Women to play with smaller ball in top-tier Sevens

As rugby extends a trial that adjusts equipment to anatomical differences, the best women’s sevens players will use a smaller ball, known as a size 4. 5, instead.

The HSBC Svns series, which kicks off in Dubai on Saturday, will feature the ball, which is 3% smaller than a standard size five but weighs the same.

A man’s hand is typically 10% larger than a woman’s. Other sports use different equipment for women’s sports, such as basketball and basketball’s lower sprint hurdles.

Players are helped by the new incarnation, which is the same weight as a size 5, without having their kicking impacted by it.

“Rugby World Cup is committed to supporting women’s rugby in forging its own path to suit our players, not just following the history of the men’s game,” said Melodie Robinson, chair of Rugby World Cup’s Women’s High Performance Committee.

“We’re focusing on player feedback and giving them the best possible setting to showcase their world-class skills,” the company said in a press release.

Women’s players are divided on how to use various balls in the men’s game.

Some have praised it, but others think it’s important to match the men’s game and are concerned about the cost of having separate equipment for grassroots clubs.

Other adaptations have been made for the women’s game, with boot and kit manufacturers creating products that are more appropriate for female bodies than lowering the price of men’s goods.

A mandatory head injury check is also subject to a different threshold.

Because it was thought that women were more prone to concussions, women’s instrumented mouthguards are triggered at 65G rather than 75G for men.

Then, England coach Simon Middleton suggested that touchline conversions be moved a little further in the women’s game to explain the “natural discrepancy between male and female athletes” in 2023.

Kickers’ conversion rates increased from 51% to 61% in the previous tournament’s three years, making it the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup record.