Svns: Women play with the smaller 4.5 ball

The previous version, which was lighter and smaller, was used in the 2024 Under-18 Six Nations Championship.

The new incarnation, which has the same weight as the fifth size, helps players handle the ball without affecting their kicks.

“World Rugby is committed to supporting women’s rugby in forging its own path that suits our players, not just following the history of the men’s game,” said Melody Robinson, chair of World Rugby’s Women’s High Performance Committee.

“In piloting this new ball, we focused on player feedback and giving them the best possible platform to showcase their world-class skills.”

There is a division among female players over the use of different balls in the men’s game.

While some have welcomed this, others believe it is important to match the men’s game and are concerned about the costs incurred by grassroots clubs by having separate equipment.

Further adjustments have been made to the women’s game, with shoe and kit manufacturers tailoring their products to fit women’s bodies, rather than cutting down on men’s products.

The threshold at which mandatory head injury screening is performed also varies.

Mouthguards intended for women are operated at 65G, rather than 75G for men, as women are thought to be more susceptible to concussions.

England coach Simon Middleton then proposed in 2023 that touchline transfers should be moved a certain distance in the women’s game to account for the “natural discrepancy between male and female athletes”.

Kickers recorded a 61% conversion success rate in the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, up from 51% in the previous edition of the tournament three years ago.

However, this is still far short of the 80% of successful conversions recorded in the 2023 Men’s Rugby World Cup.