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2021 Rugby World Cup qualifying

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2021 Rugby World Cup qualifying
Tournament details
Dates2017 – 2022
No. of nations30

The qualification process for the 2021 Rugby World Cup began on 9 August 2019 with 12 teams qualifying to the tournament which will be held in New Zealand.[1] The 2021 Rugby World Cup was postponed by one year in March 2021 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2]

Map of qualification showing all regions

Qualification process

Following the previous World Cup, seven teams received an automatic qualification berth - these berths being given to the top 7 teams (New Zealand, England, France, United States, Canada, Australia and Wales). The remaining five berths for the tournament will be awarded through regional tournaments.

The non-automatic qualification process began on 9 August 2019.

Regional qualification

Twelve nations are participating in the 2021 Rugby World Cup. Seven teams qualified automatically by virtue of their performance at the previous tournament, leaving five teams to qualify through regional matches.

Region Automatic qualifiers Teams in qualifying process Qualifying
places 		Qualified teams World Cup pools
Africa 0 4 1  South Africa C
Americas 2 2 0  Canada (AQ)
 United States (AQ)		 B
B
Asia 0 7 1  Japan B
Europe 3 6 1  England (AQ)
 France (AQ)
 Italy
 Wales (AQ)		 C
C
B
A
Oceania 2 4 1  Australia (AQ)
 Fiji
 New Zealand (AQ)		 A
C
A
Final Qualification Tournament 0 4 1  Scotland A
TOTAL 7 23 5 - -

Qualification process

Africa

Main article: Rugby Africa Women's Cup § 2019

Rugby Africa was granted one spot which was awarded to the winner of the Rugby Africa Women's Cup (Africa 1). The runner-up (Africa 2) progressed to a cross-regional Final Qualification play-off against the South American winner. South Africa qualified by winning all three of their matches while Kenya competed in the South America/Africa play-off.[3]

Qualifies as Africa 1
Advances to the South America/Africa play-off as Africa 2


Position Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1  South Africa 3 3 0 0 201 7 +194 15
2  Kenya 3 2 0 1 72 49 +23 10
3  Madagascar 3 0 1 2 20 123 -103 2
4  Uganda 3 0 1 2 27 141 -114 2

Americas

Rugby Americas North was not granted a spot to the World Cup, but Sudamérica Rugby allowed South America 1, the winner of a match between Colombia and Brazil to compete against the runner-up of the 2019 Rugby Africa Women's Cup for a place in the Final Qualification tournament.[4]


Test: 1392 9 March 2020 Colombia  23–19  Brazil Medellín  
Report [5]

Colombia moved on to the South America/Africa play-off against Kenya (Africa 2), who were runners-up of the 2019 Rugby Africa Women's Cup. The match was originally planned for 18 April, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asia

Asia Rugby was granted one spot, Asia 1, to the highest ranked team in the 2021 Asia Rugby Women's Championship (ARWC). Japan and Hong Kong, the two teams from the 2017 World Cup, were joined by the winner of the 2019 playoff for promotion to the tournament. The runner-up of the tournament progressed to the Final Qualification as Asia 2.

The winner of the 2019 Asia Division I Championship progressed to the playoff for promotion to the ARWC against Kazakhstan.

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
19 June – Calamba
 
 
 Singapore7
 
22 June – Calamba
 
 China59
 
 China68
 
19 June – Calamba
 
 Philippines0
 
 Philippines32
 
 
 India27
 
Third place
 
 
22 June – Calamba
 
 
 Singapore19
 
 
 India21

As winners, China faced Kazakhstan in two matches. The team with the highest aggregate score qualified for the ARWC.


Test:1335 31 July 2019 China  13–8  Kazakhstan Jiujiang Stadium, Jiangxi  


Test:1336 3 August 2019 China  0–15  Kazakhstan Jiujiang Stadium, Jiangxi  

With an aggregate score of 13–23, Kazakhstan qualified for the ARWC.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was postponed several times, originally from 14 to 22 March 2020 to 8–16 May 2020, then to November 2020, then to 5–13 March 2021, then to 2–12 October 2021 and then finally cancelled altogether.[6]

Qualifies as Asia 1
Qualifies as Asia 2


Position Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1  Japan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2  Kazakhstan 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3  Hong Kong 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Due to quarantine challenges, Japan were awarded qualification to the World Cup for being highest in the World Rankings. Hong Kong and Kazakhstan were scheduled to play a single qualification match to advance to the Final Qualification. The Asia Rugby Women's Championship did not take place; Hong Kong withdrew due to the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Kazakhstan qualified automatically as Asia 2 for the Final Qualification Tournament.[7]

Europe

Rugby Europe was granted one spot to the highest ranked team in a qualifying tournament (Europe 1) consisting of Six Nations sides that had not already qualified automatically from the previous World Cup, and the winner of the 2020 Rugby Europe Women's Championship. As England, France and Wales had qualified automatically, the tournament consisted of Ireland, Italy and Scotland, along with winner of the European Championship consisting of the Netherlands, Russia and Spain. The runner-up of the tournament progressed to the Final Qualification as Europe 2.

Main article: 2020 Rugby Europe Women's Championship
Advances to the European Qualification Tournament


Position Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1  Spain 2 2 0 0 143 7 +136 11
2  Russia 2 1 0 1 34 77 –43 4
3  Netherlands 2 0 0 2 21 114 –93 1
Test: 1390 8 March 2020 (1 BP) Netherlands  21–27  Russia Amsterdam  
Test: 1399 21 February 2021 (1 BP) Spain  56–7  Russia Estadio Pedro Escartín, Guadalajara (Spain)  
Test: 1400 28 February 2021 (1 BP) Spain  87–0  Netherlands Estadio Pedro Escartín, Guadalajara (Spain)  

As winners of the Rugby Europe Women's Championship, Spain joined Ireland, Italy and Scotland in the European Qualification Tournament. It took place from the 13 to 25 September 2021in Parma, Italy[8]

Qualifies as Europe 1
Advances to the Final Qualification tournament as Europe 2


Position Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1  Italy 3 2 0 1 79 38 +41 10
2  Scotland 3 2 0 1 60 78 –18 9
3  Ireland 3 1 0 2 40 35 +5 6
4  Spain 3 1 0 2 40 68 –28 5

Round 1

Test:1420 13 September 2021 Scotland  13–38  Italy (1 BP) Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma  


Test:1421 13 September 2021 Spain  8–7  Ireland (1 BP) Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma  

Round 2

Test:1422 19 September 2021 Italy  7–15  Ireland Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma  
Test:1423 19 September 2021 (1 BP) Spain  22–27  Scotland (1 BP) Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma  

Round 3

Test:1424 25 September 2021 (1 BP) Italy  34–10  Spain Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma  


Test:1425 25 September 2021 (1 BP) Ireland  18–20  Scotland Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, Parma  

Oceania

Main article: 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship

Oceania Rugby was granted one spot to the winner of the playoff of the highest ranked teams in the 2019 Oceania Rugby Women's Championship (Oceania 1) which was held in Fiji from 18 to 30 November; the loser of the playoff would play against the winner of another playoff between the lowest ranked teams to gain the right enter the Final Qualification tournament as Oceania 2. Six teams competed in the competition with Australia and New Zealand each sending a development team to the tournament. The six teams were separated into two groups with New Zealand A joining Samoa and Tonga in Pool A while Australia A, Fiji and Papua New Guinea went into Pool B.[9] A split pool format was used whereby each team was scheduled to play three matches, but only against teams in the opposite pool.[10]

Advances to the World Cup play-off


Pool A

Position Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1  Black Ferns Dev. XV 3 3 0 0 234 0 +234 15
2  Samoa 3 1 0 2 77 65 +12 5
3  Tongaa 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2

Pool B

Position Nation Games Points Table
points
Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Difference
1  Australia A 3 1 1 1 27 55 -28 7
2  Fiji 2 1 0 1 26 60 -34 5
3  Papua New Guinea 2 0 0 2 12 196 -184 0

^a Tonga withdrew from the competition shortly before their first game with Australia A due to the measles outbreak in Tonga. The match was declared a 0–0 draw.[11]

As New Zealand and Australia had already qualified for the World Cup, Samoa and Fiji met in the playoff match with the winner gaining qualification to the World Cup and the loser to play against the winner of a match between Tonga and Papua New Guinea to earn a place in the Final Qualification tournament.


Test: 1379 30 November 2019 to RWC      Fiji  41–13  Samoa Churchill Park, Lautoka  
Report [12]

As a result, Fiji qualified for the World Cup, while Samoa awaited the winner of Tonga and Papua New Guinea.


Test: 1389 1 March 2020 Papua New Guinea  24–36  Tonga Bava Park, Port Moresby  
Report [13]

Tonga played Samoa to determine who advanced to the tournament.


Test: 1397 14 November 2020 to Final Qual Samoa  40–0  Tonga The Trusts Arena, Auckland, New Zealand  

As a result, Samoa became the first team to qualify for the Final Qualification tournament.

South America/Africa play-off

A play-off between Africa 2 (the runner-up of the 2019 Rugby Africa Women's Cup) and South America 1 (the winner of the South America play-off between Colombia and Brazil) was played for a place in the Final Qualification. Kenya finished in second in the RAWC, and Colombia defeated Brazil. The match was scheduled for 18 April 2020 but was postponed to 25 August 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


Test: 1419 25 August 2021 Kenya  15–16  Colombia to Final Qual Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi  

As a result, Colombia qualified for the Final Qualification tournament.

Final Qualification Tournament

The final team to qualify for the 2021 Rugby World Cup was decided via a Final Qualification tournament. Four teams competed in the tournament: the second placed teams from the regional tournaments of Asia (Asia 2) and Europe (Europe 2), the winner of the play-off between the loser of the Oceania World Cup qualifying play-off and the winner of another play-off between the bottom ranked teams in the same tournament (Oceania 2), and the winner of the South America/Africa play-off.[14] Samoa withdrew from the Final Qualification Tournament due to challenges caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As the two bottom ranked teams, Kazakhstan and Colombia played a semi-final match on 19 February 2022. Colombia defeated Kazakhstan and played Scotland in the final on 25 February 2022.[15]

Scotland claimed the final spot in the 2021 Rugby World Cup by defeating Colombia 59 points to 3.[16]

Semi-final

Test: 1450 19 February 2022 Kazakhstan  10–18  Colombia The Sevens Stadium, Dubai  
Report

Final

Test: 1452 25 February 2022 to RWC      Scotland  59–3  Colombia The Sevens Stadium, Dubai  
[1]

References

  1. ^ "New Zealand to host Women's Rugby World Cup 2021". World Rugby. 15 November 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  2. ^ "2021 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand postponed a year". The New Zealand Herald. 10 Mar 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  3. ^ "Springbok Women Qualify for 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup". Johannesburg: Rugby Africa. 18 August 2019.
  4. ^ "2021 Rugby World Cup South America Qualifying". World Rugby. 5 April 2019.
  5. ^ "2021 Rugby World Cup Qualifying, Match 11". Rugby.World.Cup. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  6. ^ "Asia Rugby Women's Championship postponed". Rugby.World.Cup. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Statement regarding Rugby World Cup 2021 Final Qualification Tournament". www.rugbyworldcup.com. Archived from the original on 2022-01-21. Retrieved 2022-01-22.
  8. ^ "Rugby World Cup: Scotland & Ireland set for September qualifier in Italy". BBC Sport. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Expanded Oceania Championship doubles as Rugby World Cup qualifier". World Rugby. 16 November 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  10. ^ Birch, John (18 November 2019). "Samoa open qualifier with big win". Scrum Queens. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020.
  11. ^ greenwood, Emma (17 November 2019). "Oceania Rugby cancel Australia A-Tonga clash after suspected measles case". rugby.com.au. Archived from the original on 20 November 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 20 December 2019 suggested (help)
  12. ^ "Oceania Rugby Women's Championship 2019, Match 11". World.Rugby. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Tonga defeat Papua New Guinea in 2021 Rugby World Cup qualifiying". Rugby.World.Cup. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  14. ^ "World Rugby announces new Rugby World Cup 2021 qualification pathway". World Rugby. 5 April 2019. Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  15. ^ "Colombia one step closer to Rugby World Cup 2021 after beating Kazakhstan". www.rugbyworldcup.com. 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
  16. ^ "Scotland romp to World Cup play-off win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2022-10-02.
  • [2]. RWCWomens.com
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