Women’s Rugby World Cup organisers take inspiration from success of Euro 2022

World Rugby plans to channel England’s energy at Euro 2022 by delivering a safe and successful women’s World Cup later this year.

Sarah Hunter’s Red Roses will head to New Zealand in October confident of matching the success of football’s Lionesses as they top the world rankings and are unbeaten in 23 Tests.

World Rugby has stressed that the tournament will promote good brain health for players through leading protocols and programmes.

“The success of the Lionesses and the Euros as a whole captivated a nation and it has challenged us all to embrace the enormous opportunity and power of women in sport, which we are doing,” World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin told the PA news agency.

“We are the next big cab off the rank in this transformational year of women’s sport with a groundbreaking Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, which will be big in many ways.

“For the world’s best women to realise their potential on the world’s biggest stages, we need to walk the talk and deliver a world-class experience at our major events.

“We must walk the talk. And that is what we are doing in New Zealand.”

Player welfare has dominated talk in the elite men’s game amid claims that playing the sport has caused brain damage.

World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union are being sued for allegedly failing to “protect players from permanent injury”.

Claimants include former Wales captain Ryan Jones and England’s 2003 World Cup-winning hooker Steve Thompson, with many ex-players diagnosed with early-onset dementia and other irreversible neurological impairments.

All teams at the women’s World Cup are being offered the opportunity to participate in a smart mouthguard research programme that will help address the nature of