Rugby World Cup 2025 - 16 teams - Spots/Qualy

[victorsra Profile Website]

World Rugby just expanded the RWC for women: https://www.world.rugby/news/605873/rug ... o-16-teams

How do you think the spots will be distributed?

My bet:
- Europe: 6 spots
- Oceania - 3 spots
- North America: 2 spots
- Africa: 1 spot
- Asia: 1 spot
- Playoff 1: South America 1 vs Africa 2 - 1 spot
- Playoff 2: Asia 2 vs Oceania 2 - 1 spot
- Repechage: Europe 7, North America 3, Loser Playoff 1, Loser Playoff 2 - 1 spot

[Canalina Profile]

I'd say...
(8) the quarterfinalists of the previous edition +
(6) one from every continent +
(1) another one from Europe +
(1) one from a repechage tournament with four nations from Americas, Europe, Africa and Australasia

Maybe the second point (one from every continent) because if, for example, Usa and Canada were already qualified I don't know if North America would have an other competitive team. Same, perhaps, for South America. So all in all my scheme is more an ideal one; at the moment probably it would be too unbalanced

[Armchair Fan Profile]

If you give 'only' six direct spots to Europe you risk finding yourself in the very same position as we have right now. Teams within best 16 in the world missing RWC while others outside Top 20 go in. Larger margins at the RWC and people claiming 16 is too much.

But this expansion must be accompanied by more international games between continents to have a clear view on how berth should be distributed, not doing it just for political reasons.

[victorsra Profile Website]

If you give 'only' six direct spots to Europe you risk finding yourself in the very same position as we have right now. Teams within best 16 in the world missing RWC while others outside Top 20 go in. Larger margins at the RWC and people claiming 16 is too much.

But this expansion must be accompanied by more international games between continents to have a clear view on how berth should be distributed, not doing it just for political reasons.

Not totaly, because the 7th European would qualify via Repechage. Of the current top 16, only Russia would be missing |(14th), replaced by Kenya/Colombia. There are top 20s missing men's world cups, as you know pretty well. Besides, the ranking below the 10th place is very problematic as those aren't teams that play outside their continents (as you pointed out). For exemple, now Fiji is 21st (even qualified for 2021), while Samoa is 16th. https://www.world.rugby/tournaments/rankings/wru

IMO it is very unlikely WR risking to have 8 Europeans (50% for one continent seems a political problem, considering it needs Council approval AFAIK).

I'd say...
(8) the quarterfinalists of the previous edition +
(6) one from every continent +
(1) another one from Europe +
(1) one from a repechage tournament with four nations from Americas, Europe, Africa and Australasia

I'm considering the fact they'll give direct spots for quarterfinalists. But, just like what happens with the men's RWC, the remaining spots would be rearrenged to keep a certain continent's distribuition. Thus why I used a calculation by continents.

[Canalina Profile]

I'm not sure that it would be fair to pre-define the number of spots per continent and then to sottract from them the number of teams qualified to the quarterfinals. If a continent is able to qualify several teams to the quarterfinals it should obtain a bigger amount of spots for the subsequent edition.
So I would prefer a system more or less like that I've purposed above: eight spots free to be conquered in the quarterfinals + other eight spots with a system of continental distribution

[victorsra Profile Website]

I'm not sure that it would be fair to pre-define the number of spots per continent and then to sottract from them the number of teams qualified to the quarterfinals. If a continent is able to qualify several teams to the quarterfinals it should obtain a bigger amount of spots for the subsequent edition.
So I would prefer a system more or less like that I've purposed above: eight spots free to be conquered in the quarterfinals + other eight spots with a system of continental distribution

I'm not sure either. I think everybody should compete in the Qualy in fact. But that's how it works in the men's tournament.

[johnbirch Profile]

If the tournament is to encourage the deveopment and expansion of 15s then as many there need to be as many qualifying places as possible. To have eight teams qualifying for 2025 based on performances in 2021 seems to be unreasonable and perpetuates a closed shop. The hosts should obviously qualify, and the winners certainly and there is perhaps a case for the runners-up and the third placed team (if only to make any third place playoff worth the effort) but other than that? no.

A qualifying process that included as many teams as possible competing for as many places as possible would be far more attractive.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

Expansion to 16 is the right call but the biggest issue is unless the gap between the rest of the womens rugby world and New Zealand, England and maybe France are reduced then it's not going to matter much. There's going to have to be a concerted effort from World Rugby to lift the standards of the womens game in order to make this expansion worth while, maybe an even bigger effort than what they've done with the men over the last 10 years. Otherwise there's the real risk of there being even bigger and even more frequent blowouts than what happened in the mens game.

In terms of qualifying, we first have to know how many active womens teams there are, because there's no clear idea of which teams are still active internationally. There's no point allocating places by region when we don't know how each region is balanced. I agree with johnbirch that as many teams need to be allowed to qualify as possible as well as who qualifies automatically. I think something that is important is if the automatic qualifiers are only the hosts, previous winner, runner up and third place that means more womens teams will have more game time in the lead up to the WRWC. As it currently stands the Wallaroos are only now just getting more than one or two tests a year. If our girls had to go through qualifying then they could nearly double the number of matches they play between world cups. More matches means more experience.

[snapper37 Profile]

Expansion to 16 is the right call but the biggest issue is unless the gap between the rest of the womens rugby world and New Zealand, England and maybe France are reduced then it's not going to matter much. There's going to have to be a concerted effort from World Rugby to lift the standards of the womens game in order to make this expansion worth while, maybe an even bigger effort than what they've done with the men over the last 10 years. Otherwise there's the real risk of there being even bigger and even more frequent blowouts than what happened in the mens game.

In terms of qualifying, we first have to know how many active womens teams there are, because there's no clear idea of which teams are still active internationally. There's no point allocating places by region when we don't know how each region is balanced. I agree with johnbirch that as many teams need to be allowed to qualify as possible as well as who qualifies automatically. I think something that is important is if the automatic qualifiers are only the hosts, previous winner, runner up and third place that means more womens teams will have more game time in the lead up to the WRWC. As it currently stands the Wallaroos are only now just getting more than one or two tests a year. If our girls had to go through qualifying then they could nearly double the number of matches they play between world cups. More matches means more experience.

Closing the gap? Try giving Australia, Canada and the USA a little credit. Canada has been finalist and the US has twice, winning it once. The real issue is countries where women don't have a high social standings and don't do well in sports and or Rugby. If we can support women in those countries to achieve a greater social standing hopefully their rugby will grow also.