Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol
Sign up for the latest news and ticket information.
Sign Up
rugbyworldcup.com
World Rugby
Website language English
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • 日本語
Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol Rugby World Cup 2021 - Logo
Listen Live
  • Teams
  • Video
  • News
  • Media
  • Teams
  • Video
  • News
  • Draw
  • Tickets
  • Visit
  • Venues
  • Qualifiers
  • Volunteer
  • HOSPITALITY
  • Media
  • Women In Rugby
  • Back to Rugby World Cup
  • Back to World.Rugby
Website language English
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • 日本語
  • Visit
  • Venues
  • Qualifiers
  • Volunteer
  • HOSPITALITY
  • Media
  • Women In Rugby
  • Back to Rugby World Cup
  • Back to World.Rugby

Our Social Channels

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
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 19 November 2020

“If that is a taste of things to come then you don't want to miss the World Cup”

Presented By
We bring you the best of the reaction to the Rugby World Cup 2021 Draw which took place in Auckland, New Zealand, on 20 November.
  • label.share.via_facebook_messenger
  • label.share.via_whatsapp
  • label.share.via_facebook
  • label.share.via_twitter
  • label.share.via_copy
    URL Copied

The excitement was palpable as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Rugby World Cup winners Farah Palmer, Melodie Robinson and Dan Carter made the draw for Rugby World Cup 2021 at SkyCity Theatre in Auckland on 20 November. 

Some mouth-watering matches now await fans when RWC 2021 kicks off on 18 September with hosts and defending champions New Zealand drawn with trans-Tasman rivals Australia in Pool A, North American rivals Canada and USA paired together in the pool stage for the first time in Pool B and European giants England and France grouped together in Pool C.

We bring you some of the best reaction from the nine confirmed teams who now know their opponents for the first women's Rugby World Cup held in the southern hemisphere.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern: “The tournament will be held in Auckland and Whangarei and this official Rugby World Cup Draw will determine who will play the first matches at Auckland’s Eden Park, and Whangarei’s Northland Events Centre. The other world-class venue for the tournament is the Waitakere Stadium. I’m confident these games will be packed with fans young and old, many of whom I’m sure will be wearing widely available Black Ferns merchandise.

“After all this World Cup is an opportunity. An opportunity to grow the game here but also internationally an opportunity to showcase our elite athletes and provide inspiration for girls, and boys. An opportunity to break down gender discrimination in sport. And finally an opportunity to extend the manaakitanga that New Zealand is famous for. We are committed to a spectacular Rugby World Cup 2021 and we can’t wait to welcome all 12 teams to Aotearoa New Zealand.” 

World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont: “The growth we’ve experienced in women’s rugby is proof of the ‘see it, be it, play it’ mantra, which is at the heart of our ambitiouss 2017-25 Women in Rugby plan to inspire participation and audience engagement across all age groups. New Zealand 2021, coupled with the enormous stage that the Olympics provides, will champion that mantra in a golden year for women in rugby and a year of celebration for our sport.

“New Zealand 2021 will not simply raise the bar in terms of event hosting, it will shine a bright light on the sport and its incredible players to make the statement that the rise of women in rugby is real, is powerful and is transformational.”

RWC 2011 and 2015 winning All Black Dan Carter: “There’s going to be a little bit of pressure, they’re defending champions as well. But if you ask any of those girls where they’d like to play the World Cup, they’d all say New Zealand. You’re playing in front of your friends and family, on pitches you know so well, like Eden Park. We had that experience in 2011 and it’s just such a special occasion.

“There is a lot of excitement around New Zealand hosting Rugby World Cup 2021.”

Rugby World Cup Board member and two-time Rugby World Cup winner Melodie Robinson: “I’m so excited and the reason for that is three-fold. First and foremost, we’ve had Rugby World Cups here before, but this is the first time we’ll see the female athletes drawn together at a Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, a rugby crazy nation, so there’s history in the making. The other is the pool games are in unique, boutique-type stadiums so you’re going to see a different type of experience with the fans and the festival feel around the rugby. Finally, this is the biggest ticket in town next year. We know that because sponsors are really getting on board with New Zealand Rugby. Why that is important is because if New Zealand Rugby and World Rugby can commercialise this, then we can start having the conversation that women’s sport is not a cost. Yes, it is an investment, but it is also bringing in revenue.”

POOL A

New Zealand captain Eloise Blackwell: “Sitting there next to (RWC 2017-winning captain) Fiao'o Fa'amausili, a legend of the game, and it was pretty nerve-racking watching those balls being picked out. It’s interesting how the pools have come out; we’ve got an Australasian pool, a North American pool and a European pool. Across the pools, there is some quality teams. In my time, I’ve never been in a pool with Australia but every time we come up against each other, it’s a massive battle, and no doubt next year won’t be any different.”

“Every time you get to play at home is special and some of our girls are yet to experience that so it’s going to be an awesome moment for them. In terms of the World Cup, we are not defending it, we are coming out to win it. That’s the plan for us going forward.”

New Zealand scrum-half Kendra Cocksedge: “It means a lot. I’ve been to three World Cups now and having one at home is really exciting. Over here in New Zealand, rugby is in your DNA, you grow up with it and everyone is passionate about it here. To be here this morning, and to see the amount of people here already talking about it, and now the pool draw being done, it just makes it more real. For us having it here, we want to inspire the next generation coming through.”

Australia full-back Lori Cramer: “I love it. I heard a bit of a giggle in the crowd there when our ball got drawn (with New Zealand), so that’s good. I think whether it’s a friendly or a World Cup game between Australia and New Zealand it’s always a cracker so we’ll be looking forward to it. It doesn’t matter what sort of game, it’s always competitive between us, it doesn’t matter which sport either. But, I think in a World Cup it’s gonna be huge. I think by that point of the year we’ll just be excited to see any kind of fresh faces from any kind of other countries. So, we’re really excited.”

Wales Women's National Skills Coach Rachel Taylor: “Yeah, it’s been a bit of whirlwind last few days to say the least. But, just to be part of this, I have to say it’s a fantastic effort and display for the draw. It really adds some hype to it, and excitement, and to get some southern hemisphere teams in there is a real privilege for us because we don’t cross paths very often. So, a massive, massive amount of excitement coming from Wales for those games. It’s nothing too much of a surprise for us. We were lucky to get the hosts in France in 2014 and it was the opening game of the World Cup, and it was a fantastic memory and occasion to be part of. So we’ll hope for New Zealand first game. In an iconic rugby stadium would be a pretty epic moment for the Welsh team.”

POOL B 

Canada full-back Elissa Alarie: “We’ve been drawn into an exciting pool with our traditional North American rivals USA and we’re up for the challenge. The stage is set for a competitive Rugby World Cup and can't wait to play against the best teams in the world. We’re really looking forward to assembling whenever it’s safe to do so and continue our preparations for the Rugby World Cup.” 

USA second-row Alycia Washington: “Oh, yeah, the sport is definitely growing within the States. A little bit of a halt right now due to COVID but people are planning, people are finding ways to stay fit, stay involved, become advocates for the game, definitely up their knowledge of the game because it doesn’t come as natural as American football to most Americans. But, people are really, really looking forward to getting back in the game and I know the team is so excited — the girls are in camp right now — with Pool B, we’re super pumped.

POOL C

England coach Simon Middleton: “I thought the draw was fantastic and if that is a taste of things to come then you don't want to miss the World Cup. You get the experienced players who had a few nods and looks at each other and you get a feel from them about ‘this is fine, there is a good slant on the game at the weekend now’, and then the young players are bouncing off the walls as it’s a World Cup.”

England captain Sarah Hunter: “I just had this gut feeling we were going to be drawn against France, I don’t know what it was about it. They’re one of our rival teams who we have regular encounters with and they’re always hard fought and entertaining for the neutral. When we played them in the semi-final of the last World Cup it was probably one of the most physically demanding games that I’ve played in.

“If we want to win the World Cup we’re going to have to play the best teams along the way so if they’re in our pool that is what we focus on to get out of our pool.

“I thought there was a sense of what the competition was going to be and if that’s the draw how big is the tournament going to be? As a player, team and a country we want to go and play on the biggest stage and you got a feeling this could be the biggest World Cup there has been in the women’s game.”

South Africa coach Stanley Raubenheimer: “It’s a tough pool but we always knew it would be. You have to play against two of the top six teams and in our case, we have England and France. England were runners up in the last World Cup and France were bronze medallists, but that is the reality of playing on this stage, and hopefully we can give a good account of ourselves.

“Watching the draw gave us a sense of nervous excitement, but we can really focus on what we need to do now.” 

South Africa captain Nolusindiso Booi: “I know every team will come as a challenge, and we will take every team as they come. Sometimes it’s nice to play with the bigger teams so that you can see where you are and give everything you have at that time.”

Fiji captain Sereima Leweniqila: “I was pretty excited to see the draw for our girls, but also happy we weren’t included in Pool A! But, yeah it’s exciting, going against powerhouses of women’s rugby. It’s all very new and I'm so excited. Our next camp is actually around next week, so we’ll be marching in and we’ll see how it goes towards the preparation towards the World Cup. So, it’s progressing but slow, but we’ll get there. We’ve been in the High Performance Academy and we had the privilege of going under former Flying Fijians coaches, they've been teaching us and upgrading our skills and getting us ready for the Rugby World Cup.”

Rugby World Cup 2021 - Logo

Teams

Video

News

Volunteer

Tickets

  • Rugby World Cup Limited © 2007 - 2021. All Rights Reserved.
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Cookies Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Rugby World Cup
  • World Rugby Media Zone

Managing Cookies on the Rugby World Cup 2021 website

We use cookies to help make our sites function properly. We would also like to use cookies to continually improve our sites, offer you a better experience and deliver personalised content to you. Our use of cookies is described further in our Cookies Policy.

You can enable all optional cookies by clicking “Accept All Cookies”. You can also choose to adjust your cookie settings and select to have only necessary cookies and the cookies you wish to be deployed to be used.

Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

Necessary Cookies

Necessary cookies enable basic functionality on our sites such as page navigation, access to secure areas, authenticating logins, and the delivery of other core functions. This category of cookies cannot be disabled on our sites. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of these sites will not then work.

Cookie Consent: Analytics

We would like to use Analytics cookies provided by Google to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited these sites and will not be able to monitor their performance.

Cookie Consent: Advertising

We would also like to use advertising cookies, which collect information, and combine it with previously collected information, to select and deliver advertisements for you, and to measure the delivery and effectiveness of such advertisements. This includes using previously collected information about your interests to select ads, processing data about what advertisements were shown, how often they were shown, when and where they were shown, and whether you took any action related to the advertisement, including for example clicking an ad. These cookies may be on-site cookies or third party cookies.