2024: Test rugby’s busiest year

2024 was women’s rugby busiest ever year for 15-a-side international rugby. 45 teams played 101 tests and 13 non-test internationals*.

This also means that in 2024 over 62% of women’s test teams who had ever played (and were still eligible to play) took part in at least one match.

This arguably beats 2022 when 42 teams also played 101 tests but there were only four non-test internationals. 2023 saw 98 tests and 27 non-test international games.

In addition, 2024 saw a record 36 age group internationals (U16, U18 or U20), compared to 14 in 2022 and 26 in 2023. As well as the Six Nations (who have the most established festivals and competitions), Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and United States all fielded age group teams.

Two teams – Andorra and Mexico - made their XVs debuts in 2024 (and neither has yet lost a test match!). In addition (in what was perhaps the year’s most encouraging development) a record four teams - Jamaica, Norway, Romania and Trinidad & Tobago - returned to test rugby for the first time for over a decade, and Denmark played a non-test international and could play their first full test for over 20 years next year.

This is an impressive turnaround for a format that was on life support less than 10 years ago when – in 2015 – just 19 teams played 35 tests and some unions wanted to make Sevens as the default international format for women’s rugby.

The turnaround began in 2019, prompted perhaps by a qualification process that awarded places in the 2021 World Cup to regional champions which (remarkably) had not previously been the case. A chance – however remote – to play at the pinnacle of international rugby encouraged the revival of regional championships and teams.

Since then, the launch of WXV and the expansion of World Cup to 16 teams has further encouraged the growth of the XVs game, helped perhaps by top-level sevens becoming increasingly a closed club. The latter certainly seems to have encouraged countries such as the Netherlands to pivot from targeting sevens to fifteens.

Another effect of WXV and the World Cup can been seen in 2024 where uniquely this century England were not one the busiest teams. Instead – because of WXV and World Cup preparation - the busiest teams were Fiji and Wales, who played 11 tests each.

Australia, England, Japan and Scotland played 10 tests. To see the former in the list is particulaly remarkable given that, before WXV, Australia played very little test rugby between World Cups.

France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa and United States played nine each; New Zealand and Spain eight; Canada and Madagascar six; Samoa five; Hong Kong and Kenya four; Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroun, Colombia, Portugal, Sweden and Tonga three; Finland, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago, Zambia and Zimbabwe two; and Andorra, Belgium, Croatia, Jamaica, Norway, Romania just one. In addition Barbados, Cayman Islands, Denmark and Switzerland played a non-test international.

Perhaps unsurprisingly England were one of the teams with a 100% record. The other six unbeaten teams were perhaps less expected - Germany, Mexico, Zimbabwe, Andorra, Croatia and Romania.

Only three other teams won more than two thirds of their games – Canada (83%), Netherlands (72%) and South Africa (67%).

Top scorers? Apart from Andorra and Romania, who had huge 119-0 and 66-12 wins in their only tests, England averaged 46.3 points per game, Colombia and Germany 40 per game, and New Zealand 39.25.

Finland, Mexico (both 36.5), South Africa (34.2), Kenya (32.25), Canada (30.67) and Spain (30.25) also averaged over 30 points per game.

With a World Cup next year and a revised WXV to come in 2026, women’s test rugby has never been so healthy. And there is more to come yet – the gradual revival of Caribbean test rugby has been encouraging, a possible third level European Conference competition looks a probability for 2025/6, and perhaps in 2025 we might see the return of the “second division” African and Asian competitions that we have been promised for the past couple of years. The only region where test rugby is not catching fire remains South America but it surely cannot be long before they join the party.

*What is the difference between a test match and an international?

• A “test match” is played over 80 minutes between two national XVs at least one of whom recognises the game as a “test match”.
• “Internationals” may be games played over less than 80 minutes, or might involve only one national team, or may not be recognised as a test by either of the teams.