Ok, so maybe I won’t have everything, but I aim to try and have as much info as possible! If I am missing something, please feel free to let me know! Let me know what information YOU want to see!

Schedule & Pools

Team Rosters

Match Tickets

Photos

Top Try Scorers 2006

Qualifying Matches

Facebook Event Page

Destination England

History of the Women’s Rugby World Cup

Broadcasts – Women’s Rugby World Cup Games to be Broadcasted by Sky Sports, get details here.

YSC Twitter – Providing LIVE updates

YSC Facebook – Providing LIVE updates

USA Specific

• Support the USA Women’s Eagle through their Donation program or their Shop, all proceeds go direct the USA Women’s National Team.
• Are you from the USA and heading over the pond to London? If so get together with other fans here.
• Are you playing in the Social Game against the British Police?
• Do you have your Bakline USA Supporters Tee? All proceeds go direct to the USA Women’s National Rugby Team.

England Specific

• Open Training Session – The England Women’s National Rugby Team has invited fans to participate in an open training session.
• Women’s Rugby Museum World Cup Special Exhibition

re-posted from ScrumQueens:

Sky Sports has confirmed that it will broadcast thirteen live games from the Women’s Rugby World Cup.

There will be nine pool games live, including all of England’s matches, highlights from the remaining games as well as full coverage of the third place play off, semi-finals and the World Cup Final being played at The Stoop in west London.

Asides from England’s pool games, Sky has selected some of the top games from the other pool stages to show live.

On day one they will broadcast Wales V Australia, New Zealand V South Africa and England V Ireland – three of the most exciting clashes on the day.

On the second day of action there will be full live broadcasts from the games between France and Scotland, England and Kazakhstan and the most highly anticipated match of the pool stages, New Zealand and Australia.

On day three the matches being shown are New Zealand V Wales, Australia V South Africa and England V the USA.

Both semi-finals, the third place play off and the World Cup final will also be shown live though full details of those broadcasts and where they will feature are to be announced.

Other countries who show the World Cup (for example the Rugby Channel in New Zealand will show the Black Ferns games) will also take the Sky feed and commentary.

The IRB is also planning to simultaneously stream the same games that Sky has selected live.

Sky Sports Coverage (live games in bold)

MATCH DAY 1: FRIDAY, AUGUST, 20

No. Kick-off Group Match Venue/Pitch

1. 12.00 C Canada v Scotland Surrey 2

2. 14.00 A Wales v Australia Surrey 1

3. 14.15 B USA v Kazakhstan Surrey 2

4. 16.15 A New Zealand v South Africa Surrey 1

5. 16.30 C France v Sweden Surrey 2

6. 18.30 B England v Ireland Surrey 1

MATCH DAY 2: TUESDAY, AUGUST, 24

No. Kick-off Group Match Venue

7. 12.00 A Wales v South Africa Surrey 2

8. 14.00 C France v Scotland Surrey 1

9. 14.15 C Canada v Sweden Surrey 2

10. 16.15 A New Zealand v Australia Surrey 1

11. 16.30 B USA v Ireland Surrey 2

12. 18.30 B England v Kazakhstan Surrey 1

MATCH DAY 3: SATURDAY, AUGUST, 28

No. Kick-off Group Match Venue

13. 12.00 C Scotland v Sweden Surrey 2

14. 14.00 A New Zealand v Wales Surrey 1

15. 14.15 C France v Canada Surrey 2

16. 16.15 A Australia v South Africa Surrey 1

17. 16.30 B Ireland v Kazakhstan Surrey 2

18. 18.30 B England v USA Surrey 1

The World Cup semis and final will also be shown. See here for the full list.

Good news for the men and there have been rumblings from Nigel Melville that some games at the Women’s Rugby World Cup could televised as well.

from USA Rugby:

Networks Partner with International Rugby Board for Rights to Rugby World Cup in 2011 and 2015

All World Cup Matches to Air across Universal Sports’ Media Platforms

NEW YORK CITY — June 17, 2010 – Universal Sports Network, NBC Sports, and the International Rugby Board (IRB) today announced a partnership that will bring to U.S. audiences unprecedented national television and digital media coverage of the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup tournaments.

The announcement was made by Universal Sports CEO David Sternberg and Mike Miller, CEO and Secretary General, International Rugby Board. The official launch was supported by USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville and the local New York rugby community in the build-up to the Churchill Cup finals set for Saturday, June 19 at Red Bull Arena.

“This is a huge step in the right direction for USA Rugby,” Melville said. “A major broadcast partner will create a number of new opportunities for the sport, raising rugby’s profile in America, as well as allowing supporters to follow the Eagles on their road to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.”

Universal Sports, the preeminent destination for Olympic-related sports programming, and NBC Sports will provide full, multi-platform coverage of all 48 matches during the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand and the 2015 World Cup in England. Two matches in each tournament, including the Finals in 2011 and 2015, will air either live or on a same-day delay on NBC Sports. Live and delayed match video will also be accessible at www.universalsports.com, and on Universal Sports’ mobile platforms. Universal Sports’ and NBC Sports’ match coverage will feature a studio pre-game show, halftime and post-game shows, as well as several other production enhancements, and will be offered in high definition.

“This is a very significant rights acquisition for Universal Sports, especially given the growing popularity of rugby around the world and in America,” said Sternberg. “We are delighted to be partnering with the IRB for the Rugby World Cup and other top events, and we look forward to showcasing global rugby, at its highest level, for our audiences across all of our platforms—television, online and mobile.”

“Today’s announcement represents a significant milestone in the development of Rugby in the United States,” said Miller. “NBC and Universal Sports are globally renowned for quality broadcast delivery of major sports events in the United States and their considerable experience and passion for sport will deliver the widespread platform for Rugby World Cup to truly capture the hearts and minds of American sports fans.”

The Rugby World Cup is one of the largest and most avidly watched sporting events in the world, drawing an estimated 4.2 billion viewers worldwide during the last championship in France in 2007. The competition next year begins on September 9, 2011, when host New Zealand meets Tonga in Auckland. The tournament field consists of 20 different nations, likely including the United States, who will compete over the course of a month for the coveted Webb Ellis Cup. New Zealand and Australia jointly hosted the first edition of the Rugby World Cup in 1987 while South Africa is the defending champion from 2007.

The agreement extends Universal Sports’ focus on rugby, which will debut at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since the beginning of June, the network has really built up their rugby coverage. They have teamed up with USA Rugby and televised the U.S. College Sevens Invitational and the six-country Churchill Cup tournament. The final two matches of the Churchill Cup, featuring both the U.S. national team and the England Saxons, will air live from Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, this Saturday, June 19 beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.

ABOUT UNIVERSAL SPORTS: Universal Sports, a partnership between NBC Sports and InterMedia Partners, LP, serves as the preeminent multiplatform destination for Olympic-related sports programming on television and online. Universal Sports is available in more than 63 million homes, including all of the nation’s top 10 DMAs: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas-Fort Worth and Washington, D.C. Recent expansion includes launches in Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Miami, Denver, Portland, and Jacksonville. Go to UniversalSports.com for a complete list of TV markets. Major world championship and Olympic qualifying events found on Universal Sports range from track and field, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, marathons and cycling, to volleyball, rowing, triathlon, fencing, speed skating and martial arts. UniversalSports.com delivers an immersive experience via live and on-demand competition coverage, interaction with top athletes through blogs and in-depth access to Olympic sports news and information year round. For more information on the availability of the Universal Sports 24-hour television channel, please visit UniversalSports.com.

ABOUT IRB & RUGBY WORLD CUP: Rugby World Cup is the world’s third largest single sports event and the 2011 tournament in New Zealand will be broadcast to a potential audience of over 4 billion in 200 countries. All tournament surpluses generated by commercial revenues underwrite a range of major funding initiatives aimed at increasing global growth and stimulating participation. In total the IRB will invest over £153 million during the period 2009-2012.

ABOUT USA RUGBY: USA RUGBY, founded in 1975, is the national governing body for rugby and is a member of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB). The organization is responsible for the development of boys, girls, high school, collegiate and club rugby programs, as well as the nation’s rugby coaches, referees, administrators and all of its national teams that represent the U.S. in international competitions. As part of this development, USA Rugby hosts a number of courses, clinics, National Championship events and international matches throughout the year. For more information, please visit www.usarugby.org.

CONTACT INFO:

Universal Sports
Kevin Endsley
kendsley@universalsports.com
818-661-4188

Greg Hughes
Ghughes5425@gmail.com

NBC Sports
Adam Freifeld
Adam.freifeld@nbcuni.com

IRB
Dominic Rumbles
Dominic.Rumbles@irb.com

USA Rugby
Sara Wright
swright@usarugby.org

Monica from Beantown had an amazing idea of the weekend that we should make a Facebook Event Invite so that all the fans from the USA can know what’s going on! I created the Event earlier today, make sure you RSVP!

Facebook Invite

Where are you staying in London?

Are you playing in the Social game against the British Police?

Have you gotten your Bakline Supporters Tee? **TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO ORDER THESE SHIRTS!**

from International Rugby Suite by Sione A Mokofisi:

They fell off the top of women’s Rugby World Rankings; the U.S. Women Eagles national team can regain their former glory by kicking butts again.

How will the U.S. Women Eagles Rugby National Team reclaim their former world superiority in this summer’s World Cup 2010 being held in England?

The USA Rugby national office (Boulder, CO) should have better strategies to reverse the Women Eagles last two dismal showings in 2002 and 2006. Their so-called “high-performance goals” for the England campaign this summer are not convincing enough:

• Placed in the top four at the 2010 WRC.
• Placed as finalists at the 2014 WRC.

They should be expected to win the next two World Cups. Self-fulfilling prophecies are usually the best motivation tools with high-calibre championship teams like the U.S. Women Eagles. When expectations are raised to higher levels of expected performance, great teams have achieved great feats. If they go in expected to do mediocre performance, they will be awed by their opponents as the superior competitor.

U.S. Women Eagles’ History of World Dominance
Their superior performance in the inaugural Rugby World Cup 1991 looked as if the Americans were teaching the rest of the world a sport “Made in USA.” They went 4-0, and nearly shutting out all their opponents, 79-6, combined (Rugby Magazine, 2004) except England:

USA-7, defeated Netherlands-0.
USA-46, defeated USSR-0.
USA-7, defeated New Zealand-0.
USA-19, defeated England-6.
These Yankees continued their international prowess on the rugby “pitch” to include WC 1994 and 1998′s title matches. But the two title-game heart-broken losses may have had demoralizing effects on the entire American women’s rugby program. The evidence showed in WC 1998. It began a 12-year decline manifested in the 7th and 5th place finishes in the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, respectively (Rugby World Cup Womens database, 2010):

1994 – England – 38, defeated USA – 23.
1998 – New Zealand – 46, defeated USA – 12.
2002 – (7th place) USA-23, defeated Spain-0.
2006 – (5th place) USA-24, defeated Scotland-0.

U.S. Women’s Rugby Declining Years
It was apparent other nations’ women’s programs improved each year while the U.S. was declining. New Zealand, for example. Losses in 1991 and 1994 made them stronger. Meanwhile, the Americans’ game may have grown stagnant, and predictable. It took heavyweights like England four years, and New Zealand eight years to figure out how to defeat the Yankees. Other rugby heavyweights like Australia, France, and South Africa in the men’s game have joined the ranks of bullies who are beating up on the Americans in the women’s game.

Perhaps those weak opponents in the early years contributed to the Americans’ losing their dominant strengths. For example in 1994: Beating Sweden, 111-0; Japan, 121-0; Ireland, 76-0; and Wales 56-15. Those cake-walks may have caused complacency and lack of respect for their opponents. England avenged their 1991 loss by winning, 38-23, in the 1994 championship match.

Conclusion: USA Rugby Takes Women’s Program for Granted

The USA Rugby Boulder office rationalized that the decline was due to, “…other rugby powerhouses that have made a commitment to support the women’s game.”

Is this verification that the U.S. Women Eagles were totally neglected? Did USA Rugby fail to increase funding and training to keep the ladies at their 1991, 1994, and 1998 successes level? Perhaps USA Rugby took the women’s program early successes for granted while concentrating most of its efforts on the men’s program?

Apparently, USA Rugby gambled and lost: The Men Eagles are still a Tier 3 international side while the Women Eagles’ – despite their disappointing showing in 2002 and 2006 – are still a Tier #1 squad feared by their opponents. To succeed in this summer World Cup 2010, the Americans must rediscover their early mojos from the early 1990s.

They must be prepared to pull themselves out of their 12-year hibernation, and play like angry, and hungry bears. They must play like angry champions who have been cooped up in training camp for too long, and kick some butts!

Women’s Rugby World Cup 2010: August 16 – September 6.
Hosted by Surrey Sports Park, Surrey University, England.

USA Women Eagles Pool Matches:
August 20, USA vs. Kazakhstan
August 24, USA vs. Ireland
August 28, USA vs. England.

REFERENCES
Ed F. Hagerty, “2004 Directory-Yearbook,” (April, 2004). Rugby Magazine, Vol. 30. No. 3. New York City, NY: The Rugby Press.

Rugby World Cup Womens database retrieved July 12, 2010. http://www.rwcwomens.com/history/index.html.

USA Rugby, “National Teams.” Retrieved July 11, 2010, from USA Rugby database http://www.usarugby.org.