WXV Global Series will be like 'mini-World Cup'

Image source, BBC Sport NI

• Published2 hours ago

The Irish Rugby Football Union's head of women's strategy Lynne Cantwell says the upcoming WXV Global Series is like having "a mini-World Cup every year, but on home soil".

The WXV Global Series has replaced the WXV competition and will feature the top 12 teams in the world.

England, Scotland and Wales will join Ireland as well as France, Italy, Japan, South Africa and the United States in the series with the matches to be played during the autumn break.

The tournament will help prepare the sides for the 2029 World Cup in Australia with teams playing between nine to 16 Tests in the WXV Global Series every year.

"Ireland play USA and Japan and the actual locations are nearly ready to be published and they will be published before the end of the Six Nations," Cantwell told the Ireland Rugby Social.

"That will be brilliant and I think this is going to be a really exciting competition as you are going to have USA coming, Australia the following year, New Zealand and Canada.

"You are going to have a mini-World Cup every year but this will be on home soil. From an Irish rugby point of view, we will have five or six international home games every year which has never happened before. That is really massive."

Ireland are currently competing in this year's Women's Six Nations and have lost two of their opening three fixtures.

However, Cantwell believes there are plenty of positives to take from the matches, particularly the 26-7 loss against France.

"I honestly thought the first half against France, particularly from a pack point of view, was sublime," added Cantwell.

"I am not going to lie, I have never seen anything like it from an Ireland point of view.

"It was absolutely amazing and all the players involved should be so proud of themselves and what they can do. It is only just starting."

Image source, Getty Images

Cantwell won an Irish women's record 86 caps during an illustrious international career that yielded a Grand Slam success in 2013.

Now, in her role as head of women's strategy in the IRFU, she believes it is key that the team strive to be "financially independent and not rely on the men's game".

"One of the big roles, this may sound black and white, but is how do we commercialise the game and how do we go on a journey that we are able to get revenue and put it back into the pathways and grassroots?

"At the moment, the women's game, this is in women's sport full stop, largely relies on the men's game to be able to fund it.

"Historically, what sport will generate revenue from is tickets, broadcast and sponsorship. We are really young on that journey and what you are trying to do is get people to see that vision, understand it and buy into it.

Cantwell also added that the IRFU can learn a lot from what has been done by other female sporting organisations throughout the world, such as the Women's Super League [WSL] in England.

"It is a big piece of work and all women's sport is on that journey and rugby isn't breaking through there quite yet.

"The closest is the RFU [Rugby Football Union] and they are trying to make a return in investment by 2031/33. Otherwise, the people we looked at was basketball over in America or the WSL.

"They are big sisters that you are looking at how they do it, but there are big pieces of work."

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