It may surprise many that there have been six women's tournaments, going back to the year 2000. It's had many formats and teams have come and gone but is settling down as it progresses. Let's look at the history. We start with the first three tournaments.
2000: Host Country - England. Winners New Zealand
Only three nations competed, Australia, GB (England) and NZ. In the first stage of the event, each team played each other once with NZ winning both matches, GB a win and a loss, Australia two losses.
They then had playoff matches, with NZ and GB both defeating Australia and going into a final. NZ overcame England 26-4 in that encounter.
2003: Host Country - New Zealand. Winner New Zealand
Eight nations and the NZ Maori made up an impressive nine team competition. They were divided into three pools. There were two phases and a finals series, making up 25 games.
Phase One: GB, Australia and NZ were the group winners. Samoa, NZ Maori and the Cook Is were the second placed sides, and they joined the top three in Phase Two. Tonga, Niue and Tokelau were eliminated but played off for Bowl and Plate titles.
Phase Two: The top two from each group would progress to the semi finals and the third side eliminated. NZ Maori won Group 1 with GB second on points differential. NZ and Australia progressed as did Niue and Tokelau in Group 3.
Plate/Bowl: The lower ranked Bowl title went to Tokelau and the Plate was won by Samoa at the expense of the Cook Is.
Semi Finals/Final: NZ easily defeated GB and the NZ Maori defeated Australia, setting up an all NZ final showdown. The NZ team turned it on and ran away with the final 58-0.
A more conventional format was used in the 2008 edition. Seven nations took part with a Pacific regional side included. France and Russia made their first appearance at a WC.
Group Stage: In Group 1, Australia and England progressed with Russia and France eliminated. For Group 2, NZ and the Pacific went through with Samoa and Tonga going no further.
Semi Finals/Final: NZ got past GB and Australia likewise the Pacific region. The final was easily won by NZ for their third title in three attempts.
The Kiwis had were undefeated in the fifteen WC matches they had played over three tournaments. They were the benchmark. The question was could they maintain that? The next in the series reveals all and can be accessed by clicking here.
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