Super Rugby Women's is an annual

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

women's rugby union Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's r ...

club competition organised by

Rugby Australia Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

. It is contested by four clubs from Australia and one club from Fiji, who play a single series of round-robin matches to determine the four participants of a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

. The competition replaced the representative National Women's Championship with five teams owned by the Australian

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...

franchises, and began play in the 2018 season as an amateur league known as the Super W. The 2022 season saw the addition of a team from Fiji, and the introduction of salaries for players. The league adopted its current name in the 2024 season. The

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), often referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team based in Sydney that represents the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby Pacific competition. The Waratahs play t ...

are the current champions (2024) and hold the most titles with five.

History

The league commenced in the 2018 season as an amateur league. Buildcorp were named as the league's

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

partner, while Gilbert were named as the official supplier of the league's

rugby ball A rugby ball is an elongated ellipsoidal ball used in both codes of rugby football. Its measurements and weight are specified by World Rugby and the Rugby League International Federation, the governing bodies for both codes, rugby union and rugby ...

s. For the inaugural season, the teams' playing lists were constructed from scratch throughout the later stages of 2018. Clubs were asked to nominate a list of desired players, with the Super W assigning two of these "marquee" players to each club. In addition, clubs were able to sign a number of players with existing connections to the club, or with arrangements for club sponsored work or study. In the

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

were replaced by a team representing

RugbyWA The Western Australia Rugby Union (RugbyWA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in Western Australia. The organisation develops and fosters rugby in Western Australia, from junior level to professional level. As of 2019, ...

. The 2020 season was suspended following the fifth and final round of the regular season, due to

lockdowns A lockdown () is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison protocol that us ...

imposed by various state governments in late March, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia. The planned playoff between the second-placed Reds and third-placed Brumbies, and the subsequent grand final, were cancelled in April; the first-placed Waratahs were declared champions once more. The Waratahs would finish a fourth straight undefeated season in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, which was played almost entirely at

Coffs Harbour International Stadium The Coffs Harbour International Stadium, currently known as the C.ex Coffs International Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium located in the coastal city of Coffs Harbour, New South Wales. The stadium was opened in June 1 ...

in a pool format, and featured the temporary addition of a "President's XV" team composed of players from New South Wales and Queensland. The Western Force returned to the league, but withdrew after the first round to avoid the continuing

COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales The COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales, Australia was part of the worldwide pandemic of the coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first confirmed case in New South Wales was identified ...

. On 2 October 2024, Rugby Australia confirmed that the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels were an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria that competed in the Super Rugby competition. The Rebels made their debut in SANZAAR, SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. T ...

will not compete in the Super Rugby Women's competition in 2025, with

stating that an investigation into the viability of maintaining the Rebels women's program did not identify a financially viable option for either Rugby Australia or

Rugby Victoria Rugby Victoria, formerly the Victorian Rugby Union, is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, it is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union. Rugby Vict ...

to sustain the program in 2025.

Teams

Five

franchises, including five from Australia and one from Fiji, will field teams in the 2025 season of Super Rugby Women's. Players in the competition are required to be seventeen years of age or older.

Champions

Summary of winners

Broadcasting

During the 2020 season all matches were televised live by affiliate partners

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

. Following Rugby Australia's broadcast deal with

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

, all games will be broadcast on streaming service

Stan Sport Stan (stylised as Stan.) is an Australian subscription over-the-top streaming service. It was launched on 26 January 2015. Stan originally was founded as StreamCo Media, a 50/50 joint venture between Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media. In A ...

, with one game a round being simulcast on Nine's flagship free to air channel. All matches are streamed live by

References

Notes Citations

External links

Super Rugby Women's
at

{{Women's rugby union 2018 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2018