Wales women's national rugby union team
Encyclopedia
The Wales women's national rugby union team are a national sporting side of Wales
, representing them at rugby union
. The side first played in 1987.
Wales hosted the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup in Cardiff in 1991 and since then they have participated in a further four of the five tournaments finishing fourth in 1994, their highest ever finish. The IRB adopted the competition in 1998, which was won by the New Zealand Black Ferns who also won the tournaments in Barcelona in 2002 Edmonton, Canada in 2006.
The Welsh Women's Rugby Union was created in 1994 charged with promoting and governing the development and practice of Women's Rugby in Wales; the other three home unions also took charge of their own administration effectively ending the function of the WRFU in the process. The WWRU also became affiliated to the Welsh Rugby Union at the same time.
The creation of four separate home unions for Women's Rugby in Great Britain also saw the introduction of the Women's Home Nations competition with the first set of internationals taking place in 1995. Wales Women's early years in the tournament saw victories only against Ireland Women . Wales Women also remain the only touring team from Wales to have won a Test series in South Africa, beating the Bokkies by two Test to nil back in 1994.
From 2004 to 2006 a policy of selecting only players based in Wales resulted in a series of poor results - and failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. When the policy was reversed the team immediately recorded their best ever Six Nations performance, with a first ever victory over France in 2006, wins over Scotland in 2006 & 2007 ending a ten year drought of wins against their Celtic opponents, and culminating with victory over England in 2009 on their way to a Triple Crown. The National 7s squad lifted the European 7s title in 2006, beating England in the final but narrowly failed to secure a place in the 2009 Rugby World Cup 7s. In 2007 Wales also re-entered the FIRA Championship, using the tournament to give tournament experience to its development team.
.
*Wales only sent its Development Squad to this tournament.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, representing them at rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
. The side first played in 1987.
History
Wales Women have played as a team officially since 5 April 1987 when a Wales Women team, led by the recently retired Liza Burgess, took on an England Women side at Pontypool Park. Prior to 1987, Welsh players were selected to represent Great Britain with the first representative side featuring players from Wales running against France at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1986. Great Britain played as a team on several occasions until 1990, beating Italy in their final match. Wales have played England every year since 1987.Wales hosted the first ever Women's Rugby World Cup in Cardiff in 1991 and since then they have participated in a further four of the five tournaments finishing fourth in 1994, their highest ever finish. The IRB adopted the competition in 1998, which was won by the New Zealand Black Ferns who also won the tournaments in Barcelona in 2002 Edmonton, Canada in 2006.
The Welsh Women's Rugby Union was created in 1994 charged with promoting and governing the development and practice of Women's Rugby in Wales; the other three home unions also took charge of their own administration effectively ending the function of the WRFU in the process. The WWRU also became affiliated to the Welsh Rugby Union at the same time.
The creation of four separate home unions for Women's Rugby in Great Britain also saw the introduction of the Women's Home Nations competition with the first set of internationals taking place in 1995. Wales Women's early years in the tournament saw victories only against Ireland Women . Wales Women also remain the only touring team from Wales to have won a Test series in South Africa, beating the Bokkies by two Test to nil back in 1994.
From 2004 to 2006 a policy of selecting only players based in Wales resulted in a series of poor results - and failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. When the policy was reversed the team immediately recorded their best ever Six Nations performance, with a first ever victory over France in 2006, wins over Scotland in 2006 & 2007 ending a ten year drought of wins against their Celtic opponents, and culminating with victory over England in 2009 on their way to a Triple Crown. The National 7s squad lifted the European 7s title in 2006, beating England in the final but narrowly failed to secure a place in the 2009 Rugby World Cup 7s. In 2007 Wales also re-entered the FIRA Championship, using the tournament to give tournament experience to its development team.
Squad
Squad to 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup2010 Women's Rugby World Cup
The 2010 Women's Rugby World Cup was the sixth edition of the Women's Rugby World Cup and was being held in England. The International Rugby Board Executive Committee selected the host union following a recommendation from the Rugby World Cup Limited board after considering bids from the Rugby...
.
Forwards
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Backs
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Results summary
(Full internationals only)| Opponent | First game | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 1991 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 37.50% | |
| 1987 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 3.57% | |
| 1994 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 13 | 18.75% | |
| 1998 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | |
| 1996 | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 75.00% | |
| 1998 | 11 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 81.82% | |
| 1994 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60.00% | |
| 1988 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 40.00% | |
| 1991 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.00% | |
| 1998 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00% | |
| 1993 | 23 | 11 | 0 | 12 | 47.83% | |
| 2004 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 60.00% | |
| 1991 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 22.22% | |
| 2007 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 66.67% | |
| 1993 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.00% | |
| Summary 1987– | 141 | 55 | 2 | 84 | 39.72% |
Results
See Women's international rugby for information about the status of international games and match numbering.Full internationals
*Wales only sent its Development Squad to this tournament.
Other matches
External links
- The Welsh Rugby Union
- Bred In Heaven influential Welsh rugby discussion site*Welsh rugby news from icwales
- Welsh rugby union news from Planet Rugby
- Welsh Rugby Fans New website dedicated to Welsh rugby fans
- Sports Council of Wales Welsh Sports Hall of Fame