Wales Men and Women Deaf Rugby Teams
Nominated for Sport award
Wales Deaf Rugby offers deaf and hard of hearing rugby players the opportunity to play international rugby for Wales.
The Wales Men and Women Deaf Rugby Teams were both victorious at the 2023 World Deaf Rugby Sevens World Cup in Argentina last April. This was a third World Cup victory in a row for the Wales Men’s team and the first time the women had won the World Cup.
The first edition was a 4-team 15-a-side tournament in New Zealand in 2002, which also featured a sevens competition that was won by Japan, while the second edition in 2018 was a purely Sevens World Cup hosted in Sydney, Australia. This year was the first time a women's competition has been held.
Wales are double winners for the first time in their history and have won every World Deaf event which they have entered.
The Welsh squad of men and women players are supported by a team manager and head coach per team, a British Sign Language interpreter and coaching assistants.
All the hard work of both teams, their coaches and medical staff has paid off making them the most prepared teams to proudly represent their country.