[citation needed] This was the last edition of the tournament under the "Women's Rugby World Cup" name.

[7] On 4 June 2015 it was announced that Garrett Tubridy had been appointed tournament director for the event.

A further six teams (England, Canada, France, New Zealand, the United States and Australia) qualified automatically as top seven finishers at the 2014 tournament.

[9] Italy and Wales qualified as the top two teams across the 2015 and 2016 Women's Six Nations excluding England, France, and Ireland.

The remaining three qualifiers (Hong Kong, Spain and Japan) were determined by the end of 2016.

[10] In August 2017, it was announced that Irish referee Joy Neville would adjudicate the final.

[33] If teams were tied on pool points they were ranked by rules applied in the following order – 1.