England will host the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup; Red Roses will play Australia, USA and Samoa in the group stage; Ireland will face New Zealand in one of the most eagerly-anticipated group ties; Wales and Scotland drawn together in same group as Canada
Friday 18 October 2024 00:10, UK
Hosts England have been drawn with Australia, USA and Samoa for the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.
World No 1 side England will stage the tournament for the second time, with 16 nations participating in next year's event - four more than the last Women's Rugby World Cup.
Scotland and Wales have been drawn together in Group B, which also features Canada and Fiji, while Ireland will face defending champions New Zealand, plus Japan and Spain in Group C.
The 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup takes place from August 22 to September 27.
England will be favourites for the tournament as they have been unbeaten since their dramatic defeat to New Zealand in the World Cup final in 2022, which was delayed by 12 months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Red Roses won the recent WXV1 tournament with victory over Canada in their last match.
England won the Women's Rugby World Cup in 1994 and 2014, but have finished runners-up to New Zealand in the last two editions.
Ireland will get the chance to face New Zealand again, having beaten the defending world champions in their opening WXV1 match in Vancouver last month.
France are top seeds in Pool D, where they will take on Italy, South Africa and World Cup debutants Brazil.
Should all of the seeded teams progress to the knockout stage as pool winners, then England would not meet either New Zealand or Canada until the final at Twickenham.
England captain Marlie Packer is confident her side will be ready to answer all the questions thrown at them when they bid to win the tournament on home soil.
"It [the pool draw] is going to pose us questions, but I think that is really good for us," Packer said.
"We don't want to get into the knockout stages and not having being posed questions and made sure that we are in the best possible spot come those knockout stages.
"Every team that plays us wants to beat us, because we do have that dominance. That is what has been so great about these WXVs, is that we have had the opportunity to play the best teams in the world regularly for the last couple of years.
"We got posed questions by all the teams we played in lots of different areas, and it is all positive for us, because winning is a habit and we are very good at it as the Red Roses."
Ireland did not qualify for the last World Cup, but the recent wins over Australia in Belfast and then New Zealand have raised expectations.
"The group is quite familiar in terms of teams we have played in the last few years," Ireland co-captain Sam Monaghan said.
"I am buzzing to play them [New Zealand] and I am sure they will be up for the rematch."
England will play in the opening game on August 22 at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, with their remaining two pool matches being hosted at Franklin's Gardens, Northampton and Brighton's Amex Stadium.
The quarter-finals will be shared between Sandy Park and Ashton Gate, with the semi-finals at Ashton Gate a week before the final.
The final itself will take place at Twickenham on September 27.
World Rugby will confirm the full 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup match schedule next week.
