In an age where Trans-Tasman rugby wins are scarce for Australia, there is hope officials can do enough to fend off New Zealand and claim the right to stage the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
World Rugby votes on the hosting rights for the next tournament at a council meeting in Dublin with the winning nation to be announced early on Thursday.
Representatives from Australia and New Zealand will deliver a short pitch to round off their bids, having both spent time behind the scenes this week wooing votes from council members ahead what is expected to be a tight outcome.
Rugby Australia (RA) chief executive Raelene Castle, chairman Cameron Clyne and head of women’s rugby Jilly Collins will proclaim the merits of a tournament held in the Hunter region of NSW, with the final to be staged at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium.
They say the area best reflects the scale of the 12-team event, promising it will be commercially robust because of support pledged by the federal and NSW governments.
New Zealand has also been promised central government support for its proposed tournament based in Auckland and Northland.
Either way, the ninth edition of the tournament will be the first staged in the southern hemisphere.
Seven have been in Europe and one in Canada, with no country having yet been hosts twice.
There were a record six tenders for 2021 before England, France, Wales and Portugal dropped from the race in August.
The tournament’s shift to the southern hemisphere will reflect the rapid growth in the women’s game in Australia and New Zealand.
Women’s rugby’s boosted profile in 2018 and improved player conditions has corresponded with escalating junior numbers.
RA launched a Super W competition and there were trans-Tasman women’s Tests as curtain-raisers to the men’s Bledisloe Cup clashes in Sydney and Auckland.
The five-time world champion Black Ferns outplayed the Wallaroos in both matches but their on-field dominance shouldn’t play a part in World Rugby’s vote.
The 2021 tournament will feature quarter-finals for the first time and will run for 35 days, up from the 23-day span in Ireland last year which was deemed too physically demanding.
