Super Rugby Women's is an annual professional women's rugby union club competition organised by Rugby Australia. It is contested by four clubs from Australia and one club from Fiji, who play a single series of round-robin matches to determine the four participants of a single-elimination tournament. The competition replaced the representative National Women's Championship, with five teams owned by the Australian Super Rugby franchises, and began play in the 2018 season as an amateur league known as the Super W. The 2022 season saw the addition of a team from Fiji, and the introduction of salaries for players. The league adopted its current name in the 2024 season. The New South Wales Waratahs are the current champions (2025) and hold the most titles with six.
History The league commenced in the 2018 season as an amateur league. Buildcorp were named as the league's naming rights partner, while Gilbert were named as the official supplier of the league's rugby balls. For the inaugural season, the teams' playing lists were constructed from scratch throughout the later stages of 2018. Clubs were asked to nominate a list of desired players, with the Super W assigning two of these "marquee" players to each club. In addition, clubs were able to sign a number of players with existing connections to the club, or with arrangements for club sponsored work or study. In the 2019 season, the Western Force were replaced by a team representing RugbyWA.
The 2020 season was suspended following the fifth and final round of the regular season, due to lockdowns imposed by various state governments in late March, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia. The planned playoff between the second-placed Reds and third-placed Brumbies, and the subsequent grand final, were cancelled in April; the first-placed Waratahs were declared champions once more. The Waratahs would finish a fourth straight undefeated season in 2021, which was played almost entirely at Coffs Harbour International Stadium in a pool format, and featured the temporary addition of a "President's XV" team composed of players from New South Wales and Queensland. The Western Force returned to the league, but withdrew after the first round to avoid the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in New South Wales.
On 2 October 2024, Rugby Australia confirmed that the Melbourne Rebels will not compete in the Super Rugby Women's competition in 2025, with Rugby Australia stating that an investigation into the viability of maintaining the Rebels women's program did not identify a financially viable option for either Rugby Australia or Rugby Victoria to sustain the program in 2025.
New format In 2026, the season will now take place in June through to August, it will maintain the five-round format, which will be followed by a full finals series, and the cross-over match against the winner of New Zealand's Super Rugby Aupiki competition for the Women's Super Rugby Champions Final.
Teams
Five Super Rugby franchises, including five from Australia and one from Fiji, will field teams in the 2025 season of Super Rugby Women's. Players in the competition are required to be seventeen years of age or older.
List of Super Rugby Women's clubs (2025) Team LocationHome ground ACT Brumbies Canberra Canberra Stadium 25,011 2018 Viking Park 7,000 Fijian Drua Lautoka Churchill Park 10,000 2022 New South Wales Waratahs Sydney Leichhardt Oval 20,000 2018 Sydney Football Stadium 45,000 Queensland Reds Brisbane Ballymore Stadium 8,000 2018 Western Force Perth Perth Rectangular Stadium 20,500 2018
Champions Season Champions Final Runners-up 2018 NSW Waratahs 16–13 Queensland Reds 2019 NSW Waratahs 8–5 Queensland Reds 2020 NSW Waratahs align="center" Queensland Reds 2021 NSW Waratahs 45–12 Queensland Reds 2022 Fijiana Drua 32–26 NSW Waratahs 2023 Fijiana Drua 38–30 Queensland Reds 2024 NSW Waratahs 50–14 Fijiana Drua 2025 NSW Waratahs 43–21 Queensland Reds 2026 NSW Waratahs 34–17 Fijiana Drua
Summary of winners #TeamChampionsYears as championsRunners-upYears as runners-up 1 NSW Waratahs 7 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2024, 2025, 2026 1 2022 2 Fijiana Drua 2 2022, 2023 2 2024, 2026
Broadcasting During the 2020 season all matches were televised live by affiliate partners Fox Sports. Following Rugby Australia's broadcast deal with Nine Network, all games will be broadcast on streaming service Stan Sport, with one game a round being simulcast on Nine's flagship free to air channel. All matches are streamed live by Stan Sport.
See also
Super Rugby AUS
References Notes
Citations
External links Super Rugby Women's at Rugby Australia