Teams from Scotland, Samoa, Colombia, and the winner of the Hong Kong vs Kazakhstan play-off will compete for the last remaining place at Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand, IgbereTV reports.
The tournament is now due to take place between 8 October – 12 November 2022 while the final qualification matches will be played on 18 and 24 February 2022 at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai.
The Final Qualification Tournament will operate in a semi-final, final format over two match days. Teams will be seeded as per World Rugby Women’s Rankings powered by Capgemini as of 20 December 2021 with seed 1 vs seed 4 and seed 2 vs seed 3 meeting in the semi-finals.
This is the first time the women’s edition of Rugby World Cup has featured a Final Qualification Tournament offering teams a second pathway to qualify for RWC 2021 with the winner booking their place in Pool A alongside hosts New Zealand, Australia, and Wales next year.
Eleven teams have already qualified for Rugby World Cup 2021, including New Zealand, England, France, Canada, USA, Australia, and Wales, who qualified through their final ranking at Ireland 2017, and South Africa, Fiji, Italy, and Japan who qualified through their regions.
Rugby World Cup 2021 Tournament Director, Alison Hughes, said: “We are pleased to be able to share the details of the Rugby World Cup 2021 Final Qualification Tournament. A first for a women’s edition of a Rugby World Cup the tournament offers teams a second opportunity to qualify for the pinnacle event and we anticipate a thrilling contest between competing teams in Dubai in February.”
The RWC 2021 Final Qualification Tournament will be live-streamed across World Rugby and RWC 2021 digital and social platforms. Rugby World Cup 2021 will be the showpiece event in women’s rugby union 15s, with the first tickets for Rugby World Cup 2021 selling out in minutes
