LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, August 21, 2025 -- On the eve of the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 (22 August - 27 September) anti-doping experts line up for a photocall at Allianz Stadium Twickenham to champion the importance of fair play.

• UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) is delivering the testing programme with an all-female team of Doping Control Personnel, under the leadership of Jane Rumble, UKAD’s Chief Executive

• The photograph shows (from left to right): Mike Earl, Director of Anti-Doping and Game Equipment at World Rugby, Jane Rumble, UKAD Chief Executive, Professor Kim Wolff, Director of King’s Forensics and Head of the Drug Control Centre, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory at King’s College London, and Aimee Bywater-Lutman, Head of Women’s Rugby World Cup Business Operations

• Stephanie Peacock, Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth notes how the tournament also further supports and demonstrates the British Government’s commitment to boosting participation of women and girls in sport in an environment that is clean and fair

Jane Rumble, Chief Executive of UKAD said:

“It is wonderful to see the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 on England turf in stadiums across the country. We are delighted to be delivering the testing programme at this prestigious international event. The public needs and wants to know that the players we admire and support are competing clean – 100% authentic, playing with integrity and pride. We wish all the teams well for a fair and well-fought tournament.

“It is also fitting that our team of testing Doping Control Personnel working for the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 are all women. Our colleagues and partners will be out and about on a collective mission to protect, inform, educate and empower the clean player.”

Mike Earl, Director of Anti-Doping and Game Equipment at World Rugby said:

“I’m delighted that World Rugby will be working in partnership with UKAD for delivery of the anti-doping programme during the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 tournament. The testing programme is the most extensive ever delivered at a women’s world cup, and helps us to support clean players and protect the integrity of the tournament. Our Keep Rugby Clean weekend falls on 6th and 7th September and will see players and teams showing their support in promoting a unifying message to champion fair play across the game.

“Keep Rugby Clean weekend is the perfect opportunity for everyone involved in elite rugby to show how much playing clean matters to our sport”

Professor Kim Wolff, Director of King’s Forensics and head of the Drug Control Centre, at King’s College London, added:

“My team at the Drug Control Centre will be working hard in the run up and all through the tournament to analyse the samples collected by UKAD’s Doping Control Personnel. It is rightly a less public aspect to the tournament but one that is critical to the credibility of the sport. I am proud of the dedicated hard work of my expert analytical scientists and support staff and of a WADA Lab that is internationally lauded for the high standards and quality of its work. All the best to all the players for a terrific tournament.”

Stephanie Peacock, Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth said:

“This tournament is another beacon of light in the sporting landscape that is seeing a remarkable growth in women’s sport. In addition to the huge growth in audiences and associated economic benefits, there is also the profound and positive impact events like this will have for women and girls across the country and the wider world.

“The Government is committed to supporting sport for women and girls across our communities and high-profile events like this help inspire the next generation of rugby stars. To create inspirational role models, as these women rugby players are, we need to know that they are competing with integrity. I commend the work of UK Anti-Doping, World Rugby’s anti-doping programmes, and the good work of King’s Drug Control Centre. Together we can endeavour to champion a Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 event that is clean and true, and to protect the goal of sporting stars competing fairly and with integrity.”

[ENDS]

Notes to Editors

About UK Anti-Doping

UK Anti-Doping is here to ensure sport in the UK is free from doping and to promote and protect clean sport through education, testing and enforcement. We make certain that sports bodies are compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code through implementation and management of the UK National Anti-Doping Policy.

UK Anti-Doping’s Assurance Framework (https://www.ukad.org.uk/national-anti-doping-policy) is the primary mechanism through which National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) demonstrate to UKAD their compliance with the National Anti-Doping Policy. The Assurance Framework outlines a series of mandatory requirements (https://www.ukad.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-04/UKAD Assurance Framework v1.pdf), the fulfilment of which NGBs must evidence in order to give UKAD assurance that they are meeting their anti-doping responsibilities.

UK Anti-Doping’s functions include an education and information programme, athlete testing across more than 50 Olympic, Paralympic and professional sports, intelligence management and exclusive results management authority for the determination of anti-doping rule violations.

For more information on what we do, please please visit https://www.ukad.org.uk/what-we-do

UK Anti-Doping’s 2024-2026 Strategic Refresh

UKAD launched its Strategic Refresh in May 2024 which recalibrates the existing strategy (running from 2021-2025), revitalising and extending its plans until 2026.

Key new additions to the strategy include a clear focus on putting the athlete voice first, strengthening the organisation’s powers and capabilities to identify and act on wrongdoing, and to actively support and advise on wider sport integrity issues.

The objectives are:

1. Build a clean sport environment in the UK and for UK athletes worldwide

2. Develop and deploy detection and deterrence methods to uphold a level playing field

3. Improve the way we regulate

4. Leverage research and analytics to enhance our insight on the threats to clean sport

To read the 2024-2026 Strategic Refresh, please visit https://www.ukad.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-05/UKAD Strategic Refresh 2024 - 2026.pdf

For Media Information Contact:

Emma Fallows | Head of Communications | emma.fallows@ukad.org.uk

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