• Gender will be no longer included in tournament names• World Rugby calls move ‘ultimate statement of equality’World Rugby has rebranded its men’s and women’s World Cups in an effort to achieve gender neutrality in the sport. The competitions will now be referred to simply as Rugby World Cups with gender no longer included in their titles in a move that World Rugby has heralded as “the ultimate statement in equality”.
For the women’s edition of the tournament the change will come in for the 2021
World Cup in New Zealand. The most recent was hosted by
Ireland in 2017 when the final, when
New Zealand beat
England, was broadcast on free-to-air TV for the first time and attracted a peak audience of 2.6 million.