New Zealand will host the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2021.

World Rugby announced in Dublin on Wednesday (Thursday NZ Time) that New Zealand Rugby (NZR) had proved it would be capable of staging the tournament for the first time.

Australia, the only other host country to submit a bid, was unsuccessful.

NZR CEO Steve Tew and board directors Dr Farah Palmer and Mark Robinson fronted the World Rugby Council to support New Zealand's bid to be the host nation.

READ MORE: Black Ferns scrape to victory over France

The panel voted 25-17 in New Zealand's favour. Palmer and Robinson made speeches, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also supplying a message of support via video.

NZR's success means the Black Ferns have the opportunity to play in front of home crowds for the first time, as they chase their sixth world title.

"I am just over the moon," Palmer said. "This is about the momentum that we have got for women's rugby. With the Black Ferns based in Aotearoa New Zealand, we just pitched it that if you played women's rugby you would want to come to New Zealand.

"I am absolutely ecstatic. I am just holding it in at the moment, and really happy with the outcome."

Palmer, whose husband Wesley Clarke is an assistant with the Black Ferns, said the team, who are in Grenoble preparing to play France, would be extremely pleased with this outcome. She was also rapt for those in New Zealand who had worked on the bid: "I was kind of dreading coming back home and facing all those of people and what they were going to say. This is something we have been wanting for a long time, and the timing is right."

Tew said Palmer told the council about her introduction to rugby and what the game meant to her. The latter said she was uncertain what the outcome would be.

"You just don't know. You can't focus on what they (Australia) were presenting, we just had to focus on ourselves. We brought our A-game today. I spoke with emotion and passion, and what it means for us."

World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said the New Zealand bid was too compelling to ignore.

"You listen to the presentation and it was the passion, the passion for the sport. Everyone knows what it means to Kiwis, it's in their DNA," Beaumont said.

"I think people … want to test themselves against the best women's teams in a backdrop of extremely knowledgeable rugby people.

"There is no better place."

New Zealand's history of hosting global tournaments in 1987 and 2011 must have made a favourable impression on the council.

"Every member of the World Rugby council would have got a fully documented appraisal of the two bids," Beaumont added. "And that I think today was just about fine tuning all the bits that got you excited.

"I think New Zealand did that very well."

Twelve teams will play in the tournament, to be staged in Auckland and Northland. It will be the first to feature a number of format changes. This includes the extension of the tournament window from 23 to 25 days, the introduction of a quarterfinal stage and increasing squads from 28 to 30.

Part of the pitch by New Zealand was that a Pacific Nations tournament will be also staged at the same time. The concept is to grow the game in the Oceania region, and Tew said the aim was to have the final of that tournament played as a curtain raiser to the World Cup finale - possibly at Eden Park.