Wales Women begin their calendar year with the RBS 6 Nations, and their first home game at the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park is against none other than old foes England. The hosts face the World Cup holders on Saturday 11th February, with an 11:30 kick-off allowing supporters to catch the women’s game before the men do battle next door at Principality Stadium.
A month later, on Saturday 11th March 2017 (also 11:30), it’s the turn of Ireland to visit the BT Sport Cardiff Arms Park for what will be the second meeting between the two sides this year. This follows the recent announcement that Wales Women will play two warm-up matches on the road this month against Spain and Ireland.
Tickets for Wales Women’s Six Nations home matches are available here.
The Emerald Isle will host this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup, where Wales, Canada and New Zealand were recently joined in Pool A by Hong Kong. Tickets for the pool stage went on sale at 09:00 (GMT) this morning on Ticketmaster.
The world’s top players will battle it out for supremacy of their respective pools with games taking place across two venues in University College, Dublin (UCD Bowl and Billings Park), on 9, 13 and 17 August.
Defending champions England will kick off the tournament in the UCD Bowl at 14:00 (local time) on Wednesday 9 August when they meet Pool B rivals Spain before Wales meet New Zealand in the opening game of Pool A at 14:45 in Billings Park. Hosts Ireland get Pool C underway when they welcome Australia to the UCD Bowl at 19:00 and the first day of competition will come to a close when France play Japan in Billings Park at 19:45.
Click here for the full match schedule.
The cost of admission represents remarkable value for money with day tickets for each of the three pool days starting at just €;5 for schoolchildren and €;10 for adults (for Billings Park), while day tickets for the UCD Bowl start at just €;10 for schoolchildren and €;15 for adults. Family tickets (two adults and two children) start from just €;25 for Billings Park and €;40 for the UCD Bowl, per day.
Pool stage tickets will be available from 09:00 on Monday 9 January from here and here, where tickets for the final stages of the tournament are already on sale.
World Rugby Chairman Bill Beaumont said: “The pool stage fixture announcement and tickets going on sale is always an exciting time for teams and fans as they can really now plan in detail for August. The schedule has thrown up some fascinating matches, not least home favourites Ireland playing Australia on the opening day in Dublin. That promises to be a great battle and is sure to attract a big crowd to UCD.
“The Women’s Rugby World Cup is going from strength to strength. The 2014 tournament in France was seen as a huge success as was the 2010 version in England. As women’s rugby is currently one of the world’s fastest growing team sports, we have no doubt that the 2017 event in Ireland will continue that upward trend and inspire the next generation of future stars.”
The semi-finals will take place in Kingspan Stadium on Tuesday 22 August with the final scheduled for Saturday 26 August, again in the home of Ulster Rugby. Ranking play-off games will take place in Queen’s University on those same dates.
For more information around Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 visit the official website: www.rwcwomens.com.
