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1994 Women's Rugby World Cup

1994 Women's Rugby World Cup
Cupa Cruinne Rugbaidh nam Ban 1994
Tournament details
Host nation Scotland
Dates11 – 24 April 1994
No. of nations12
Final positions
Champions  England (1st title)
Runner-up  United States
Tournament statistics
Matches played31
1991
1998

The 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup was the second world cup for women. It was originally scheduled to be held in Amsterdam, Netherlands (10–24 April) but was cancelled only weeks before. However, a replacement competition was organised around the same dates in Scotland. England beat the defending champions USA 38–23 in the final.

Background

The official reason for the cancellation was that the event organisers failed to get official endorsement of the event as the "Women's World Cup" from the International Rugby Board (IRB). The minutes of the 1993 Interim meeting of the IRB state the following about the "1994 Women's International Tournament":

"The Council agreed to defer consideration of participation by member unions in the tournament until such time as a formal request is received from the organizers."[1]

Hence not only was there uncertainty to whether it really was the "Women's World Cup" or not, but the IRB refused to endorse it regardless of its status – the "deferral" (above) was in practice a refusal to endorse as the next scheduled IRB meeting was only days before the event was due to start. It was not until 2009 that the IRB officially endorsed the event as a "world cup" when it published, for the first time, a list of previous winners.[2]

Because of this, the Unions of some countries decided not to pay team expenses (including New Zealand, where women's rugby was by now fully integrated in the national union, and ultimately others as well) or withdrew their entries. Several team members decided to go ahead and raised the money themselves, but the surrounding uncertainty of the event status and the financial risk from teams pulling out prompted the event organizers to (rather abruptly) cancel it.

The women who had trained so hard, and had gone to much trouble raising money etc., were so disappointed at the cancellation that an alternative tournament in Scotland was soon organized. Despite the IRB threatening sanctions against unions taking part in this unendorsed event, it went ahead.

This Women's Rugby World Cup, like its predecessor in 1991, was never endorsed by the IRB and the Scottish organizers did not pursue official sanctioning. However, all of the participating teams regarded it as the "real" World Cup.

Eventually eleven of the original sixteen entrants took part – as well as New Zealand, Netherlands also withdrew from both participation as well as hosts, and Spain pulled out very late – after the groups had been drawn – and were replaced by a Scottish Students team. Italy and Germany were also notable absentees. The Soviet Union would have competed but due to their dissolution, they were replaced by Russia and Kazakhstan.

Once the event was underway it proved to be a great success,[3] England exacting revenge for their 1991 defeat to USA, beating the defending champions 38–23 in the final.

Squads

Match Officials

J Fleming (Boroughmuir)[4]

Pool stages

Pool A

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD
 United States 2 2 0 0 232 0 +232
 Japan 2 1 0 1 10 126 −116
 Sweden 2 0 0 2 5 121 −116
Source: [citation needed]
11 April 1994
Sweden 0–111 United States
Melrose
13 April 1994
Japan 10–5 Sweden
Melrose
15 April 1994
Japan 0–121 United States
Melrose

Pool B

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD
 England 2 2 0 0 92 0 +92
 Scotland 2 1 0 1 51 26 +25
 Russia 2 0 0 2 0 117 −117
Source: [citation needed]
11 April 1994
England 66–0 Russia
Boroughmuir
13 April 1994
Scotland 51–0 Russia
Boroughmuir
15 April 1994
Scotland 0–26 England
Boroughmuir

Pool C

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD
 France 2 2 0 0 108 8 +100
 Ireland 2 1 0 1 18 36 −18
Scotland Scottish Students 2 0 0 2 13 95 −82
Source: [citation needed]
11 April 1994
Scottish Students Scotland8–77 France
West of Scotland RFC
13 April 1994
Scottish Students Scotland5–18 Ireland
West of Scotland RFC
15 April 1994
France 31–0 Ireland
West of Scotland RFC

Pool D

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD
 Wales 2 2 0 0 40 13 +27
 Canada 2 1 0 1 33 11 +22
 Kazakhstan 2 0 0 2 8 57 −49
Source: [citation needed]
13 April 1994
Kazakhstan 8–29 Wales
Edinburgh Academicals RFC
15 April 1994
Canada 28–0 Kazakhstan
Edinburgh Academicals RFC

Plate competition

Round robin

Team Pld W D L PF PA PD Ladder
 Kazakhstan 3 3 0 0 83 12 +71 9th
 Sweden 3 2 0 1 46 56 −10 10th
 Russia 3 1 0 2 37 57 −20 11th
Scotland Scottish Students 3 0 0 3 24 65 −41 12th
Source: [citation needed]
17 April 1994
Russia 13–20 Sweden
Kirkcaldy
17 April 1994
Scottish Students Scotland0–27 Kazakhstan
Kirkcaldy

19 April 1994
Scottish Students Scotland12–14 Sweden
Gala
19 April 1994
Kazakhstan 25–0 Russia
Gala

21 April 1994
Kazakhstan 31–12 Sweden
Stirling County
21 April 1994
Scottish Students Scotland12–24 Russia
Stirling County

Plate final

23 April 1994
Kazakhstan 29–12 Sweden
Boroughmuir

Championship

Bracket

Championship

 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
17 April – Gala
 
 
 England24
 
20 April – Gala
 
 Canada10
 
 England18
 
17 April – Edinburgh
 
 France6
 
 France99
 
24 April – Edinburgh
 
 Japan0
 
 England38
 
17 April – Boroughmuir
 
 United States23
 
 United States76
 
20 April – Gala
 
 Ireland0
 
 United States56
 
17 April – Melrose
 
 Wales15 Third place
 
 Wales8
 
24 April – Edinburgh
 
 Scotland0
 
 France27
 
 
 Wales0
 

Shield

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
20 April – Melrose
 
 
 Canada57
 
23 April – Boroughmuir
 
 Japan0
 
 Canada5
 
20 April – Melrose
 
 Scotland11
 
 Ireland3
 
 
 Scotland10
 
Third place
 
 
23 April – Boroughmuir
 
 
 Ireland11
 
 
 Japan3

Quarter-finals

17 April 1994
United States 76–0 Ireland
Boroughmuir
17 April 1994
England 24–10 Canada
Gala
17 April 1994
France 99–0 Japan
Edinburgh Academicals RFC
17 April 1994
Scotland 0–8 Wales
Melrose

Championship semi-finals

20 April 1994
United States 56–15 Wales
Gala
20 April 1994
England 18–6 France
Gala

Shield semi-finals

20 April 1994
Canada 57–0 Japan
Melrose
20 April 1994
Scotland 10–3 Ireland
Melrose

Shield 3rd/4th (7th place)

23 April 1994
Ireland 11–3 Japan
Boroughmuir

Shield final (5th place)

23 April 1994
Scotland 11–5 Canada
Boroughmuir

Cup 3rd/4th place

24 April 1994
France 27–0 Wales
Edinburgh Academicals RFC

Cup final

24 April 1994
England 38–23 United States
Edinburgh Academicals RFC
Referee: Jim Fleming (Scotland)


 1994 Women's Rugby World Cup winners 

England
First title

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.uiweb.uidaho.edu/clubs/womens_rugby/RugbyRoot/rugby/games/Sched94/womenswc.html. Retrieved 25 June 2009. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[dead link]
  2. ^ "IRB press release". Archived from the original on 2 December 2013.
  3. ^ "A History of the Women's World Cup". Users.ox.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  4. ^ Hughson, John (1 July 2016), "The Cup tradition and England 1966", England and the 1966 World Cup, Manchester University Press, pp. 12–31, doi:10.7228/manchester/9780719096150.003.0002, ISBN 978-0-7190-9615-0, retrieved 6 May 2021

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