A massive schedule announced, preseason camps completed, and nearly 30 stars already signed on the dotted line, 2026 is already shaping up as a big year for the Wallaroos.
Fresh off a massive 2025 Rugby World Cup campaign and huge growth under Jo Yapp, new interim head coach Sam Needs and his staff are tasked with carrying the women in gold forward, a home World Cup now firmly on the horizon.
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Rugby.com.au dives deep into all the talking points for the Australian national sides ahead of the 2026 season commencing.
So, how much work do the Wallaroos need to do?
Put simply, a lot. But judging by the program’s growth over the last three years, the groundwork is being laid for the Wallaroos to become a tentpole side in the Australian game.
Starting in 2026, the Wallaroos will play a minimum of 10 test matches a year: for context, with the side taking 24 years to play 50 test matches, reaching 100 only eight years later further highlights the side’s accelerated development.
While the expansion of Super Rugby Women’s has been delayed, national players can expect a busy season lasting from March to October.
This season includes the Pacific Four series across March-April, Super Rugby Women’s trials and the main season from May-August (including the Super Rugby Champions Final against the winner of Super Rugby Aupiki), the O’Reilly Cup and WXV series from August-September, and a home test series in October.
This will include a trip to North America for matches against Canada and the USA, with the side also likely to travel for WXV. The Wallaroos will host Scotland to close out the year, the visitors having also made the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.
While a full-time Wallaroos coaching panel and program will be confirmed following a comprehensive and consultative process, the interim staff assembled to guide the side through the Pacific Four series is one of the strongest the program has ever had.
Joining Sam Needs is Gill Bourke as interim Assistant Coach - Forwards, a Six Nations Grand Slam winner and 51-capped Irish international who also helped the Yapp-led campaign as a performance analyst in 2025.
The two other major names on the staff are Andy Friend as interim Technical Advisor and Mike Ruthven as Assistant Coach - Attack.
These last two inclusions are critical, as these two coaches would likely be considered front-runners for the full-time head coach role, given their impressive resumes.
Friend is one of Australia’s most respected rugby minds, having held roles in men’s and women’s programs across Australia, England, Ireland and Japan over the last two decades.
Having been noted for his impact on Ireland’s development pathway and being discussed as a potential Wallabies head coach following Eddie Jones’ departure in 2023, Friend has led the ACT Brumbies women’s squad since 2024.
Ruthven is one of the rising stars in the Australian rugby coaching sphere, supercharging the Waratah Women’s program and guiding the side to back-to-back titles in the Super Rugby Women's competition.
Ruthven will also juggle this role with the head of the Waratahs program for the 2026 season.
With both coaches having established connections with the players, the side is well-placed to grow under their guidance.
With ten test matches comes ample opportunity for the Wallaroos to fire out a statement of intent for their maiden home World Cup.
With the current layout of women’s rugby seeing England firmly ensconced at the top of the pyramid with the likes of Canada, New Zealand and France snapping at their heels, the Wallaroos sit just below with the likes of Ireland, Scotland and the USA as sides that, on their day, can push the best.
While the Wallaroos have pulled off victories over the likes of France in the past (their last coming in 2023), it would be a game-changer if the side could land a scalp over one of the top three sides.
While England appears to be a step ahead of all challengers at the moment, Australia has come close to beating Canada on several occasions. Then there is the Black Ferns, whom the Wallaroos have never defeated in 29 fixtures.
Jo Yapp’s side did turn out improved performances against the six-time world champions in 2025, but the day the Wallaroos become just the sixth side to defeat them will be the day World Rugby starts to sit up and pay attention.
Among the new signings to the national program are eight rookie stars, as the women’s program starts to blood the next generation of stars coming through the ranks.
World Cup squad member and Reds player Caitlin Urwin, ACT Brumbies stars Lily Bone, Ella Ryan, Chioma Enyi and Manu’a Moleka, Western Force players Brooklyn Teki-Joyce and Grace Freeman and NSW Waratahs hooker Millie Parker are the names among the nearly 30 players confirmed.
All lock-in options across all areas of the park, and their signings are timely, given the recent retirements of veteran centre Trilleen Pomare and prop Lydia Kavoa.
With Yapp handing out 19 debuts across her two-year tenure, the Wallaroos program will be awash with young players, who, with guidance under the right coaching staff, just need time in the saddle to deliver those results and build for a home World Cup.
The Wallaroos will enter 2026 with high hopes, and with multiple matches confirmed and at least four matches on home soil, the side will look to make a solid impression as they follow in the footsteps of the Matildas to grow the profile of women’s sport.
However, while 2025 showed glimpses of promise, the Wallaroos' hopes of being big shakers in women’s rugby become more likely if the increased integration of Sevens continues.
Nine sevens players took to the field in Super Rugby Women’s, and while Bienne Terita’s unlucky injury in Fiji ruled her out for the rest of the season, Tia Hinds and Charlotte Caslick enjoyed a successful tenure in the XVs format, despite the latter missing out on the World Cup also due to injury.
Their transition across has appeared to rub off on both programs, with Wallaroos Maya Stewart and Waiaria Ellis recently featuring in the Australia A side that won the Women’s Invitational title in Dubai, while Maddison Levi recently confirmed she’s still very open to playing for the Wallaroos.
Should the XVs and 7s programs continue integration, it presents not only opportunities for both programs to continue to grow their depth and mutually benefit, but it supercharges the professional development of the Wallaroos, the last key piece separating them from the best.
If 2026 follows in the footsteps of 2025, Australian women’s rugby could find its footprint exploding as the popularity of women’s sport continues to rise.
