1991 Women's Rugby World Cup

1991 Women's Rugby World Cup
Tournament details
Host nation  Wales
Dates 1991-04-06 – 1991-04-14
No. of nations 12
Champions   United States
Tournament statistics
Matches played 15
1994 →

The 1991 Women's Rugby World Cup was the first Women's Rugby World Cup. The tournament was not approved by the International Rugby Board (IRB), yet it still went ahead despite the disapproval of the sports governing body—France only confirmed their participation minutes before the draw was made on 26 February. Representatives of the IRB, WRFU and RFU attended the final but it was not until 2009 that the IRB officially endorsed the event as a "world cup" when it published, for the first time, a list of previous winners in a press release.

The tournament, held in Wales saw twelve teams compete for the trophy over a period of only a week. The tournament champions were the United States. The teams that failed to qualify for the semi-finals took part in a "plate" tournament between the 11 and 13 April.

Although the tournament was run on a very small and tightly controlled budget it still made a financial loss (which was eventually made good by the RFU), significantly due to the Soviet Union team being unable to pay its hotel and transport bills[1] The team had hoped to survive by bartering and selling trinkets (including, it was suggested at the time, vodka) and items of kit, but these activities were curtailed after they aroused the attention of HM Customs and Excise.

Pool stages

Pool 1

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against
 New Zealand 2004814
 Canada 0111733
 Wales 0111533
[48]
1991-04-06 New Zealand  24–8  Canada Glamorgan Wanderers [5/4/1]
[52]
1991-04-08 Wales  9–9  Canada Glamorgan Wanderers [7/5/1]
[56]
1991-04-10 Wales  6–24  New Zealand Llanharan [8/6/1]

Pool 2

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against
 France 200990
 Sweden 1012037
 Japan 002082
[49]
1991-04-06 France  62–0  Japan Aberavon [19/1/1]
[53]
1991-04-08 France  37–0  Sweden Glamorgan Wanderers [20/7/1]
[57]
1991-04-10 Japan  0–20  Sweden Llanharan [2/8/1]

Pool 3

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against
 United States 200530
 Netherlands 101287
 Soviet Union 002074
[50]
1991-04-06 [2] Netherlands  0–7  United States Pontypool [21/7/2]
[54]
1991-04-08 Netherlands  28–0  Soviet Union Llanharan [22/4/2]
[58]
1991-04-10 [2] United States  46–0  Soviet Union Glamorgan Wanderers [8/5/2]

Pool 4

Team Won Drawn Lost For Against
 England 200379
 Spain 1011319
 Italy 0021625
[51]
1991-04-06 England  12–0  Spain Swansea [8/2/1]
[55]
1991-04-08 England  25–9  Italy Llanharan [9/9/1]
[59]
1991-04-10 Italy  7–13  Spain Glamorgan Wanderers [10/3/1]

Plate quarter-finals

[60]
1991-04-11 Canada  38–0  Soviet Union Cardiff [6/6/1]
[61]
1991-04-11 Italy  18–0  Sweden Cardiff [11/9/1]
[62]
1991-04-11 Wales  3–6  Netherlands Cardiff [9/23/2]
[63]
1991-04-11 Japan  0–30  Spain Cardiff [3/4/1]

Plate semi-finals

[66]
1991-04-12 Canada  6–0  Italy Cardiff [7/12/1]
[67]
1991-04-12 Netherlands  0–8  Spain Cardiff [24/5/1]

Semi-finals

[64]
1991-04-12[2] New Zealand  0–7  United States Cardiff Arms Park [7/9/2]
[65]
1991-04-12[2] England  13–0  France Cardiff Arms Park [10/21/1]

Plate final

[68]
1991-04-13 Canada  19–4  Spain Cardiff [8/6/1]

Third place playoff

Officially, third place was shared between France and New Zealand.

However, a match between a French and a New Zealand XV did take place on 14 April, France winning 3–0. But it is clear from records held by the RFU Rugby Museum that game was not scheduled as part of the tournament and is not included in any official tournament records after the event.

Participants record that New Zealand fielded a weakened team based around players who had not made many appearances in the tournament. New Zealand awarded no caps – indeed the game does not appear in any official Black Fern records. On the other hand, the French RFU have included the game in a recently published official list of internationals, and do appear to have awarded caps.

As status of the game is disputed it is also not currently accepted as being a test match.

Final

[69]
1991-04-14 England  6–19  United States Cardiff [11/10/1]
 1991 Women's Rugby World Cup Winners 

United States
First title

See also

References

  1. ↑ For press coverage of the 1991 tournament, including coverage of the Soviet Union's financial problems, see the 1991 press cuttings on Women's Rugby: A Newspaper History
  2. 1 2 3 4 "US Women Eagles Win the Inaugural Women's World Cup". www.womeneagles.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-21. Retrieved 2007-09-25.

External links

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