Elsewhere, Ellie Kildunne’s wonder try aided England’s 61-21 win over the USA in the WXV 1. The performances from both teams were far from perfect, with handling errors and wayward passes causing a stop-start nature to the game. The skills were still on display, however, with tries by Kildunne and the USA’s Alev Kelter being the highlights.
England full-back Kildunne scored her 11th and 12th tries of the year for the Red Roses but it was her first that featured a phenomenal half-pitch run which evaded multiple defenders. Kelter saw Kildunne and matched her with an individually brilliant try of her own. She popped a short highball, collected her own kick and then beat multiple defenders to score her team’s first try of the match.
There were a lot of talking points from the rugby itself but the main storyline that emerged, from not only that game but across all three WXV competitions, were attendance sizes.
Heading into the round England head coach John Mitchell had said his side did not deserve poor attendance figures, but his fears were realised at BC Place in Vancouver, Canada. The official number for the match has not been confirmed but the 54,500-seat stadium was sparsely filled and from the TV it looked as though less than 1,000 fans were watching on. In comparison, the Red Roses came into the competition after 7,590 fans watched them beat France at Kingsholm and 41,523 were present for their victory over New Zealand at Allianz Stadium.
WXV crowd numbers were worse for other teams with Wales a prime example. Only 291 supporters were in DHL Stadium in Cape Town, which has a capacity of 55,000, to watch their WXV 2 match against Australia. Wales lost 37-5, their heaviest defeat to Australia. Wales captain Keira Bevan said of the crowd: “It’s not the numbers we want as players.”
The WXV is a new tournament with the 2024 edition only the second time it has been held. However, World Rugby should rethink where it is hosted if attendance increases in the future. It is good to bring women’s rugby to countries like Canada, South Africa and Dubai (where WXV 1, 2 and 3 are being hosted respectively) in order to grow the game in different parts of the world. But the bosses need better promotion and they should think about bringing it to places where women’s rugby crowds are growing like France or England to give players the attendances they deserve.
The attendance story will continue to be present throughout WXV this year but there is also a lot of great rugby left in store. Next weekend games like England v New Zealand, South Africa v Australia and Fiji v Samoa are taking place across the WXV competitions. International games are not the only women’s rugby fixtures next weekend as the Premiership Women’s Rugby returns. Saracens v Trailfinders opens the 2024/25 season with Saturday’s games also seeing Loughborough Lightning host last year’s finalists Bristol Bears and Harlequins take on Exeter Chiefs. On Sunday defending champions Gloucester-Hartpury play Leicester Tigers.
WXV results
WXV 1:
USA 21-61 England
Canada 46-24 France
New Zealand 27-29 Ireland
WXV 2:
South Africa 31-24 Japan
Australia 37-5 Wales
Italy 0-19 Scotland
WXV 3:
Spain 83-0 Madagascar
Fiji 38-3 Hong Kong China
Netherlands 8-8 Samoa
Article written by Sarah Rendell.
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