IT has been confirmed that Scotland Women will play their final World Cup qualifier repechage tournament in Dubai in late February.
This will involve a semi-final match on the 18th of the month, hopefully followed by a final six days later, as Bryan Easson‘s side seek to claim the last available spot for next Autumn’s main event in New Zealand. If successful, they will become the first Scottish team to make it to the global tournament since 2010.
The draw will be seeded based on world rankings as of 20th December, which means – as it stands – ninth placed Scotland will face 26th placed Colombia in their semi-final, and if they come through that match, they will face the winner of the other semi-final between Samoa (currently 16th in world) and either Kazakhstan (15th) or Hong Kong (18th) in the final. All three games in the tournament will be played at ‘The Sevens Stadium’ in Dubai.
Eleven teams have already booked their place at Rugby World Cup 2021, including New Zealand, England, France, Canada, USA, Australia and Wales, who qualified through their final ranking at Ireland 2017, and South Africa, Fiji, Italy and Japan who qualified through their regions.
“We are pleased to be able to share the details of the Rugby World Cup 2021 Final Qualification Tournament,” said Rugby World Cup 2021 Tournament Director Alison Hughes. “A first for a women’s edition of a Rugby World Cup the tournament offers teams a second opportunity to qualify for the pinnacle event and we anticipate a thrilling contest between competing teams in Dubai in February.”
The RWC 2021 Final Qualification Tournament will be live streamed across World Rugby and RWC 2021 digital and social platforms.
Scotland will approach this qualifying tournament with confidence having secured an emphatic 36-12 win in their one and only warm-up game at the DAM Health Stadium earlier this month.
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