New Zealand are reigning Women’s Rugby World Cup champions (Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
The clock is ticking. It’s just over a year to go until the Women’s Rugby World Cup kicks off on September 24, 2025 in Sunderland. England will be among the 16 women’s sides seeking world rugby union supremacy.
From that first match to the gold-medal battle on October 8, 2025, not only can you catch all of the exciting action, you can also wager on every match of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. Want to put a few quid on England to win it all? All you need to do is peruse the top online sportsbook reviews and check out the latest odds on the tournament.
Want to see some of the women’s best rugby players going head to head in World Cup matches? Well, the good news is that you still can make that happen. There’s 400,000 tickets available for all of the matches, twice as many as in the last Rugby World Cup three years ago in New Zealand. And they’re just going on sale here.
Which Countries Are In The Women’s Rugby World Cup?
Including host nation England, so far 10 nations have qualified for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Canada, France and New Zealand all secured direct qualification to the event by finishing in the top four at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2021 in New Zealand. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this tournament was actually delayed a year and played in 2022.
Ireland qualified by placing third in the 2024 Women’s Six Nations. South Africa claimed a spot after finishing on top of the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup. The USA beat Australia in the Pacific Four Series to claim another qualification spot.
Fiji earned a pass into the Women’s Rugby World Cup by virtue of a 27-13 victory over reigning champions Samoa in the final match of the Oceania Rugby Women’s Championship in Brisbane. Japan’s placing on top of the Asia Rugby Women’s Championship via 64-0 victory against Kazakhstan got the Japanese a tournament slot. Brazil were the most recent to claim their place for RWC 2025 after beating Colombia 34-13 in the Sudamerica playoff. It was the first time in seven meetings between the two nations that the Brazilians emerged as winners of the match.
Six more nations will be slotted into spots over the next month. The final opportunity to qualify for RWC 2025 will come via WXV, the three-level annual women’s 15s competition. The top six ranked non-qualified teams at the end of WXV 2024 will be qualifying for the tournament.
The draw for RWC 2025 will take place once WXV is completed in October and all qualified teams are finalized.
England Will Open Tournament
England most recently won the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2014 (Pierre-Yves Beaudouin / Wikimedia Commons).
The opening match of the Women’s Rugby World Cup will be played September 25, 2025 at Sunderland’s Stadium Of Light. England will be playing host to a yet to be determined opponent.
The England side has fared quite well in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. England has played in the final in eight of the nine previous tournaments. The English women previously won the Rugby World Cup in 1994 and 2014. They’ve been losing finalists in 1991, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017 and 2022.
Is there a history of home-pitch advantage coming to the fore in the Women’s Rugby World Cup? Not really.
New Zealand did win the 2022 tournament on home soil in Auckland. But that was the first time in the history of the event that the host team was also the championship side.
England’s two wins came in Scotland (1994) and France (2014). When the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup was played in England, the English fell 13-10 to New Zealand in the gold-medal match at the Twickenham Stoop.
New Zealand A Dominant Force
Fresh off a gold-medal win in Olympic women’s rugby sevens in Paris, New Zealand will be seeking a record seventh Women’s Rugby World Cup title. The reigning champions have won six of the past seven Women’s Rugby World Cups. They are ranked No. 2 in the world.
Ruahei Demant, who captained the Black Ferns to the 2022 Women’s Rugby World Cup title, is back to lead the squad again. She’s earned 37 caps for her country and was women’s rugby player of the year in 2022.
Canada A Worthy Contender
When England won the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup, the English beat Canada 21-9 in the final. That runner-up finish is the best ever for the Canadians in the competition.
Canada is currently ranked No. 3 in the world. The Canadians lost the Olympic gold medal match to New Zealand. Recently, though, Canada recorded a victory over the Black Ferns at New Zealand by a 22-19 count.
The Canadians are an experienced bunch. Twelve of their players have won at least 20 caps, led by lock Tyler Beukeboom (68) and prop Olivia DeMerchant (57). As well, 10 Canadian players play their club rugby in England. Canadian captain Sophie de Goede is a back row forward for Saracens.
England Rated The Team To Beat
It’s the English who are currently holding down the top placing in the women’s rugby world rankings. It’s certainly a star-studded side. Captain Marlie Packer is the reigning women’s rugby player of the year. Outside centre Emily Scarrett, the 2019 women’s rugby player of the year, is the all-time scoring leader for the Red Roses with 749 points. She was named to the world rugby all-decade team for the 2010s. Both players have won over 100 caps for their country.
England hasn’t lost a match since 2022. The Red Roses have won 16 matches in a row ever since that November 2022 loss to the Black Ferns. This stretch of success includes three victories over Canada and a 33-12 win at the expense of New Zealand. England has allowed more than 19 points just once over the past 10 matches, posting a pair of shutouts in that span.
