USA Club 7s Nationals and South Africa Premier Division Championship | WRR 165

Women’s Rugby Rundown News

7s

Olympics

• We covered the Women’s Rugby Sevens Paris 2024 Olympics in depth in WRR 164, if you missed that, go watch it now!

International

• Wondering when you can watch 7s rugby again? The HSBC SVNS hasn’t announced dates and locations for 2025 yet, but the tournament usually kicks off in December or January with eight events across the globe. [link]
• Don’t fret, that isn’t all! We’re previewing the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger Series, which offers a promotion pathway to the HSBC SVNS Series. The top four men’s and women’s teams will secure their spot in the new promotion and relegation play-off competition at the SVNS Grand Final. Teams that don’t make it to the HSBC SVNS Series participate in the HSBC Challenger 7s Series. [link]
  • Last year, there were three stops but we don’t have the dates or locations yet. 
  • Argentina is already beginning to train for the upcoming Challenger Series and is in camp with Senior and Youth players in Casa Pumas from August 13-16 [link]

Domestic

• The 2024 USA Club 7s Rugby National Championships are set for this weekend, August 10-11 at the Wisconsin Rugby Sports Complex in Madison, WI [link]
  • The Chicago Lions will defend their title in the women’s division, while NAV aims to retain the men’s championship
  • You can watch all the action live on The Rugby Network, produced by Next Level Rugby.

XVs

International

• WXV, the next big competition, kicks off on September 27 with matches in Vancouver, South Africa, and Dubai, and some teams have already announced warmup matches [Upcoming Fixtures & Results] | [WXV]:
  • Aug 11 & 17: Japan vs USA
    • Japan accounts tickets are for sale [link]
    • USA confirms their traveling roster for two-match tour of Japan [link]
  • Sep 7: England vs France
  • Sep 14:
    • Scotland vs Fiji
    • England vs New Zealand
    • Ireland vs Australia
• The 2014 World Cup Winning squad, England, are embarking on a fundraising challenge to support their then coach Gary Street who has been battling serious illness in recent months [link]
  • You can support them by sponsoring a kilometer, donating outright and sharing this challenge with your network!

Premier & Club

• The Bulls Daisies and DHL Western Province will face off in the 2024 South Africa Premier Division final in Pretoria on Saturday after winning their semi-finals, setting up a rematch of the 2023 final, which the Daisies won comfortably [link]
• WPL Round 12 saw wins by New York and All Blues, keeping the race at the top tight between these two teams. The semifinals are on September 7, and it’s looking more and more like it will be between the current top four, with final spots to be determined in the next two weeks. [link]
  • New York 72 Twin Cities Amazons 0
  • Beantown 12 All Blues 20
  • Chicago NS 0 Life West 28
• New Zealand’s Bunnings Warehouse Dr. Farah Palmer Cup competition will get underway this Friday, August 9, Northland is the defending Champion [link]
• Women’s Elite Rugby (WER) has announced that their first three franchises will be in Chicago, Denver, and Boston, with the inaugural season starting in March 2025. Riding the momentum from Team USA’s recent bronze medal win, WER aims to launch with six to eight teams, expanding over the next decade. The founding players will be announced after the selection process in January, and WER will also provide a pipeline for younger players. [link]
  • Backed by private investors, including sports-focused venture capital and former Procter & Gamble exec Deb Henretta, WER is on track to close its current capital round later this year.
• If you’d like your club show on USA’s ‘Find a Club Tool’, make sure your club’s location in RX is update [link]
• The Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship will kick off Saturday, August 10 in Ireland and defending champions Leinster  will see Connacht [link]
• Starting weekly on Tuesdays, we’ll be sharing our Women’s Rugby Rundown: Highlights, packed with the best moments in women’s rugby [link]
  • The first clip of this new series comes from Life West in the WPL with a sweet intercept by Lauryn Nazareno
• Fixtures for the innovative PWR Up Series have been confirmed ahead of its debut this September [link]

Women’s Rugby Rundown Features

• Is it okay to take pleasure from the Olympics rugby sevens tournament – even when it contained so much pain? [link]
• US women took rugby bronze – creating a golden chance to grow the American game [link]
• Caslick ponders Paris fallout after emotional defeats [link]
• Washington Post article about what rugby 7s is and how to start playing [link]
• From Northeastern to Olympic glory: Sarah Levy helps US win a bronze medal in women’s rugby [link]
• Own a piece of rugby history with an autographed ball and jersey up for auction, all proceeds will support youth rugby development in the US [link]
• Welcome To The Ilona Maher Fan Club [link]
• Celtic Challenge: Edinburgh backs Cieron Bell and Nicole Marlow on their rugby journeys so far [link]
• Olympic medallist Ilona Maher: ‘Female athletes are truly amazing’ [link]
• ‘The latest part of a crazy journey’: Paige Anastacia on England Deaf Rugby’s South Africa tour [link]
• What Olympics star Ilona Maher doesn’t have to explain to you about her body [link]
• US Rugby Foundation opens their College Rugby Scholarships for 2024-25 [link]
• With her signature stiff arm and red lip, Ilona Maher rules Olympic rugby and TikTok [link]
• Team USA takes bronze in women’s rugby, first medal for Americans in sport’s history [link]
• Aussies buckle under ‘weight of the whole country’ – but it could prove the perfect result for rugby sevens [link]
• Olympics big boost to Bok Women’s aspirations [link]
• They woke up as favourites for gold. They left Stade de France in tears with their fans [link]

Women’s Rugby Rundown Media

• Good Morning Football interviews Portia Woodman and shows some of her most brutal hits [link]
• The NCAA DIII experience helped Kristi Kirshe balance education and sports, taking her all the way to an Olympic bronze medal with USA Rugby [link]
• Rugby Wrap Up covers USA’s Bronze medal [link]
• Time to Lean in on USA Bronze [link]
• All [Canada] wanted to do was bring home some hardware— and that’s exactly what they did [link]
• Caledonia’s Alena Olsen after USA won bronze, the first medal for US rugby sevens! [link]
• WRRAP Podcast chats about the Olympics, PWR signings and how Ilona Maher is the global superstar rugby needs [link]
• The moment the USA Women’s Rugby Sevens team found out they were receiving a $4 million investment from women’s sports investor Michele Kang [link]
• 2014 World Cup Winners’ Challenge for Gary Street! [link]
• Mike Tolkin and Traci Young share their amazing story of how Traci’s living organ donation saved Mike’s life, and how can you also become a living donor [link]
• USA Rugby was featured on The Today Show [link]
• Squidge Rugby reflects the Olympics 7s, what it might mean for rugby, a look back over the final stages of the women’s competition, plus they pick out the players who impressed them the most [link]
• GoJo and Golic covered USA’s historic Bronze medal win [link]
• Our son’s reaction to rewatching the replay after summer camp is priceless [link]
• Look at what it means! Team USA’s Ilona Maher reflects on winning a historic bronze in rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics.  [link]

Women’s Rugby Rundown Jobs

• Philadelphia Women’s Rugby D1 Head and Assistant Coaches [link]
• PWR Head of Marketing [link]
• Ireland Women’s Rugby Strategy Implementation Lead [link]