IRB begin to take women's world cup seriously

The last-minute, half-hearted, and somewhat shambolic announcement of the 2010 World Cup and its qualification process will not happen again for the 2014 World Cup, it seems. It is less than a year since England were awarded the 2010 World Cup. Despite statements that implied that every member union would be able to compete for a place in the finals, the late announcement meant that in the end only 22 nations of the over 80 members were actually able to so.

But today the IRB announced that it was launching a competition for bids to host the 2014 World Cup - and the winner will be announced 12th May, before next year's World Cup takes place and two years earlier than last time. For the first time this will mean that a proper world-wide qualification process can be organised. For the first time every country that wants to take part should be able to.