Minnows such as Brazil and Samoa will benefit from playing at the World Cup despite suffering a series of heavy defeats at the tournament, says World Rugby.
Brazil, the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, were beaten 84-5 by France on Sunday after a 66-6 loss to South Africa in their opening match.
Samoa have conceded a total of 165 points and scored only three in their matches against Australia and England so far.
However, Sally Horrox, chief of Women’s Rugby at World Rugby, says such scorelines will happen with teams at different stages of professionalisation.
“We acknowledge that competitiveness is a talking point, and so it should be, but we also must remember the context – the relative youth of the women’s game,” she said.
“The men’s professional game is 30 years old and we are in the very early stages, relatively, of that professional development of the women’s game.
“We made an intentional decision to expand the Rugby World Cup from 12 to 16 teams in full knowledge that that would give more exposure to teams like Fiji, Samoa, Spain and Brazil.
“Their performance on the biggest stage is critical for their national pride, but also to attract fans, commercial investment and government investment to drive the teams and game forward.”
Hosts and tournament favourites England have 32 centrally contracted players, with a pool of others paid by their Premiership Women’s Rugby clubs.
Brazil and Samoa are at the opposite end of the spectrum with mostly amateur squads, some of whom are crowd-funding to cover the cost of stepping away from their regular jobs.
The inclusion of sevens in the Olympics since Rio 2016 triggered government financial support in many countries and it is hoped that including developing teams on the biggest XV-a-side stage, along with specialist coaches and support from World Rugby, will further fuel their growth.
There are also plans to relaunch the annual WXV competition, for international sides, to guarantee emerging nations more regular competition against teams of a similar standard.
The most recent men’s Rugby World Cup also featured several blow-out scorelines, with France and Scotland putting 96 and 84 unanswered points on Namibia and Romania respectively in 2023.
At the 1995 Rugby World Cup, just before the men’s game officially turned professional, New Zealand scored 21 tries as they beat Japan 145-17. In 2019, Japan reached the last eight as hosts.
“Not all boats are rising at the same level at the same time, but the tide is rising very fast and rising for all,” said World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin.
