Italy seek Women's Rugby World Cup revenge on South Africa in WXV Global Series

Italy will host South Africa and Japan at Stadio Omero Tognon in Fontanafredda on 26 and 19 September respectively, as the Azzurre open their WXV Global Series campaign with a chance to settle scores from the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.

Last August in York, the Springbok Women edged Italy 29-24 in a result that eliminated Fabio Roselli’s side at the group stage. The two nations have now met four times in total — twice in WXV 2, once in that November 2018 international, and once at the World Cup — making September’s fixture in Fontanafredda the most charged encounter yet.

Italy’s record against Japan is considerably more comfortable. The Azzurre have won six of their eight meetings, drawn one and lost one, and will be expected to take points from the opening weekend before the stiffer test against South Africa seven days later.

Roselli’s squad arrives at the series in reasonable form. Italy finished fourth at the 2026 Guinness Women’s Six Nations, beating Scotland and Wales, and earned a try-scoring bonus point against England in Parma — a result that underlined their competitive edge even in defeat.

The WXV Global Series itself represents a significant structural overhaul of the competition World Rugby launched in 2023. The revamped format runs from 2026 to 2028 and involves the world’s top 18 nations playing more than 100 matches across a home-and-away cross-regional touring model each September and October. The top 12 sides — Australia, Canada, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, USA and Wales — compete in the main series, while teams ranked 13 to 18 contest the WXV Global Series Challenger at Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Sports Park.

World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby Sally Horrox described the series as “a statement of intent for the women’s game”, adding that it “creates new commercial and hosting opportunities for our national federations, and an exciting platform for the stars of the game to shine on the road to the next Rugby World Cup in Australia.”

After their home fixtures, Italy will travel to the United States in October for two matches against the USA Women’s Eagles — in Mansfield, Texas, and Mansfield, Tennessee — to complete their WXV Global Series campaign.