WXV

WXV Global Series, formerly known as WXV, is an international annual women's rugby union competition between national teams. It was launched in 2023 as WXV,^[1] featuring three tiers (WXV 1, WXV 2 and WXV 3), each with six teams. In the original split-pool format, teams were divided into two pools and played only against teams from the opposite pool.^[2]

In September 2025, World Rugby, in partnership with 18 national unions, announced the WXV Global Series, a three-year programme running from 2026 to 2028. The series will feature more than 100 cross-regional matches and will form part of the qualification pathway for the 2029 Women's Rugby World Cup.^[3][4]

With the expansion of the 2025 Rugby World Cup from 12 to 16 teams, the test calendar was restructured, with WXV serving to revolutionise the women's international landscape.^[5] WXV was announced on 16 March 2021 with the inaugural edition intended to begin in September 2022, but due to the coronavirus pandemic it was pushed back to 2023 to accommodate the postponed 2021 Rugby World Cup. World Rugby committed to investing £6.4 million in the tournament. It was played within an international window from September to October, except in Rugby World Cup years.^[1]

Teams could qualify through various regional competitions and both play-off and play-in fixtures for the three competition tiers. Each tier had designated regional slots allocated before the 2023 edition. From 2023, the allocation of slots in tiers two and three could change based on the region of the champion team and the lowest-ranked team. The allocation of slots by tier would have changed from 2026, had the competition not been reformatted before that point. There was no guarantee that a team would play in the same tier as the previous year.

In both the 2023 and 2024 editions, the top three teams from that year's Six Nations Championship and Pacific Four Series qualified for WXV 1. From 2026, the bottom-ranked side's regional place would have been relegated to WXV 2 and the top WXV 2 side's regional place would have been promoted.^[2][6]

In 2023, the fourth-placed team from the Six Nations Championship and Pacific Four Series qualified for WXV 2 alongside the champions of the Oceania Rugby Women's Championship, the Asia Rugby Women's Championship, and the Rugby Africa Women's Cup. Additionally, the winner of a playoff between the fifth-placed team in the Six Nations and the champions of the Rugby Europe Women's Championship secured a place.^[2][6]

Starting in 2023, the champion of WXV 3 had their regional place elevated to WXV 2, displacing the sixth-placed team's regional place to WXV 3 for the following tournament. From 2026 onwards, this process would have also applied to the regional places of both the WXV 2 champion and the sixth-placed team in WXV 1.^[2][6]

In 2023, the sixth-placed team from the Six Nations Championship, the runner-up in the playoff between the fifth-placed Six Nations team and the champion of the Rugby Europe Women's Championship, the winner of a play-in between Colombia and Brazil, and the runners-up from the respective regional tournaments in Asia, Africa, and Oceania qualified for WXV 3.^[2][6]

Beginning in 2023, the WXV 3 champion had their regional place promoted to tier two, displacing the sixth-placed WXV 2 team's place for the following tournament. The team finishing sixth was required to compete in a playoff with the best non-competing side in the World Rugby Rankings to decide who would take the final place in WXV 3 the following year.^[2]

In both 2023 and 2024, all tiers used a cross-pool format. Teams were divided into two pools of three, grouped by region where possible, and played only against the opposition in the other pool.^[2][6] WXV 3 was originally announced as a round-robin tournament of four teams; this was later revised to a six-team cross-pool competition.

In September 2025, World Rugby, in partnership with 18 national unions, announced a major restructure of WXV, launching the WXV Global Series.^[3][4] The new format runs from 2026 to 2028 and is designed to give women's national teams a larger and more consistent schedule of international rugby.^[3][7]

18 national teams will take part. The rankings used to determine positions in the series were set at the end of 2024 WXV, and teams will remain fixed in these throughout the 2026–2028 cycle, as agreed with participating unions. All teams that competed at the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup will take part as well as Hong Kong China and Brazil.^[3]

The top 12 teams – Australia, Canada, England, France, Italy, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, the United States, and Wales – will play in a cross-regional home-and-away touring games, which are to be arranged between the member unions.^[3][8][4]

As or 3 March 2026, the following tours have been confirmed for 2026 WXV. The home team is listed first.

• TBA vs Australia – 3 tests in September.^[9]
• Australia vs Scotland – 2 tests in October.^[9]
• New Zealand vs France – 3 tests in October.^[10]

The six emerging nations – Brazil, Fiji, Hong Kong China, the Netherlands, Samoa, and Spain – will play in a tournament at a single host venue in 2026 and 2028 funded by World Rugby.^[3][4]

In 2027, crossover fixtures between the two tiers will coincide with the British & Irish Lions Women's tour to New Zealand.^[3][8]