Black Ferns star Portia Woodman-Wickliffe charges forward during the O'Reilly Cup International against the Australia Wallaroos at Sky Stadium on 12 July, 2025 in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo: Phil Walter/Getty Images) 
The Women’s Rugby World Cup gets under way in England with previous tournament finalists New Zealand and the hosts once again red-hot favourites to lift the trophy.
Outside of the first Women’s Rugby World Cup in 1991 – which the US won – every other tournament since then has been won by either the Black Ferns or the Red Roses. At least one of the two sides has made the final since the tournament’s inception and the two sides have met at that stage on five of the eight occasions that both nations were represented at the showpiece event.
England, though, have an edge in the favourites stakes despite New Zealand having won six Women’s Rugby World Cup trophies to their two.
Since the final of the 2021 World Cup, played on 12 November 2022 (it was held a year later because of Covid-19), which the Red Roses lost 34-31 at Eden Park after being up 14-0 in the opening quarter, they have not lost a single match in an incredible unbeaten run. This includes winning the Grand Slam in the Six Nations every year.
Not only that, they’ve boosted their leadership structures with the addition of seasoned former Lions (Johannesburg version) and All Blacks coach John Mitchell.
But New Zealand, in their aspiration to claiming a third successive Rugby World Cup title (and a seventh in the past eight editions), will point out that the Red Roses had similarly strong form headed into the previous World Cup final – and still fell short.
England were on a 30-match winning streak headed into the match that would secure their third Women’s Rugby World Cup title.
England are in Pool A alongside Australia, the US and Samoa, a group they should have no problem getting through. Besides the fact that they are the best side in the world, according to World Rugby rankings, they have also never lost a Women’s Rugby World Cup pool match since the tournament’s inception.
To put England’s current domination into perspective, before the first match of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, they were on 97.76 ranking points, according to World Rugby’s ranking system, and second-ranked Canada were on 90.13.
France, ranked fourth in the world, are on 85.72, and fifth-ranked Ireland are on 78.81.
New Zealand are grouped alongside Ireland, Japan and Spain in Pool C.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/2171973897.jpg "Maama Vaipulu of the Black Ferns wins a line-out against England’s Red Roses at Allianz Stadium in London on 14 September 2025. (Photo: Tom Dulat / Getty Images)")
Challengers
There are a few nations outside of the leading two nations that will be looking to upset the apple cart. Canada and France are chief among them. It’s imperative for France to exit their group, Pool D, unscathed, since the runners-up – Italy, South Africa or Brazil – will face New Zealand in the quarterfinals.
France have been trending in the right direction heading into this World Cup. They were two points away from claiming the Six Nations Grand Slam themselves this season. They beat Ireland, Wales, Italy and Scotland comfortably but lost 43-42 to England in the final round of fixtures in April.
It’s not the first one-point heartbreak suffered in recent times. They were semifinalists at the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. They were on the cusp of making the final with the score 25-24 to New Zealand in the dying minutes, with a penalty shot at goal to come. Flyhalf Caroline Drouin sent it wide as they failed to make their maiden Women’s Rugby World Cup final.
France did beat Canada 36-0 in the third-place playoff – remarkably, it was the seventh time they finished with bronze medals around their necks in nine tournaments.
If Les Bleus are to disrupt the New Zealand and English status quo, they’ll need to get over – or through, whichever leads to victory – that hurdle.
Canada is the other side that has been in sparkling form in recent times. They head into the World Cup as the second-ranked side, above New Zealand, although the Black Ferns tend to save their best for the global showpiece.
They’re undefeated in the seven matches they’ve played this year, which includes a 27-27 draw against the Black Ferns back in May.
Canada’s best Women’s Rugby World Cup performance came in 2014 when they finished runners-up to England after a 21-9 loss in France.
The North American outfit is in Pool B alongside Scotland, Wales and Fiji. They’re expected to finish first without too much strain, which is a somewhat incredible expectation from a side so financially frail that they’ve set up a fundraising campaign – named “Mission: Win Rugby World Cup 2025” – aimed at closing the budget gap between them and their rivals in preparation for the tournament.
The fundraiser has been set up by Rugby Canada and by 20 August, according to their website, they were “already over 88% of the way to our fundraising target of $1-million”.
Financial hurdles
Canada aren’t unique in their financial struggles. According to The Guardian in the UK, half of the 32-player Samoa squad are self-raising funds to cover the costs of their mortgages and household bills while playing in the tournament in England.
Samoa, playing in their first Women’s Rugby World Cup since 2014 and only their third overall, are playing in England with no contracts, only an allowance from their union. Japan is in a similar position, with no contracts but a daily allowance provided by their union.
Teams such as the US and Spain have handed out short-term contracts to their players for the preparation and on-field period of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, which ends on 27 September with the final at Twickenham. South Africa, Brazil and Italy all have players contracted in some form.
Meanwhile, England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and New Zealand have some of the biggest contracts in the women’s game.
England was the first country to become fully professional in 2019 and on top of that they have invested fully in their domestic structures, with a 10-year-plan in place to fully professionalise the English Premiership.
Despite that, the Premiership remains the flagship domestic tournament in the world, attracting global talent including South Africa’s Babalwa Latsha and Catha Jacobs, who ply their trade for Harlequins and Leicester Tigers, respectively.
They also attracted American social media superstar player Ilona Maher to the Bristol Bears, where she started her conversion to the 15s game after initially making her name in sevens rugby.
Other nations such as South Africa and even New Zealand are playing catch-up to their early investment.
Although England are outright favourites to clinch a third Women’s World Cup trophy, it’s worth bearing in mind that they have a better foundation of success than any other side. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
