Watch: New Women in Rugby campaign

‘Team Powered’ is the theme of the new Women in Rugby campaign launched by World Rugby today.

Women’s rugby is already a growth area for the game – 2.7m women and girls play worldwide – and the aim of this campaign is to continue that growth by showcasing rugby as the ultimate team sport.

World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin said: “Team Powered showcases the unique values, diversity and inclusivity of women’s rugby and will encourage more women and girls to get involved in the sport, on and off the pitch.”

The promotional video features France scrum-half Pauline Bourdon, England prop Shaunagh Brown, Japan centre Ayaka Suzuki and USA lock Alycia Washington as well as New Zealand clubs Ponsonby and College Rifles.

Watch the new Women in Rugby campaign here…

World Rugby has also announced Mastercard as the founding global partner of its Women in Rugby programme. Mastercard are also the first worldwide partner of the 2021 (being played in 2022) and 2025 Rugby World Cups as well as the first global partner of WXV, the new global women’s tournament that starts in 2023.

While no monetary figure has been attached to this commercial partnership, Gilpin described it as “transformational”.

Mastercard has long been involved in rugby but has dismissed suggestions this partnership has been tacked onto deals in the men’s game, insisting the company is committed to investing in women’s sport.

Raja Rajamannar, Mastercard chief marketing and communications officer, said: “This is definitely not an add-on, nor is it something being done for political correctness.

“We believe in this cause. We’re investing a humongous amount of money, effort, time behind women’s sports, behind women’s athletes, behind women’s musicians. It’s a company-wide priority and it’s a philosophy we’re trying to bring to life by walking the talk.”

World Rugby Women’s Rugby general manager Katie Sadleir added: “We are thrilled to welcome Mastercard on board as our founding partner of Women in Rugby. A core pillar of our ambitious women’s strategic plan is to develop a strong and engaged portfolio of strategic commercial partners committed to long-term investment and support for the women’s game.

“I am also very excited by our new Team Powered marketing campaign, which encompasses all the incredible features of women’s rugby and will help us to build on the huge growing number of females involved in our sport in recent years.”

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