Women’s rugby leaders from across Oceania gathered in Sydney for the Impact Beyond Pasifika Women & Girls’ Rugby Summit, a three-day event focused on strengthening collaboration, developing leadership and creating lasting opportunities for women and girls across the region.
Delivered by World Rugby in partnership with Oceania Rugby and supported by the Australian Government through its PacificAus Sports programme, the summit took place at New South Wales Rugby Union, bringing together 33 representatives from 15 World Rugby and Oceania Rugby member unions.
The summit also welcomed representatives from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Australian Government Office for Sport.
The event marked the fifth summit in World Rugby’s Impact Beyond series, following gatherings in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, providing a platform for unions to share experiences and explore practical ways to grow the women’s and girls’ game within the Pacific context.
Over two days of interactive workshops, participants explored key priorities including maximising visibility opportunities, measuring impact, content creation, creating sustainable player pathways, and building meaningful partnerships.
Sessions also examined the role of Get Into Rugby Plus and other Sport-for-Development initiatives in creating opportunities for women and girls on and off the field. The event culminated with a formal reception where Summit attendees reflected on the impact of the week, before a keynote address by Dame Farah Palmer, World Rugby Hall of Fame and Council Member and former Black Ferns captain.
The group then attended the WXV Global Series fixture between the Wallaroos and Scotland Women at Accor Stadium.
A key outcome was the development of union-specific priorities and action plans to help translate discussions into meaningful progress across the region.
World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby Sally Horrox said: “The Pacific has enormous potential to drive the growth of women’s and girls’ rugby, and bringing unions together to share experiences, strengthen partnerships and identify opportunities for collaboration is an important part of realising that potential.
“With Rugby World Cups coming to Australia in 2027 and 2029, we have a unique opportunity to build a lasting legacy for the game, and initiatives like Impact Beyond Pasifika are helping turn that ambition into meaningful action across the region.”
Empowering the next generation of women leaders
The Summit formed part of a wider super week of activity, alongside other World Rugby and Oceania Rugby initiatives to support women in the sport. Participants from Oceania Rugby programmes, the CAMP media and journalism programme, and the Whistles and Whiteboards coaching and refereeing initiative, attended the event alongside Union representatives.
The summit also provided an opportunity to officially welcome the latest cohort of World Rugby’s Impact Champions, a regional leadership initiative designed to empower women to drive meaningful change within their unions and communities.
Building on the inaugural programme launched in Africa in 2025, this year’s initiative extends its reach to Oceania, offering participants professional development, mentoring and seed funding to deliver projects focused on growing women’s and girls’ rugby.
The summit and its supporting events took place ahead of a quadruple-header of international rugby at Sydney’s Accor Stadium, including the WXV Global Series clash between Australia’s Wallaroos and Scotland and Australia’s Women’s Sevens taking on New Zealand, offering participants the opportunity to experience elite women’s rugby on the international stage.
Building a lasting legacy for Pacific rugby
With Australia set to host Men’s Rugby World Cup in 2027 and Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2029, the summit forms part of wider efforts to build a lasting rugby legacy across the Pacific, strengthening regional partnerships, investing in leadership and supporting unions to create sustainable opportunities for women and girls.
This activity is funded by the Australian Government through PacificAus Sports as part of Impact Beyond Pasifika, building a lasting Pacific rugby legacy from the Rugby World Cups in Australia in 2027 and 2029.
