Auckland eagerly awaits the defending of the cup in the year 2000. With the large pool of talent in New Zealand we would hope it shouldn't be too hard. Nevertheless, one of the largest flotilla of boats ever will be on the water watching the races. I hear you saying . . . Well, don't worry about that.
Women compete in sailing, doing just as well as the men in the top of their field.
However, women do indeed have their own winter sport to compete against rugby, and that is Netball. Netball is played on a court, with 7 players in each team. New Zealand girls start playing netball in primary school, and like rugby, girls relogiously like to watch or play on the weekends. I've provided some links to the ones I could find decent websites for in the New Zealand Links Page . If you know of others, please let me know.