Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 to feature largest ever cohort of female coaches

World Rugby and Gallagher have announced the latest cohort of 14 female coaches selected for the Gallagher High Performance Academy, who will take up coaching roles as part of the management teams of their respective national sides during Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

Fourteen female coaches from 14 nations join Gallagher High Performance Academy’s latest cohort

32% of coaches at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 will be female, up from 15% in 2021

Female coaches at Women’s Rugby World Cup have quadrupled since 2021, from six to 23

Three female head coaches named for 2025 (France, Australia, Japan)

USA and Samoa lead the way with majority-female coaching teams

Of the 281 staff across the management teams for all 16 unions, 40% are women

Record-breaking representation marks a major step forward for women in rugby coaching

The 2025 tournament will feature a record 32% female coaches, more than double the figure from Rugby World Cup 2021 (15%), reflecting the sport’s accelerating commitment to gender equity in high-performance environments. The number of female coaches has risen from six in 2021 to 23 confirmed for 2025. Of the 281 total staff across the management teams for all 16 unions, 40% are women.

Since its inception, 43 female coaches have completed the Gallagher High Performance Academy programme, gaining invaluable exposure to elite-level coaching, mentorship, and international competition. Of this group, 11 are returning coaches, who have had the opportunity to build on their previous experiences; deepening their knowledge, refining their skills, and expanding their influence within the game.

The new cohort includes coaches from 14 nations, spanning every region and highlighting the global success of the Gallagher High Performance Academy initiative:

Aroa González (Spain)

Bella Milo (Samoa)

Carolyn McEwen (Canada)

Catrina Nicholas-McLaughlin (Wales)

Gaëlle Mignot (France)

Gill Bourke (Australia)

Kelly Griffin (USA)

Larissa Muldoon (Ireland)

Michela Merlo (Italy)

Nivia Ferreira (Brazil)

Noriko Taniguchi (Japan)

Sarah Hunter (England)

Tavaita Rowati (Fiji)

Zenay Jordaan (South Africa)

For the first time in Women’s Rugby World Cup history, three female head coaches will take the helm of national teams: France, Australia, and Japan. This compares with one (Japan) in 2021.

National team coaching representation also shows remarkable progress: the USA will field 75% female coaches (three of four), while Samoa will have 60% female coaches (three of five).

The progress in women’s rugby coaching stands out in the wider sporting landscape. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, women represented roughly 13% of all coaches, echoing the figure from Tokyo 2020. The recent UEFA Women’s European Championship 2025 leads the way, with 43.75% female coaches – a seismic leap from just 18.75% in 2013.

While every sport is on its own journey, rugby’s upward trajectory to 32% female coaches at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 underscores a continued, global push for gender equity in high-performance coaching, driving lasting change across the global sporting landscape.

Sally Horrox, World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby, said: “These record-breaking figures are a clear sign of the momentum building for women in high-performance coaching. The Gallagher High Performance Academy is not just creating opportunities for the coaches involved, it is accelerating progress across the game, providing role models for the next generation, and ensuring that rugby reflects the diversity of the communities it serves. By embedding more women in leadership roles on the world stage, we are driving lasting change that will benefit the sport for years to come.”

Christopher Mead, Chief Marketing Officer for Gallagher, said: “Our key objective when launching the Gallagher High Performance Academy in 2023 was to provide a meaningful pathway and increase the prominence of female coaches, and other high-performance roles, at elite levels of the sport – increasing the competitiveness of Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

“The number of female coaches at this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup and female coaches embedded with their national teams is a true testament to the program’s global success.

“The Rugby World Cup is the pinnacle of the women’s game and will provide Gallagher High Performance Academy coaches with invaluable hands-on experience, in the ultimate sporting environment. Their involvement and success will help to inspire others female coaches, representing multiple Unions and across all formats of the game. We are extremely proud of this lasting impact on the women’s game.”

Gaëlle Mignot, joint-head coach of France and GHPA coach, said: “Every day I get something positive out of my work. I’ve had the opportunity to pass on my passion for rugby to different audiences – young people, adults with disabilities, autistic or hyper-active children, all the boys’ and girls’ categories, right through to the professional sector – all of which has enriched me enormously. I’m looking forward to learning from new experiences and exchanging ideas on managing a female audience and gaining a different perspective on the game.”

The Gallagher High Performance Academy, a joint initiative between World Rugby and Gallagher, was launched in 2023, and provides emerging and elite female coaches with world-class mentoring, development workshops, as well as hands-on experience across both sevens and 15s formats. This year’s programme will run alongside Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, which is set to be the biggest edition of the tournament yet, ensuring coaches work at the heart of the competition environment.

Gallagher, a global insurance brokerage, risk management and consulting services firm, is an Official Partner of Women’s Rugby, WXV 2023 and 2024, and Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.