Backed by UK Sport funding, this international collaboration between the four Unions is one of the programme’s five flagship strands, focused on International Development.
Impact ’25 is the transformative legacy programme for RWC25, delivered by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in partnership with the UK Government, Sport England and UK Sport, to supercharge the growth of women’s rugby. You can find out more about the remaining four strands here.
UK Sport is distributing this UK Government funding to support the hosting costs for the 2025 Rugby World Cup and to support the International Development strand of Impact ’25.
The strand is designed to enhance and expand female performance pathways across all Home Unions in a bid to improve standards and strengthen the competitiveness of the international game. It also aims to improve the quality and quantity of female coaches and officials in the elite game in the UK.
The RFU is working closely with the WRU, Scottish Rugby, and the IRFU to deliver an agreed number of programmes in each Union. These programmes support activity to grow the women’s game and enhance elite performance pathways.
Each Union has taken an individual approach to using the funding in the way that best suits their own domestic setup. The programme also creates a fantastic opportunity for all four Unions to collaborate, share best practice and learn from each other.
Wales
The WRU predominantly invested the funding in coaching, including embedding six part time coaches across their new Player Development Centre network, with a requirement that 40% of coaches at each centre be female. They have also developed a programme to provide leadership development for women targeting roles in high performance environments, alongside a mentoring scheme for coaches working in the Wales U18 and U20 set ups. Finally, the WRU are looking to support ten female match officials with their refereeing development through mentoring, coaching and exchanges.
The IRFU have used the Impact ’25 funding in different ways across the four provinces to support both player development and progression of female coaches and officials. Connacht have provided athletic development coaches to players in the province’s programmes, whilst Munster have focused on player development through nutrition support and individual analysis and workshopping. Elsewhere, Connacht’s programme included a focus on talent spotting new players, coaches and referees; and Leinster have used the funding to invest in high quality facilities and game review analysis opportunities.
Scottish Rugby focused on the importance of a meaningful daily training environment for their elite players, currently delivered at three Regional Training Centres across the country. The Impact ’25 funding has been put towards funding the salaries of three full time performance coaches, one at each of the centres. This means players can access high quality coaching regardless of where they live, meaning that 100 players nationally now benefit from daily training.
The RFU’s projects centred around opportunities and support for elite female coaches operating at the highest levels of English rugby. Five high-potential female coaches were offered in depth one on one career coaching sessions, with four out of the five going on to new and more senior roles. In addition, England Rugby also delivered a Leadership Development programme, ‘Elev8’, developing coaches across the RFU’s performance pathways. Finally, the funding has also been used to carry out an academic review into the most effective ways to provide coaches with meaningful secondment opportunities.
