England are making their final preparations for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, acclimatising to the pressure of being red-hot favourites on home soil.
The Red Roses open the tournament in a week’s time with a match against the United States on Friday, 22 August in Sunderland.
The hosts have lost only once in their past 58 matches – a surprise defeat by New Zealand in the final of the last edition of the tournament in 2022.
They have won six successive Six Nations Grand Slams, avenged that defeat by the Black Ferns in each of the teams’ past three meetings and are well clear at the top of the world rankings.
Head coach John Mitchell is conscious that the pressure of expectation will be one of their most formidable challenges to overcome if they are to lift the trophy on 27 September at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.
“With our mental-skills support, we are helping the girls individually. Or, for the girls in previous World Cups, unpack and bring closure to those things,” said Mitchell.
“That experience of 2022 has now made us ready for now.”
England face Samoa and Australia in their other Pool A games.
If the tournament were to progress in line with the current world rankings, the Red Roses would face Scotland in the quarter-finals and France in the semi-finals, before a final against either second-ranked Canada or holders New Zealand.
Ireland are fifth in the world rankings, up from 10th two years ago. They failed to even qualify for the 2022 tournament.
Their rise has included a memorable 29-27 upset of New Zealand in September 2024. They were also within a score of France until the closing stages of the teams’ Six Nations meeting in March.
A big factor in their progress in the tournament may be the fitness of Aoife Wafer. The 22-year-old star back row was named the player of this year’s women’s Six Nations, but is still recovering from knee ligament damage sustained in April.
“We feel we’ve got a really strong plan in place to get her back on the pitch,” said coach Scott Bemand of Wafer in July.
“People want to see her play. We want to see her play. We think we’re tracking towards that.”
With influential back-five operators Dorothy Wall and Erin King already out, Bemand duly named Wafer in his squad, hoping she can make a swift and strong return to action.
The schedule may play in Wafer’s favour. Ireland will take on Japan and Spain before concluding their Pool C fixtures against New Zealand.
Another victory over the Black Ferns would improve Ireland’s chances of progressing in the knockout stage and also potentially put New Zealand into England’s side of the draw.
Ireland warmed up for the tournament with a gutsy 47-26 defeat by Canada and a 27-21 comeback win over Scotland.
Scotland have lost five of their seven matches this year and have been hindered by off-pitch disruption in the build-up to the tournament.
Coach Bryan Easson will leave his post after the World Cup, while, according to the players, more than half the squad fear they will also be looking for new employment when it is finished as they are on short-term contracts.
“My ethos as a captain is to make my players feel like superwomen – it’s to make them feel valued and like they belong,” said captain Rachel Malcolm in July.
“And the processes which have gone on behind the scenes have definitely done almost the opposite of those three things.”
Adding to Scotland’s worries is an ankle injury to experienced hooker Lana Skeldon, who is in the squad despite being carried off in the defeat by Ireland.
Scotland face Wales on the opening weekend of the tournament in a match that could decide which of the two progresses to the knockout stage.
Scotland edged the teams’ Six Nations meeting in March, prevailing 24-21 in a soggy Edinburgh.
That match was coach Sean Lynn’s first in charge of Wales, having arrived on the back of winning three successive English domestic titles with Gloucester-Hartpury.
He has overseen only one win so far – 21-12 over Australia in Brisbane. However, the Wallaroos won the second Test in the series 36-5 this month to temper expectations.
Of more damage to Wales’ hopes than that scoreline may be an ankle injury suffered by co-captain Alex Callender.
The number eight has been named in Wales’ squad, but is a doubt for that important opener against Scotland.
“We have to leave Australia in Australia and then it is about the focal point of the World Cup,” said Lynn after the second Test defeat.
Wales have also gone through their own contracts dispute, with players claiming they were blackmailed into signing deals by the Welsh Rugby Union’s (WRU) hard-ball negotiating tactics and threats to cancel matches last year.
The WRU has since apologised and said it should have done better.
Star wing Jasmine Joyce-Butchers, who made her debut in 2017, says the current environment is one of the best she has experienced with Wales.
“The girls are brilliant – Lynny [Sean Lynn] and the coaching staff have been outstanding,” she said.
“It’s definitely a place now where I can be my true self and express who I am and I don’t get judged for that.
“We’ve just got to remember that we are in such a better place than we were last year.”
As an appetiser for the tournament, New Zealand’s 27-27 draw with Canada, external in Christchurch in May was hard to beat.
A hammer-and-tongs contest, with the two sides never separated by more than seven points, ended with a 22-phase, 83rd-minute Black Ferns try levelling the score and a conversion to snatch victory flying wide.
Holders New Zealand have a habit of peaking for the World Cup – winning six of the eight they have competed at.
After losing six out of 10 games during a difficult 12 months from mid-October 2023, head coach Allan Bunting believes his team are rising to the occasion once more.
“We’re a different team now,” Bunting said.
“I don’t think Canada and England have experienced the team that we are now. So it’s going to be which team steps up when they need to.”
Canada leapfrogged New Zealand into second spot in the world rankings last autumn and were sent on their way to England by a record 11,453 fans – the biggest crowd for a women’s rugby match in the country – who watched a 42-10 win over the United States this month.
Their squad contains of a host of players who have honed their game in Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) , such as Exeter centre Alex Tessier and Saracens back row Sophie de Goede, along with seven exciting converts from the sevens team that won Olympic silver in Paris last summer.
Their fans are turning out their pockets as well as turning out in numbers.
Rugby Canada launched a fundraising drive entitled Mission: Win Rugby World Cup in March 2025. Its goal is to add one million Canadian dollars (£540,000) to boost a campaign which has “only a fraction of the budget of our top competition”. They are 88% of the way to their target.
France complete the world’s top four and have been closest to breaking England’s winning streak, coming within a point of the Red Roses in this year’s Women’s Six Nations finale.
However, Les Bleues’ confidence took a knock as England travelled to Mont-de-Marsan for both teams’ final warm-up game and came away with a commanding 40-6 victory.
“I know my group – they’ll be stung by what happened tonight and will want to show a different face,” said co-head coach Gaelle Mignot.
This World Cup marks the final campaign of Jo Yapp’s time in charge of Australia. The former Worcester scrum-half appeared for England at three World Cups as a player, captaining her country at the 2006 tournament.
The Wallaroos had hopes to include sevens superstars Charlotte Caslick and Maddison Levi in their squad, but Caslick has been forced out with injury while Levi opted to focus on the shorter-format game.
Sixteen teams are competing in the tournament, up from 12 in 2022.
Brazil will make their first appearance, while Fiji return for a second shot after debuting in New Zealand.
More than 300,000 tickets have been sold across eight venues, stretching from Sandy Park in Exeter to the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, ensuring it will be the best-attended Women’s Rugby World Cup.
