WPL Releases 2024 Schedule

The Women’s Premier League (WPL) has released its 2024 schedule (see below). It is once again a seven-team league with home-and-away rugby fixtures, and separate semifinal and championship weekends. Stay tuned for a TRB interview with WPL Board Chair Jessica Hammond-Graf next week. [Lead photo: Colorado Gray Wolves’ Juliann Tordonato vs. Life / Jackie Finlan]

 

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The WPL is in the midst of a brand relaunch and thus the schedule has not yet been uploaded to its website or Xplorer. In the meantime, here are some quick take-aways on the 2024 schedule:

• All seven teams have returned from 2023. That is no small victory. The format is also the same, with teams playing each other home and away from April 27-August 24. The top four in the standings advance to semifinals (presumably held at the higher seeds), and the championship and 3rd place match will occur at one location.

• The competition begins two weeks later and ends a month earlier than the 2023 schedule. The calendar found extra room by extending the amount of time between league-wide byes to four weeks (instead of three) and shortening the mid-season break. Keep in mind that since there are seven teams, everyone has a built-in bye in both halves of the season.

• The last league-wide bye occurs on Aug. 10-11, which aligns with the USA Club Rugby 7s National Championship. That was a friction point last year, but now there’s room for teams and/or individuals to compete in Madison, Wis., without game-day conflict. Of course, that means there is no rest period for the player who wants to do both 7s and 15s.

• The semifinal and final are also occurring a month earlier than the 2023 season, no doubt to account for the WXV, which kicks off Sept. 27-29 in three different countries. Last year, the WPL didn’t have the WXV dates when the calendar was set, and the playoffs overlapped with the USA’s U.K. and South Africa tours. Teams were without their best players when it mattered most, but that shouldn’t be an issue in 2024.