England take on the USA on Friday, 22 August to kickoff the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025.
Hosts and world No.1 ranked side England are the firm favourites, as they start their own tournament on the back of a 27-match unbeaten run. But the two-time champions have not lifted the Women’s Rugby World Cup Trophy since 2014 and will be wary of their Pool A rivals.
The Women’s Eagles may be ranked No.10 in the world but they boast a line-up sprinkled with stars. From inspirational captain Kate Zachary to veteran prop Hope Rogers – not to mention Olympic bronze medal winner and social media totem Ilona Maher (below) – they have the firepower to upset the 40,000-plus crowd.
Kick-off: 19:30 BST, Friday, 22 August
Venue: Stadium of Light, Sunderland
How to watch: Grab some of the few remaining tickets here.
Or check out our global guide to the TV options in your region.
England starting XV: 15. Ellie Kildunne, 14. Abby Dow, 13. Megan Jones, 12. Tatyana Heard, 11. Jessica Breach, 10. Zoe Harrison, 9. Natasha Hunt, 8. Alex Matthews, 7. Sadia Kabeya, 6. Zoe Aldcroft (C), 5. Abbie Ward, 4. Morwena Talling, 3. Maud Muir, 2. Amy Cokayne, 1. Hannah Botterman
Replacements: Lark Atkin-Davies, Kelsey Clifford, Sarah Bern, Rosie Galligan, Maddie Feaunati, Lucy Packer, Emily Scarratt, Emma Sing.
USA starting XV: 15. Charlotte ‘Lotte’ Sharp, 14. Emily Henrich, 13. Ilona Maher, 12. Alev Kelter, 11. Bulou Mataitoga, 10. Mckenzie Hawkins, 9. Olivia Ortiz, 8. Rachel Johnson, 7. Georgie Perris-Redding, 6. Kate Zachary (C), 5. Erica Jarrell-Searcy, 4. Tahlia Brody, 3. Keia Mae Sagapolu Sanele, 2. Kathryn Treder, 1. Hope Rogers
Replacements: Paige Stathopoulos, Alivia Leatherman, Charli Jacoby, Rachel Ehrecke, Freda Tafuna, Cassidy Bargell, Kristin Bitter, Sariah Ibarra
England key player: Ellie Kildunne – the reigning World Rugby Women’s Player of the Year is a generational talent. Watch out for her devastating runs from full-back, thanks to her distinctive hair, you are unlikely to miss her.
USA key player: Kate Zachary – it is impossible to look past the influence of the Women’s Eagles skipper. The back-row forward, captaining for a second RWC in succession, is pure inspiration both sides of the ball.
Recent head-to-heads:
29.04.2024 ENG 61-21 USA
03.09.2022 ENG 52-14 USA
21.11.2021 ENG 89-0 USA
What they said:
England head coach, John Mitchell:
“We try to build cohesion. We’re not like the southern hemisphere teams which have had a lot rugby. We are just building so it’s important you have combinations that the players are familiar with. We do have history together. Over the last three years something like 1,200 caps are spread among those girls and that’s a lot of experience and a lot of belief and you have to play those cards in a tournament like this.
“Every team will rise 10 or 15% because they’re playing against England. That’s what we expect. We realise we’re hunted but we look forward to that as well.”
England captain, Zoe Aldcroft:
“I’m so excited, this week’s been going at snail’s pace waiting for Friday night. We have done all the talking for the last three years and it’s time to put it into action now.
“It’s super special to get 40,000 people. It’s an incredible amount. It’s great to be able to connect to that new audience and pull them in for the rest of the tournament.”
USA head coach Sione Fukofuka:
“From a team’s perspective, obviously we respect England immensely, we know how good they are. We also know there’s a lot of pressure on them to perform so we are going to approach it with a clear head knowing that if we can control how we want to play, go out there and approach it with the fact that our strengths are strengths, we also have some pretty young strong weapons that we want to unleash on them.
“We’re here to get through our pool, to win two out of three games is the minimum, and get to a position where we can compete in the quarter-final and gives ourselves a shot of the semi. That’s the nuts and bolts of it.”
USA captain Kate Zachary:
“I’m expecting a lot of ‘Go USA’ in the stands! In all seriousness, the atmosphere is going to be electric. They’ve done a great job marketing this game. It’s going to be a massive crowd.
“The outcomes this year, maybe we haven’t got a lot of wins but it’s because we’ve chosen to take on top-four teams. We haven’t chosen to take on teams we know we can beat. It’s going to be a battle. There’s going to be a lot of punches thrown and our goal is to put England up against the ropes a few times.”