Rugby Americas North Women's Rugby Championship

The RAN Women's Rugby Championship is the regional championship for women's international rugby union in North America and the Caribbean that is sanctioned by RAN.

RAN Women's Rugby Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 RAN Women's Rugby Championship
FormerlyNACRA Women's Rugby Championship
SportRugby union
Founded2003
No. of teams5 (2023)
Countries Jamaica
 USA
 Saint Lucia
 Trinidad and Tobago
 Dominican Republic
 Cayman Islands
Most recent
champion(s)		United States USA Rugby South
(2023)
Most titles Trinidad and Tobago
(5 titles)

In 2010 the former NAWIRA Caribbean Women's Rugby Championship became the NACRA Women's Rugby Championship, potentially broadening its coverage in accordance with the widened aim of its recently renamed sponsor. In 2015 NACRA was rebranded to Rugby Americas North as part of a global renaming policy.[1]

History

Initially named the NAWIRA Caribbean Women's Rugby Championship, it was a small tournament run by the IRB through NAWIRA. Rugby sevens is a growing inter-island sport, but the full 15-a-side game is significantly more resource intensive and so it was only with the financial support of the IRB that the first tournament took place in December 2003.

Only Trinidad and Jamaica took part in the first event, Trinidad winning both legs in Port of Spain. In September 2006 a second event was organised, this time in Kingston, Jamaica and featuring Guyana. The hosts were again winners by the narrowest of margins.

The tournament took place annually, however the 2007 edition was cancelled. It was arranged to take place in the Cayman Islands, starting 19 August 2007, but was cancelled the day before it was due to start as a result of Hurricane Dean. Three teams had been due to take part - Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and Trinidad & Tobago.

After 2009 NAWIRA was reorganised as NACRA (North America and Caribbean Rugby Association) in order to better encourage participation by unions outside the English-speaking West Indies. From 2010 the tournament became the NACRA Women's Rugby Championship. However, a separate play-off for the Caribbean title was organised for the island teams taking part.

The popularity of rugby sevens among other things caused a decline in the fifteens code, the 2011 tournament being the last time the 15-a-side game was played. After the formation of RAN the ten-a-side version of the game has been played with hopes of reviving fifteens.[2]

On November 16, 2021 RAN announced the first-ever Women’s 12-a-side tournament to be held in Cayman Islands from December 4 to 5. Originally announced as a ten-a-side tournament, competing nations agreed to increase their teams by two players. The purpose of the tournament was to increase competition for women in the region and to allow nations to continue building towards 15s.[3] The tournament was cancelled due to travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

In 2023, RAN confirmed the return of Women’s fifteens after a successful 12-a-side tournament held in Jamaica in 2022.[5]

Appearances

Six nations have taken part in the Caribbean Women's Rugby Championships held to date:

Champions
Year Host Winner Runner-up Refs
NAWIRA Women's Rugby Championship
2003  Trinidad and Tobago  Trinidad and Tobago  Jamaica
2006  Jamaica  Jamaica  Guyana
2008  Guyana  Trinidad and Tobago  Guyana
2009  Barbados  Trinidad and Tobago  Cayman Islands
NACRA Women's Rugby Championship
2010  Bahamas  Canada U20  United States U20
2011  Cayman Islands  Trinidad and Tobago  Jamaica
RAN Women's 10s
2016 United States Miami, Florida United States USA Rugby South Panthers  Trinidad and Tobago [6]
2017 United States Miami, Florida  Trinidad and Tobago United States USA South [7]
2018 Mexico Mexico City United States USA South  Jamaica
2019 Barbados Bridgetown  Mexico  Jamaica
2020 Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic [8]
2021 [9]
RAN Women's 12s
2022 Jamaica Kingston United States USA Rugby South Panthers  Jamaica [10]
RAN Women's Rugby Championship
2023Jamaica KingstonUnited States USA South Trinidad and Tobago [5]

See also

References
  1. "NACRA Rebranded to Rugby Americas North". Americas Rugby News. 2015-12-17. Retrieved 2021-11-02.
  2. Birch, John (2017-07-22). "RAN 10s won by Trinidad". Scrum Queens. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  3. Kelly, Bryan (2021-11-16). "Tournament Details Announced for first-ever RAN Women's 12s in December". Rugby Americas North. Retrieved 2021-11-22.
  4. Kelly, Bryan (2021-11-23). "RAN Women's 12s Tournament Cancelled due to COVID-19 Travel Restrictions". Rugby Americas North. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  5. MacKinnon, Carly (2023-02-24). "2023 Rugby Americas North Under-19s Men's and Senior Women's 15s Tournament Venue Confirmed". Rugby Americas North. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  6. "USA South Panthers Win Women's 10's RAN Championship". Americas Rugby News. 2016-07-16. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  7. "USA Rugby South Wins Rugby Americas North Men's U19 Championship & Women's 10s Silver". djcoilrugby. 2017-07-22. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  8. "2020 RAN Men's 15-a-side, Women's 10s and Men's Under-19 tourney cancelled - Guyana Chronicle". Guyana Chronicle. 2020-04-08. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  9. Kelly, Bryan (2021-11-23). "RAN Women's 12s Tournament Cancelled due to COVID-19 Travel Restrictions". Rugby Americas North. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  10. Kelly, Bryan (2022-03-04). "JAMAICA TO HOST 2022 RAN SENIOR WOMEN'S 12s AND MEN'S UNDER-19". Rugby Americas North. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
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