Emily Scarratt boasts a record of 16 tries in 18 tests for England - how many will she score at WRWC 2010? Photo: rugbymatters.net
On the eve of Women's Rugby World Cup 2010, we bring you some interesting statistics on players involved in the showpiece event, past tournaments and personal milestones.
- Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 will feature 30 matches played
across five days and two venues with Surrey Sports Park hosting all
matches bar the semi finals, third place play-off and final, which
take place at the Twickenham Stoop.
- While six nations qualified directly for WRWC 2010, the other
six came through regional competitions with Kazakhstan the last
nation to secure their place as Asia's representative last
November. The other qualifying nations were Ireland, Wales, Sweden,
Scotland and Australia.
- Ten of the 14 match officials for the tournament are women. Two
of them, Nicky Inwood of New Zealand and Hong Kong's Lee Wing
Yi Gabriel, have played international rugby for their respective
countries.
- Australia are bidding to become the first nation to unite both
the Sevens and 15-a-side World Cups after their success in the
inaugural women's event at RWC Sevens 2009. Eight members of
their RWC Sevens squad will be seeking their own double as part of
the Wallaroos squad.
- Gillian Florence of Canada, Scotland's Donna Kennedy, Olga
Rudoy of Kazakhstan and New Zealand's Anna Richards will join a
very select club by playing in their fifth Women's Rugby World
Cup. The only other person to reach this milestone is Patty Jervey,
who played in the first five tournaments for the USA.
- Monalisa Codling and Anna Richards are bidding for a fourth
successive title with the Black Ferns, having never tasted defeat
on the World Cup stage.
- Canadian full back Heather Moyse won Olympic gold in the
two-man bobsleigh in February, acting as brakeman to driver Kaillie
Humphries.
- The oldest player at WRWC 2010 will be Olga Rudoy of
Kazakhstan. The 47-year-old is not the only member of her family to
play rugby for Kazakhstan as her son Anton is one of the stars of
the men's national side.
- By contrast the youngest is Shona Powell-Hughes, the Welsh
forward having only turned 19 in July. Powell-Hughes is one of four
19-year-olds who will be involved, the others being Zenay Jordaan
(South Africa), Symbat Zhamankulova (Kazakhstan) and Ninni
Johansson-Giebat (Sweden).
- Only weeks after Women's Rugby World Cup 2010 ends, Welsh
full back Non Evans will compete in the Under 55kg Olympic
freestyle wrestling competition at the Commonwealth Games - the
third different sport she has competed in the Games at after judo
and weightlifting.
- Four matches in World Cup history have seen the winning side
score more than a century of points, two apiece by New Zealand and
USA.
- The Black Ferns hold the record for their 134-6 defeat of
Germany in 1998, the same nation they also beat 117-0 four years
later. As defending champions in 1994, USA beat Sweden 111-0 and
Japan 121-0 in their pool matches.
- England have the tallest squad of the 12 participating teams
with an average height of 170cm (5 ft 6in). South Africa have the
shortest squad with an average of 164cm (5ft 4in).
- Twelve players will celebrate their birthdays during the
duration of the tournament, including Sweden's Ninni
Johansson-Giebat who turns 20 on finals day.
- A total of 179 tries were scored at WRWC 2006, 31 of them by
New Zealand with South Africa and Spain scoring the fewest with
five apiece.
- New Zealand have only ever lost one Women's Rugby World Cup
match, a 7-0 loss to USA in the semi finals back in 1991, winning
their other 16 encounters.
- Three nations have been able to call themselves women's
world champions - USA (1991), England (1994) and New Zealand (1998,
2002 and 2006).
- Australia wing Kristy Giteau is the older sister of Wallabies
star Matt. Her team-mate Iliseva Batibasaga, meanwhile, is the
daughter of former Fiji international Isimelo Batibasaga.
- New Zealand scored the most points (202), tries (31) and
conversions (16) at WRWC 2006, with Australia kicking the most
penalties (seven) and Scotland the only drop goal.
- Kazakhstan has the oldest squad in the tournament with an
average age of 29 years, nine months and 10 days - no doubt helped
by the presence of 47-year-old Olga Rudoy.
- South Africa, by contrast, have the youngest squad with an
average age of 25 years, four months and 20 days.
- USA coach Kathy Flores was a member of their victorious side in
1991.
- Trish Hina may be the only uncapped member of New Zealand's
squad at WRWC 2010, but she could complete a World Cup double of
her own having helped the Kiwi Ferns win the Rugby League crown in
2008.
- Canada's Heather Moyse was the top try scorer at WRWC 2006
with seven, one more than teammate Maria Gallo, Sue Day of England
and New Zealand's Amiria Marsh.
- A total of 1,179 points were scored at Women's Rugby World
Cup 2006, New Zealand scoring the most with 202 and South Africa
the fewest with 30.
- New Zealand centre Huriana Manuel has followed in her
mother's footsteps by playing for the Black Ferns.
- Eight of the teams at WRWC 2010 were also represented at RWC
Sevens 2009 and just over 50 percent of players involved for their
countries in Dubai will also be on show at Surrey Sports Park.
- Gabriel Lee Wing Yi is Asia's top female referee and
created a piece of history on 10 June 2009 as the first woman to
take charge of a full international men's test match,
Kyrgyzstan v Mongolia in the HSBC Asian Five Nations.
- Australia number 8 Debby Hodgkinson was once shortlisted to
appear in Gladiators.
- Emily Scarratt, the 20-year-old England centre, boasts an
impressive record of 16 test tries in her 18 matches for the Red
Roses.
- USA have scored the most points in Women's Rugby World Cup
history with 903 across five tournaments. New Zealand are next best
on 796 - despite missing the 1994 tournament - with England the
only other side within reach on 741.
- England have the heaviest squad at WRWC 2010 with an average
weight of 75kg. Wales have the lightest with 69kg the average
weight of their 26-strong squad.
- New Zealand captain Melissa Ruscoe has also captained her
country's national teams in Sevens and football.
- The first points scored against New Zealand at WRWC 2010 will
take the number of points conceded by the Black Ferns across all
tournaments through the 100-point barrier.
- Donna Kennedy of Scotland and Wales' Louise Rickard have
both surpassed 100 caps for their country.
- The tallest player at WRWC 2010 is Ireland second row Marie
Louise Reilly at 192cm (6ft 3in), while South Africa's Saloma
Booysen is the shortest at 151cm (4ft 9in).
- Kelly McCallum of Canada kicked the most conversions at WRWC
2006 with 13, while Australian Tobie McGann was the leading penalty
kicker with four.
- Paula Chalmers of Scotland kicked the only drop goal of the
last World Cup in Canada.
- Jennie Öhman returns to the World Cup stage after a 12-year
absence, but the Swede is also one of only two players involved in
2010 who also played in the inaugural tournament in 1991, the other
being New Zealand's Anna Richards.
- New Zealand second row Victoria Heighway holds a Guinness World
Record, having teamed up with former Black Fern Vaniya Lavea and ex
All Blacks Josh Kronfeld and Marc Ellis to throw and catch a raw
egg as many times as they could over a nine-metre distance in 60
seconds. Split into boy-girl pairings, they both managed 40 passes
to set a new record.
- Hosts England come into the tournament having earlier this year
won a fifth successive RBS Women's Six Nations title and fourth
Grand Slam in that period. Wales, by contrast, picked up the wooden
spoon with four losses in five matches.
- No red cards was handed out in the last Women's Rugby World
Cup, although 18 yellow cards were produced by officials.
- Farah Palmer captained New Zealand to all three of their World
Cup successes.
- South Africa's Portia Jonga is the heaviest of the 312
players at WRWC 2010, weighing in at 108kg - double that of the
lightest player, Anais Lagougine of France at 53kg.
- The longest surname at WRWC 2010 is 19 letters and belongs to
Ninni Johansson-Giebat of Sweden.
- Australian referee Sarah Corrigan became the first female to
referee at an IRB tournament outside of Women's Rugby World Cup
when she took charge of Zimbabwe v Canada at the Under 19 World
Championship in 2007.
- The 312 players involved in WRWC 2010 have jobs ranging from
teachers to police officers, micro biologists to biokineticists,
veterinary surgeons to fashion designers, students to the armed
forces.
- USA forward Beckett Royce was 32 before she gave rugby a try and will make her World Cup debut a few months shy of her 40th birthday.
