AusLeisure

Rugby Australia has announced an increase in its investment in women’s rugby, with an additional $3 million dollars ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.

Marking the second successive year in which the governing body has increased its funding for women’s rugby, the commitment also includes more Tier 1 contracts for Wallaroos players along with higher player payments.

The uplift comes on the back of a promising season for the Wallaroos in 2023, capped by a third-place finish at World Rugby's inaugural WXV global tournament in New Zealand last November.

With the women’s 2029 Rugby World Cup to be held at home, Australian Rugby has a unique opportunity to build a meaningful and lasting legacy for Women’s Rugby as it embarks on the runway towards this marquee event.

The second phase of the planned staged increase in investment sees more than $3 million of additional funding injected into the women’s game across Wallaroos, Buildcorp Super Rugby Women’s and high-performance systems.

Beginning in 2024 and running through 2025 - the year of the next women’s Rugby World Cup - the new investment represents an increase of 61% over 2023, which itself saw an increase of 60% over 2022.

Welcoming the commitment, Rugby Australia National Women’s High-Performance Manager, Jaime Fernandez advised “in 2024, we will see further increased player payments, multi-year contracts, and an increase in the number of the highest tier of contracts.

"Significantly, we are seeing Super Rugby clubs making similar commitments to the women's game, with increases in investment, and hiring of more dedicated staff within their women's programs.

“This investment and the structure that we are building has been developed to build a critical mass and retention of key players - steps that will support an increase in training hours and time spent together as a team, which we believe will lead to greater success at international level.

“Naturally, we are focused on the next Rugby World Cup in England in 2025, however this is part of a strategy to build a sustainable model that will deliver a highly competitive performance at our home World Cup in 2029.

“We have loaded our Player Agreements towards the Tier 1 and Tier 2 categories, with most contracts at the highest tier tabled for two years to build stability for 2025.”

Image credit: Rugby Australia.

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