC 2021 Coaching Internship Programme

The former Ireland international talks to World Rugby about joining the Wales coaching staff on the road to New Zealand 2021.
Sophie Spence

RWC 2021

Wed 09 Dec 2020

Wales Women confirm Rugby World Cup 2021 coaching intern

World Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union today announced that former Ireland international Sophie Spence will join the Wales Women management team as their selected Rugby World Cup 2021 coach intern.
Rugby - 2019 Rugby Africa Womens Cup - South Africa v Kenya - Bosman Stadium - Brakpan - South Africa

Rugby World Cup

Thu 03 Dec 2020

Zenay Jordaan “proud” of South Africa career as she looks ahead to Rugby World Cup 2021

The Springbok Women fly-half talks to World Rugby about her 11-year international career, which could stretch to a sixth Rugby World Cup appearance in 2021.
Latest Videos
WR awards thumb
1:36:38 mins

Awards

Mon 07 Dec 2020

World Rugby Awards Special Edition - watch the whole show

Re-live the World Rugby Awards Special Edition and find out the winners of the Player, Try and Team of the Decade 2010-19 for both men and women, plus celebrate rugby's heroes of COVID-19.
Full Draw ceremony for Rugby World Cup 2021
27:21 mins

RWC 2021

Thu 19 Nov 2020

Full Draw ceremony for Rugby World Cup 2021

Live show hosts and interviewers react post-draw
01:20 mins

Thu 19 Nov 2020

Live show hosts and interviewers react post-draw

Live programme hosts Elma Smit and Ugo Monye spoke with New Zealand broadcasters and co-hosts Karl Tenana and Rikki Swannell after the draw.
Alycia Washington USA post-draw interview
03:04 mins

Thu 19 Nov 2020

Alycia Washington USA post-draw interview

Kendra Cocksedge NZL Post-draw interview
03:12 mins

Thu 19 Nov 2020

Kendra Cocksedge NZL Post-draw interview

RWC 2021
Thursday 03 September 2020

World Rugby announces innovative Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme

Presented By
The Coaching Internship Programme will provide female coaches with a unique 12-month placement opportunity with a team competing at Rugby World Cup 2021
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  • Transformational Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme opens for all RWC 2021 participating unions
  • Programme will create quality deployment opportunities for aspiring elite female coaches in high-performance environments
  • Selected participants to be fully embedded for 12 months in RWC 2021 national squad management teams
  • Programme aims to address the lack of female coaches at high-performance level across men’s and women’s rugby
  • Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme is funded as part of the International Olympic Committee's international development grant awarded to World Rugby
  • World Rugby targets a minimum of 40 per cent of all coaches at Rugby World Cup 2025 to be women

World Rugby has launched a transformational Rugby World Cup 2021 Coaching Internship Programme, providing talent identified female coaches with a unique 12-month placement opportunity with a team competing at the showcase women’s 15s event in New Zealand.

In line with the ‘developing inspirational leadership’ strand of the 2017-25 Women in Rugby strategic plan, World Rugby is committed to supporting the development of female coaches in the sport and has set an ambitious target of a minimum of 40 per cent of all coaches at Rugby World Cup 2025 to be women.

Internship participants will be fully embedded into each competing Rugby World Cup 2021 national coaching team, where they will gain meaningful professional development opportunities and experience working in a high-performance sporting environment, leading up to and during Rugby World Cup 2021.

Fully underwritten by World Rugby and International Olympic Committee development grant funding over the 12-month period, the innovative Coaching Internship Programme supports that mission by enabling Rugby World Cup 2021 qualified unions to nominate an aspiring elite level female coach from their union to avail of the internship opportunity.

The programme is an outcome from the comprehensive  Women’s High-Performance Coaching review, commissioned by World Rugby in 2018 and conducted by World Rugby Hall of Fame inductee Carol Isherwood, to understand the level of women coaching at high-performance level across both men’s and women’s rugby, and the challenges and barriers.

The ground-breaking report findings highlighted a significant lack of women’s representation at high-performance coaching level, with only one female head coach and three women’s assistant coaches part of Rugby World Cup 2017 and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

As part of the review several recommendations were put forward to address real barriers for women aspiring to coach at the highest level in both elite men’s and women’s rugby. One of the recommendations was to improve the diversity of coaching teams and critical to this was the ability to create meaningful deployment and professional development opportunities for women who aspire to work in a high-performance environment.

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “We acknowledge that there are disproportionate levels of women in high-performance coaching environments across the men’s and women’s game and are committed to making impactful change in this area. Through the International Olympic Committee development grant that was awarded to World Rugby, we can deliver and amplify deployment strategies that provide female coaches with opportunities to gain meaningful experience in relevant high-performance environments. We are promoting and instilling change that will ultimately result in the diversification of the high-performance coaching landscape in rugby.” 

World Rugby Women’s Advisory Committee Chair Serge Simon added: “We continue to sustain momentum in relation to developing inspirational leaders both on and off the pitch in line with the women’s strategic plan and addressing the area of coaching, where there is a severe lack of female representation. Building on the successful launch of the women’s coaching toolkit earlier this year, this unique Coaching Internship Programme will remove some fundamental barriers for aspiring female coaches in attaining head coach positions across both the men’s and women’s game.”

World Rugby General Manager for Women's Rugby Katie Sadleir said: “We have set an ambitious but achievable target to have a minimum of 40 per cent of all coaches at Rugby World Cup 2025 be women. Through our women’s coaching network, of which there are 110 female coaches, we know there is a lot of talented female rugby coaches globally who are lacking opportunities to gain demonstrable experience in high-performance environments. This programme will provide the participants with an excellent opportunity to gain top level experience.”

Earlier this year World Rugby launched a new, online women coaching rugby toolkit, developed to assist unions and regional associations in recruiting, developing and retaining more female rugby coaches at every level of the game.

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