The North rallies together to grow the women's game
03/27/2025 03:24 AM
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: With less than six months to go until World Cup 2025, all four Home Unions – RFU, WRU, Scottish Rugby, IRFU – are continuing to work together to grow the women and girls' game, thanks to the Impact '25 programme and UK Sport.
Backed by UK Sport funding, this international collaboration between the four Unions is one of the programme's five flagship strands, focused on International Development.
Impact '25 is the transformative legacy programme for RWC25, delivered by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in partnership with the UK Government, Sport England and UK Sport, to supercharge the growth of women's rugby. You can find out more about the remaining four strands here.
UK Sport is distributing this UK Government funding to support the 2025 Rugby World Cup hosting costs and the International Development strand of Impact '25.
The strand is designed to enhance and expand female performance pathways across all Home Unions, aiming to improve standards and strengthen the international game's competitiveness. It also aims to improve the quality and quantity of female coaches and officials in the elite game in the UK.
The RFU is working closely with the WRU, Scottish Rugby, and the IRFU to deliver an agreed number of programmes in each Union. These programmes support activity to grow the women's game and enhance elite performance pathways.
Each Union has taken an individual approach to using the funding in the way that best suits their own domestic setup. The programme also creates a fantastic opportunity for all four Unions to collaborate, share best practices and learn from each other.
