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Of World Rugby’s six regional associations, Rugby Americas North has the highest proportion of female influx, with 46 per cent of the 144,700 Get Into Rugby participants in 2016 being girls. Many were no doubt inspired by Canada’s bronze medal in Rio and third-place finish on the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series, as well as their victories against England, France and USA on home soil in 15s.Off the pitch, meanwhile, there have been steps forward in the region with increasing numbers of women opting to become trainers, disciplinary officers, rugby medical practitioners, match commissioners Following on from its biggest-ever shop window opportunity at Rio 2016, and with anticipation building towards Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 in Ireland, momentum and growth levels are at an all-time high in the women’s game.GLOBAL GROWTH CONTINUES FOR WOMEN’S RUGBYPICTUREDAustralia made history by winning the first Olympic gold medal in and executive board members. women’s rugbyIn South America, 40 per cent of Get Into Rugby participants were girls and there are now 10,691 registered female players. On the field of play, the major headlines in 2016 were Brazil and Colombia competing at the Olympic Games, with Brazil retaining their crown as South American champions and securing core team status on the world series for 2016-17.In the management of the game, at least six of Sudamérica Rugby’s member unions now have women in board and senior management positions, signalling a sea change in thought leadership.In terms of raw numbers, Asia has seen a meteoric rise in girls trying out the sport, up from 53,000 in 2015 to 235,200 in 2016. Here, too, the number of women taking up significant roles in leadership is unprecedented. Ada Milby was elected onto the Asia Rugby Executive Committee, Madam Cui Wei Hong is increasingly influential as General Secretary for the Chinese Rugby Football Association, Sadat Mirzagol is a key advocate for change as Iran’s Vice-President, while Sri Lanka’s Tanuja Kulatunge is the region’s Get Into Rugby co-ordinator. On the pitch Asia’s women’s sevens game continues to grow, Japan beating off the challenge of closest rivals China, Hong Kong and Thailand in 2016. Japan also had cause to celebrate in 15s after winning the Asia/Oceania qualifier for WRWC 2017 in December. PARTICIPATE | WOMEN’S RUGBY