26 Apr 2013

Sport: France to host Women's Rugby World Cup

10:33 am on 26 April 2013

Next year's Women's Rugby World Cup will be held in France.

The announcement was made at an IRB event in Madrid where six teams, including Samoa, are currently battling it out for two of the four remaining places at the elite tournament.

Eight teams have already qualified for the World Cup - defending champions New Zealand, runners-up England, Australia, hosts France, USA, Canada, Ireland and Wales.

With one round remaining of the qualifier in Madrid, four teams - Italy, Spain, Samoa and Scotland - are still in contention for those two qualification places.

This will leave only two places remaining, to be filled by an African and Asian qualifier.