For the past decade, the story of women’s rugby has been framed by investment and comparison. How quickly could it catch up with the men’s game? When would attendances improve? When would broadcasters pay for it, and when would big brand sponsors follow?

Those were understandable questions, but they are now the wrong ones. Women’s rugby is no longer a development project sitting alongside the “real” commercial product. It is becoming one of rugby’s most compelling growth stories, and increasingly there are things the men’s game could learn from it.

The numbers are starting to make the case. The 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup, hosted in England, set all kinds of records for attendance, engagement and sponsorship, including the highest-attended women’s rugby match of all time when the Red Roses faced New Zealand in the final at a packed Allianz Stadium in Twickenham. That reflects momentum, not just potential, and the domestic game is beginning to convert it. Average attendances rose 23 per cent last season, and the fan database grew four-fold.

“While the appetite for the international game is undeniable, it’s the trajectory of Premiership Women’s Rugby that excites me most,” says women’s sports strategy consultant Minty Martin.

Women’s rugby has cracked Gen Z

What matters is not simply that the audience is growing, but how. Women’s rugby has been forced to build fandom in a very Gen Z way, leaning into personalities, TikTok content and storytelling.

It has been less constrained by traditions that can make the men’s game feel inward-looking or conservative. The clubs and unions – and players – seem more willing to devote energy to growing the game and lifting the veil.

At the World Cup, 15 per cent of attendees were at their first rugby match of any kind. Almost a third of women’s rugby fans are under 35. World Rugby says increased player visibility is one of the major reasons fans are engaging more deeply.

Sport today competes not just against other sports, but against every other form of entertainment. The next generation’s attention has to be earned, and women’s rugby appears increasingly comfortable with that reality. That challenge is sharpened by the fragmentation of sports audiences across streaming platforms and social media, which rewards properties that can produce shareable, personality-led content rather than relying on broadcast reach alone.

“Audiences – especially younger ones – can tell the difference between a sport performing for them and a sport genuinely opening the door and inviting them in,” says Lottie Rowland, women’s rugby lead at Counteruck.

There is a paradox here. The women’s game has less inherited commercial infrastructure, which can be an advantage: it can test formats, voices and partnerships without first asking whether rugby has always done things that way.

There is also a commercial freshness to the women’s game. Sponsors are not simply being asked to put a logo onto an established property. There is an opportunity to participate in its growth, shape the fan experience and build relationships with audiences. This mirrors a wider pattern across women’s sport, where properties such as women’s football and women’s cricket have attracted a distinct cohort of brands that sponsor women’s teams as a primary entry point rather than an add-on.

Daryl West, partnerships director at AG1, says women’s rugby players “are its greatest asset: authentic, relatable and trusted, they have built deeply engaged social followings that give sponsors a credible voice rather than simply a logo. For brands seeking genuine connection over just exposure, women’s rugby offers a rare and powerful platform.”

Women’s rugby has answers for the men’s game

World Rugby found that women’s rugby fans are nine percentage points more likely to talk about a brand that sponsors the game than men’s rugby fans. For rights holders and brands, that should be difficult to ignore.

The economics of the domestic game remain challenging. Clubs need greater revenues, players need sustainable careers, and audiences need to convert big-event excitement into weekly habits. The gap between record-breaking international occasions and the weekly grind of club rugby is where the next phase of growth will be decided. But perhaps the biggest change required is in how people think about the game.

Women’s rugby should no longer be discussed solely in terms of how close it is to the men’s game. The more interesting question is what it can become on its own terms, and what rugby more broadly can learn.

Rugby has long worried about attracting younger supporters, creating stars, improving content and being more culturally relevant. Women’s rugby is already experimenting with many of the answers. The conversation has changed, and the men’s game would be wise to start listening.

Simon Dent is founder and chairman of Firmative and has more than 20 years’ experience across sport, entertainment and the creative industries.